Henry Winkler: Overcoming Dyslexia

Aired on Lifetime Television
Sunday, November 9 and December 21, 2008
Show 525

Even 34 years after he debuted as the Fonz on "Happy Days", Henry Winkler can still make girls swoon and guys envious. But while Henry was playing the coolest guy around, he was battling the past…when he was told he was anything but. "I was in the bottom three percent of the country academically," Henry says. He didn't know it then, but he was dyslexic. "When you grow up with dyslexia and you don't know that you have dyslexia, it is shockingly amazing and frustrating because on the outside people are saying you're lazy you're stupid you're not living up to your potential and on the inside you're saying, I don't want to be stupid, I don't think I'm stupid." While Henry knew he had greatness inside, he didn't know his struggles had a name until his step son started showing the same signs Henry had. Unwilling to allow kids with dyslexia to feel how he had, Henry began a campaign to reclaim the self-esteem of children with dyslexia. He created a character named Hank Zipzer, who is funny, resourceful and completely dyslexic. Henry has written 14 books about him, all the time hoping he inspires the kids who may have feelings just like he did, because not every child will go on to be the coolest guy in America -- some will just go on to be the best they can be, which is all Henry Winkler really wants.