David Flink
Eye to Eye
New York, NY USA
"I am someone who learns differently, and that is as much a part of my identity as anything else."
Career Roadmap
David's work combines: Education, Non-Profit Organizations, and Teaching / Mentoring
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Stay open to the possibilities that present themselves. Share your story! Engage others in sharing theirs. Together we can all change the world. Never stop building community/networking. Be passionate about what you do but also have other passions that allow you to regenerate your creativity.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Education, General
Brown University
Bachelor's Degree
Psychology, General
Brown University
Graduate Degree
Disability Studies
Columbia University in the City of New York
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
Was never a good student, but decided that rather than becoming “the dumb kid,” he’d become “the bad kid.”
2.
As a result, he was on good terms with his school principal, whose office he was visiting constantly.
3.
He was later diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD.
4.
When he got to Brown University, he learned that one in five people have a learning or attention issue.
5.
Once he realized he wasn’t alone, he was struck with a desire to find “his people,” the learning and attention issues community.
6.
He started a support group at Brown and word soon spread to nearby schools; suddenly, hundreds of students were emailing him wanting to join his “club.”
7.
David realized he couldn’t just leave his project behind, and decided to dedicate his post-grad life to building “Project Eye-to-Eye” into a national movement.
8.
Says he’s driven by his love of learning, and his passion is to make sure that every kid can learn in an environment that best fits their needs.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Myself:
How did I get in to college? Someone must have made a mistake.
How I responded:
Once I got accepted to college, a part of me thought that I was cured, but I wasn't. I started learning more about people like me and realized their were so many with the same problems as me. I had to accept that I don't have a learning disability, I am just a person that learns differently.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I have dyslexia and ADHD. Growing up I was always called the "dumb kid" or "bad kid" because no one knew what was wrong with me.