tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis tonight, a conversation with writer and disability activist ben foss. his book offers a blueprint for those for accessing information. bright students to be marginalized as slow learners. created a device that repeats words aloud. stars ontorres that suits in the third season in the usa network.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. tavis: whoopi goldberg, steven spielberg, they

have all been diagnosed with dyslexia. ben foss developed a unique approach for renewing your child's confidence. he argues that we have to stop thinking of it as a disease and recognize it as a different way of absorbing information. good to have you on this program. a different way of absorbing information? >> people thought of this as a disease. you are not normal. it is just a setting on your dryer. i think about people's strengths. people have made it feel like you are less than other people and it should be about your

auditory ability, your athletic ability. frightened,often they have a perfectly healthy child and everything falls apart. they can't read or spell. the assumption is that they are stupid or slow. the worst is the schoolyard bully. that shame leaves a mark. how much of this has to do with a lack of confidence in these young people? >> a person is slightly behind their peers because everyone starts off not being able to read. over time, it spreads. this is the first thing you're

heavily a valuator don after you leave your house. you separate from your mother and father and you start learning with teachers and friends. they assume you are stupid or you're not trying hard enough which is almost even worse. that loneliness does impact confidence. tell me about your personal journey . --i was the one identified we don't diagnose me as being from new hampshire, i just am from new hampshire. [laughter] i am from dyslexia. now in the mainstream trying to figure out how things work. they gave my mother a box of tissues.

my father said, how do you spell that? they immediately started focusing on my strengths. they said he is smart and capable, he worked out a plan and helped me learn. rights.me about the think of the law as you don't want your bodyguard to engage or fight somebody. you want people to know that you know the rules. my child is due a fair and appropriate education , it might be something you want to check into.

this person knows what they are doing. in this book is giving people a boilerplate. these are the steps you need to go through. in certain contexts, it can be a gift. it has legal force and it protects your kid when someone doesn't want to play ball. notwithstanding your text, have we developed a best practice is to lan? with earlyt identification. the school will often delay that process because it is expensive. it. h

help.nt needs to ask for and it is the methodology. you do that for two or three years and move toward a combination. yearsuld spend a few getting him stronger, but you -- teachingusing them to use a wheelchair. things will start adding like books on tape, there are free services available. book share is a service. learning now i have the low cost service.

it turns out to be pretty popular. there is i reading,., and finger reading. blind people read with their fingers. name stream people read with their eyes. this audio book, i recorded this. this was not fun. and, thisrther down is like level nine. i had my computer read a sentence aloud to me and i said it. there are 4500 and two sentences in this book and we did 5000 takes.

it is a lot of work along the way, but i did it he does people need to know that kids aren't broken. speaking of a lot of work, why do we think that i ,egard with what you just said that public schools can handle teaching students with dyslexia that require a different level of attention? many people believe they can do the job. >> we have had a principle that is separate that not equal. it is a principle. it is a goal that we should aspire to. if you segregate, you stigmatize. practice, itate in is awful and worse to segregate

by policy. schools should be able to do this. it is not that hard if you get on board with a few basic things. don'tso find that if you do this, you will miss out on some upsides and downsides. you mentioned people like steven spielberg, richard branson, these people are all dyslexic and did not do well in school. -- toent on degree a create great companies. of the u.s. prison population has a specific learning disability, dyslexia being the most common. 41% is a massive number. think of the lives impacted negatively. if you want to start a new business, it can look a lot like stealing cars. entrepreneurship, 35%

entrepreneurs. we are 41% prisoners and that tells the story of what is going on here. once dyslexic, always dyslexic? >> yes. tavis: why is it so hi? >> 35% entrepreneurs. deep general population is about 10%. 2.3 million kids. tavis: why a significant slice of entrepreneurs? >> we know how to fail. and the path to success is failure. the ones that make it out, we build resiliency. give a kid unconditional love and responsibility. we are not allowed to the front door. story about wanting to

desperately take an honors english class. because ihakespeare can rent the plays in vhs and watch them. shakespeare is almost better watching it live. i came out a long way with a slight advantage because i knew what it looked like on stage. couldn't read it and i pronounce certain names of characters and other things that tripped me up. the reason it is high, think of it this way. computers, there is a dominant operating system. there the apple products, ones that don't fit into mainstream but can do very well. tell me about your own invention. >> my role at intel was to create technology that helped

people with disabilities. they can take a photograph of and read it onl the spot. she would fax -- i would fax them to my mom and she would phone.em to me over the i can also do it at a much faster rate. is 100 words a minute and i had disputed up to three times that. he listens to speech very fast. your kids can learn that if you walk them through doing it. nonprofit and videos of how to do this for free. that teach you how to use these technologies.

it has to be about the emotional question. you can't get a kid to adopt these technologies. it will be a self-fulfilling office he and the path to success is through failure. you called the dyslexia empowerment. i can read but i can't talk. get you the audio version. tavis: [laughter] bam. renewing your child's confidence and levels of learning. i am glad to have you on, good to see you. coming up next, a wonderful actress named gina torres. stay with us. complex womenand characters are defined in many of the best series on tv today.

she plays one of the most interesting and best dressed, jessica pierson, a law firm specializing technical cases. she was in the matrix, firefly, and angel. and now, a clip from suits. >> i gave you that bottle when you took over from daniel. i told you to only open in case of an emergency. >> we are about to lose a huge murder case and the person behind it is one of our own lawyers. and we're in business with a man that helped cover it up. my mind most is that you betrayed me. the truth is, you warned me about all of this.

i am tired of feeling betrayed by you. i would rather forgive you. >> she is such a delicate little flower. what do you enjoy most? >> i love how smart she is and she doesn't shortchange her femininity or intelligence to make it in a man's world. love that i am the physical embodiment of power today. she is important to have on the air and for people to see. i get why you like it and why it is important, but you tell me. >> there are not very many women of color in positions of power. much less on television.

we have kerry washington and we have me. it is important. we make the point just by being present, not by hammering it home every day. lives.just living our this is me saying this, not you. are as good as anything on television and since you mentioned it, that show has gotten so much buzz because of being placed on the network it is on. i love usa. i am wondering whether or not

you think this show, if it would get more play someplace else. it is not that scandal is any better. does that make sense? that is my way of saying i love the show. i think it ought to get more play than it gets. >> as much as we have been living with cable and original scripted programs, you have showtime and amc and all of these incredible networks that productging forth their without the handcuffs of trying to sell soap. and what we are up against is a kind of habit of television

watching. to the big four for our programming. those networks that we all grew up with. and you look there first and you look for tried and true because hbo has an incredible reputation for bringing incredible programming. thats surpassing a lot of and it is just a matter of time. you don't get the same big numbers you used to because there is diversity. how much say so do you clearly, there are wonderful writers. but how much input do you have to have for the kind of character that you want to play?

oni have been very fortunate the show were the writers come comfort levelk my and if they want to push an envelope in a certain direction, if i am ok with that. myself, myl end aesthetic, my standards to this part. and seeing what they see, the work that i do, we meet. they right for me and i bring things to them. it has really been a beautiful marriage. tavis: is my read correct that you are sometimes intimidating to these other characters? >> that is a good read. [laughter]

yes, as well they should be. so much of that as well has to chunk of this character or woman that is a mystery. when you see her, you don't know .er personal life her life is that firm and keeping it together. keeping it current and in the black. keep thathe does to happening week to week, we are just not sure. tavis: i asked the intimidating question in part the cause i wonder how you do this high wire act, this balancing act of being who youof post to be -- are supposed to be but not being the brassy sassy woman of color

that can sometimes go beyond intimidating to turning people on. there is a fine line between -- intimidation. how do you balance this? >> with a heavy dose of femininity. she is unapologetic in how she and sometimes it is provocative. it is not business attire. i certainly came up in an era where women were really making strides, making a point to be down doors and find their place and crashed through the grass -- the glass ceiling. a lot of them did that believing they had to trade on their femininity. that they had to tap into whatever they believed is a masculine trait to hang in the

boys room. to get the keys to the kingdom. and what is beautiful about jessica pearson is that she is that next level to that. where feminism is about being all that you are and not having to trade one thing for another. you have a six-year-old daughter. anything in the scripts that you look at and say, i know she is not watching this now, but when she is old enough, this isn't something i want her to see? >> not so far. it's great. fishburne's mr. doing? >> great. busy man. tavis: how do you find a balancing act as your daughter

gets older? >> it is exhausting. i can't sugarcoat it. to do a good job on any and all of those fronts? tavis: mr. fishburne was on a tv series. >> we are back in town together. he went back to toronto to shoot a second season of hannibal. i go back to toronto to shoot suits. we did something right. tavis: there is love in toronto. to have youhonored on the program. the show is suits, wrapping up the third season. more, you will have to come back and see us.

have a seat here anytime you want. as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a to expecton with what as congress comes back into session. that is next time, we will see you then. >> and by contributions to your

pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with