Growing up with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Michael Jakac-Sinclair has always viewed the world through a unique lens.
Throughout high school, Jakac-Sinclair often found himself swimming laps in his high school’s pool as an outlet to help him focus later on in the day. Nearly five years later, he’s the enthusiastic and spunky co-founder and president of the Open Doors Educational Awareness Initiative.
Open Doors, initially founded in British Columbia, aims to destigmatize ideas around individuals with “learning diversities,” as they call them.
“We say learning diversity because the way things are constructed [and] the way education is constructed [is what] makes one disabled,” said Jakac-Sinclair. “Learning differently, thinking differently, and acting differently is just a natural characteristic of our individuality.”
The organization has worked closely with Fraser Academy, a private non-profit school in Vancouver dedicated to teaching students with language-based learning disabilities. By hosting events such as its annual Hoops to Learn basketball tournament, Open Doors has donated approximately $11,500 to the school’s outreach centre in the last year. While Jakac-Sinclair insists planning these fundraisers is a team effort, co-founder Mahtab Gill credits his friend.
STARTED WITH A PHONE CALL
“It was kind of his motive to come up with a program like this to support students like that,” said Gill. “Finding ways to kind of make sure that they’re not left behind and can still continue learning [was important].”
“He said, ‘I think that we can do something like this in B.C.,’” said Gill. “And that was it. It just started off with a phone call.”
Jakac-Sinclair said that while he has been privileged enough to have access to resources to help his dyslexia over the years, he wants to help others who are not as fortunate as he was growing up.
On the organization’s website, a video featuring Jakac-Sinclair shows him further explaining why learning about resources earlier in life is important for those who have learning diversities.
“One out of five students have some sort of learning diversity,” he said. “But they don’t get diagnosed until later on in their life.
“That delayed diagnosis could cause a lot of other intersectional problems to happen, which causes a domino effect of saying, ‘Well, you didn’t have enough time to develop these strategies in university.’”
For Jakac-Sinclair, ensuring students like him have a positive experience in a learning environment is his main priority.
“I don’t want any kid to feel stupid like I did,” he said.
“I felt stupid all my life. I felt like I was put into these boxes, like, ‘Okay, Michael is this swimmer. When he goes to school, he’s just the dumb jock.’ And you’ll put yourself into another box, and another box, and it’s hard to improve.”
CLOSING ONE DOOR, OPENING ANOTHER
Jakac-Sinclair said swimming taught him how to adjust to waking up early, be committed, and that “it’s okay to go back to the drawing board when times get tough.”
Upon reaching Grade 11, he realized he wanted to move onto other things.
“You just outgrow things,” said Jakac-Sinclair. “You learn more about yourself. I decided I didn’t want to be doing it for another four years. I wanted to experience another part of life.”
After spending several years travelling across western Canada for competitions and even setting a record for relay swimming in B.C., Jakac-Sinclair put away his swim cap and goggles, trading them for fundraising events and what he would later dub as “social entrepreneurship.”
“As cliché as it sounds, as life changes, you change,” he said. “Me being a competitor never left, it just got transferred to [Open Doors].”
Alexis Silvera, an Open Doors board member and part of the Richmond Kigoos Swim Club, recounted meeting Jakac-Sinclair four years ago.
“You know that saying people have about someone walking into a room and it lights up like sunshine?” she asked. “Mike is that, but his light is just from a smile. His enthusiasm is honestly just infectious.”
Silvera joined Jakac-Sinclair in organizing and executing the organization’s piloting ‘Hoops to Learn’ tournament, where she claimed she saw a different, more professional side of her friend.
“I don’t want any kid to feel stupid like I did”
– Michael Jakac-Sinclair
“It was organization Mike, paperwork Mike,” said Silvera.
“He had to actually contact people in professional ways. That showed me how much of an amazing speaker he is,” she said.
“The way Mike talks, it’s like a persuasive essay. By the end of his little speeches that he gives at all the Open Doors [events], it has everyone just being like, ‘Yes, learning disabilities, this is all we’re focusing on,’” she added.
Gill agreed, noting that Jakac-Sinclair is a “natural leader” and has inspired him to not be afraid to “get his hands dirty” while being a part of Open Doors despite not having a learning diversity.
Jakac-Sinclair dubs Brent Hayden, an Olympic swimmer with dyslexia, as his motivation to continue being involved.
“I remember watching him at a school assembly … and he said that the most important thing you can do is make sure that you [don’t] try to control the uncontrollable,” he said. “The thing you can control the most is yourself and what you do.”
THE FUTURE
While the 2020 Hoops to Learn tournament had to be postponed due to COVID-19, Jakac-Sinclair has no plans of slowing down the organization’s operations.
Instead of searching for donations at this time, Jakac-Sinclair and Gill have been discussing alternative measures to help students who may be falling behind because of the shift to online learning.
“We’re discussing raising money for bursaries for students to maybe be able to afford certain types of academic aids and resources like tutors,” he said. “Because of COVID-19, a lot of graduates in high school that are trying to transition [to university] are having a hard time right now getting everything sorted out.”
While these plans are in the works, the co-founders have agreed to wait approximately a month and a half before starting their fundraising.
“The way Mike talks, it’s like a persuasive essay. By the end of his little speeches that he gives at all the Open Doors [events], it has everyone just being like, ‘Yes, learning disabilities, this is all we’re focusing on.”
– Alexis Silvera, Open Doors board member
When considering long-term goals for himself, Jakac-Sinclair is striving to use his political science degree to work in educational policy reform once he graduates from Carleton University.
“Trying to make resources more financially accessible for people, that would be an amazing goal,” he said.
For now, though, Jakac-Sinclair says his priority is to be happy with life in general.
“I’m just trying to go out there and live every day that I can, not trying to meet anybody’s expectations but my own.”
Feature image by Natasha Jakac-Sinclair.
