Woman Has Seizure at 16, Then Develops an Extraordinary Rare Skill

In October 2010, Michal Sklar, then 16, experienced a grand mal seizure during her high school assembly in New York. She was rushed to the hospital, where she underwent extensive testing, including an EEG and MRI, but doctors could not determine the cause of the seizure. Post-recovery, Sklar discovered she had developed the ability to mentally process words backwards, a skill she jokingly refers to as her "most useless superpower."

Initially, Sklar was alarmed by this newfound ability, but it soon became a source of fascination and amusement. She found herself singing Taylor Swift's "Love Story" with reversed words, a phenomenon that puzzled her. Despite her initial reluctance to disclose this skill to her neurologist, she eventually shared it with a friend, who found it amusing. Over time, Sklar began to open up to her family about her unique ability, who found it endearing and reminiscent of her quirky personality.

Sklar's reverse-reading skill allows her to flip each word in a sentence, turning "hi, I’m Michal, and it’s such an honor to be featured in Newsweek" into "iH, m’I lahciM, dna s’ti hcus na ronoh ot eb derutaef ni keewsweN." Words with four or more syllables take longer to reverse, but the process is instantaneous for her. The term she's coined for this skill is "sdrawkcab."

One of the most common questions Sklar receives is whether she can reverse long, complex words like "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." The answer is no, as the skill doesn't extend to such lengthy phrases. Despite the oddity of her ability, Sklar embraces it, incorporating reversed words into her family's private language and sharing her story on social media. She hopes to inspire others to celebrate their unique differences rather than feeling embarrassed by them.