At 16, Michal Sklar had a life-changing experience. A grand mal seizure shook her world. She left scared about her health but discovered an unexpected talent.
Sklar vividly recalls that day before her 17th birthday in October 2010. Preparing for a high school assembly in New York, she introduced the morning’s speaker. The next memory was waking up in a hospital.
‘The seizure was idiopathic,’ Sklar, 32 now, shared. ‘Doctors still don’t know the cause. I spent nearly a week in the hospital for tests like EEGs and MRIs.’ Despite extensive evaluations, the cause of the seizure remains unknown.
During her hospital stay, she noticed something odd. Her mind processed spoken words in reverse. Although she initially ignored it, she soon realized she could understand everything her doctors and nurses said backwards.
‘At first, this ability frightened me. After a major medical event, my brain began reversing words,’ Sklar recalled. Despite always loving language, this skill took it further. She even woke up with songs playing backward in her mind.
Researchers note that seizure activity can alter language processing. In some epilepsy-related conditions, language changes are notable. MedlinePlus Genetics details the epilepsy-aphasia spectrum as disorders where seizures cause speaking, reading, and writing impairments. The Epilepsy Foundation states that left temporal lobe seizures can affect word retrieval and naming objects.
Initially, Sklar hesitated to tell anyone. She confided in a friend who found it fascinating. Later, she shared with her family, who joked it suited her.
‘I didn’t mention it to doctors initially because the seizure needed investigation,’ said Sklar. ‘When I finally told my neurologist, she dismissed it. I showed her my skill, but she wasn’t interested.’
Sklar can reverse words instantly, transforming sentences like ‘hi, I’m Michal, and it’s such an honor to be featured in Newsweek’ into mirrored phrases. She named this language ‘sdrawkcab.’ While most words pose no challenge, longer words take more time. Unfortunately, Sklar can’t reverse supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Her ability astounds people, making it a fun icebreaker. Her seven-year-old son loves it and often boasts about it to friends. Sklar and her husband even use reversed words daily, forming a unique couple’s language.
Though Sklar refers to it as ‘the most useless superpower,’ it’s a source of joy for her family. She encourages others to embrace unique traits. She shares her life as a backwards speaker on social media, bringing joy to many followers.
‘It’s amazing how my brain adapted and created a new way of understanding language,’ Sklar said. ‘It can still be unsettling.’
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