Larry Mullen Jr. recently opened up about a health diagnosis that he said has a direct impact on his approach to playing music.
The 63-year-old U2 drummer and co-founder revealed his diagnosis during a recent interview with The Times that was published on Thursday, Dec. 12.
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“I’ve always known that there’s something not particularly right with the way that I deal with numbers,” Mullen told the British newspaper. He went on to describe himself as having “counting challenges” and being overall “numerically challenged.”
Though the Irish musician noted that this is a difficulty he has faced for quite some time, he said he was only recently diagnosed with dyscalculia, which he described as “a sub-version of dyslexia.”
Dyscalculia is defined by the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDAA) as “a specific learning disability with an impairment in mathematics, which can affect calculations, problem solving, or both.” Though people who have dyscalculia are born with it, symptoms can be different from person to person and in adults and children. Adults who have dyscalculia can encounter difficulty “with all sorts of number-related activities,” according to the LDAA, including “copying and memorizing phone numbers, logins, and dates,” among other tasks.
Mullen told The Times that, in his case, he “can’t count” and “can’t add.”
“When people watch me play sometimes, they say, ‘you look pained,’” he told the paper, which reported that U2 fans have previously raised concerns about the uncomfortable expressions that cross Mullen’s face when the band is performing. “I am pained because I’m trying to count the bars,” he added.
The rock drummer further emphasized his struggle to keep count while playing by offering a comparison to what many view as a major challenge. “I had to find ways of doing this—and counting bars is like climbing Everest,” he told the paper.
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