Daniel M. Keem is an American YouTuber, streamer, and podcaster who is best known by his online alias Keemstar and whose pop culture news show ‘DramaAlert’ boasts 5.8 million subscribers. He has come under fire in the past for mocking those with disabilities, but does he have one himself?
Keemstar is dyslexic and first opened up about his condition in 2014. He refers to dyslexia as “a gift” and doesn’t let his learning disability get him down, nor does he let it negatively impact the YouTube content he puts up.
Let’s take a closer look at who Keemstar is, what dyslexia is, and how the controversial star is impacted by this disability — if at all.
Who is Keemstar?
On 8 March 1982, Daniel M. Keem was born in Buffalo, New York. He grew up with a brother and a sister, but other than this, little is known about his family and personal life.
Keemstar is best known for being the creator and host of a YouTube channel called DramaAlert. This channel, which has been going since late 2012, has over 5 million subscribers and covers “the social interactions in online entertainment”.
In addition to his DramaAlert channel, Keemstar also founded podcasts called ‘Baited!’ and ‘Moms Basement’, as well as a gaming organization called ‘Thrust Nation’. He has also released several songs including ‘Dollar In The Woods’, ‘Memestar’, and ‘Keem Pop’.
The YouTube star stands 5 foot 8 inches tall, has a daughter named Mia, and is unmarried. He is thought to have a net worth of around USD $3 million as his videos generate approximately USD $5,000 each day.
What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is defined by WebMD as “a learning disorder that affects your ability to read, spell, write, and speak” and its symptoms are present in 5% to 10% of the American population.
Some of these symptoms of dyslexia include mixing up words, experiencing difficulty in spelling words, slow or laborious reading, trouble understanding idioms, and difficulty memorizing.
While the exact cause of dyslexia is not known, the risk factors are. The risk factors of dyslexia include premature birth or low birth weight, a family history of dyslexia or other learning disabilities, early exposure to stress, and exposure to nicotine, drugs, or alcohol during pregnancy.
Dyslexia is the most common learning disability, followed by ADHD, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Dyspraxia. It’s most common in children, but can only be identified later in life.
There are six different types of dyslexia. They are primary dyslexia, phonological dyslexia, surface dyslexia, visual dyslexia, developmental dyslexia (also known as secondary dyslexia), and trauma dyslexia.
It is not clear which type of dyslexia Keemstar has, nor what the cause of his dyslexia is.
How Does Being Dyslexic Impact Keemstar?
On 23 November 2014, Keemstar publicly revealed his dyslexia diagnosis for the first time. He let his Twitter followers know about his learning disability in true Keemstar fashion.
He tweeted, “I have Dyslexia… i don’t talk about it much because i don’t like to brag how im better then everyone else… Dyslexia is a Gift !”
Keemstar opened up about his dyslexia again on 8 August 2018, tweeting, “I’m dyslexic. I can’t read or spell very good at all. But I never let it stop me.”
Although his disability is often the subject of Reddit threads and other YouTuber’s content, it seems as though having dyslexia doesn’t negatively impact Keemstar at all. He even edits his videos and writes the scripts for them too.
Keemstar, along with fellow YouTubers Daniel Greene, Stampy Long Nose, and Sasha Alsberg, as well as celebrities Steven Spielberg, Cher, Tim Tebow, and Keira Knightley, proves once and for that having dyslexia does not mean you cannot have a successful career.