Michal Sklar has turned her backwards-word ability into a family language called “sdrawkcab” after living with the quirk for 16 years.
Sklar, 32, was just 16 and one day shy of her seventeenth birthday in October 2010 when she suffered an idiopathic seizure at her New York school. She had just introduced a speaker at morning assembly, sat back down, and woke up in a hospital with no memory of what happened. Speaking to UNILAD, Sklar recalled: “I remember waking up feeling bewildered and confused, with the biggest headache of my life.”
“Finding out that it had happened in front of the entire student body was also a lot to take in. Everyone had witnessed something that I had no memory of, which made the experience even more overwhelming and surreal,” she continued.
Doctors diagnosed the episode as an idiopathic seizure, categorized by FND Hope as “seizures of unknown origin.” Multiple tests offered no explanation for why it occurred. Sklar was stunned by the diagnosis, saying: “I was shocked when I was told that I had suffered a seizure, especially because I had never experienced one before and honestly knew very little about what a seizure actually was beyond the basics.”
Days after the incident, Sklar noticed something strange. She was processing what doctors and nurses said, but the words arrived in reverse order. She explained: “I knew they were backwards. I’m incredibly grateful that I had that awareness because, without it, I think the experience would have freaked me out even more.”
“I was processing the words I was hearing quickly and naturally in reverse, but I was still aware that they were being processed backwards,” she added.
The ability never went away. Sklar still processes words backwards naturally several times a day, though she prefers forward processing. “I often get songs stuck in my head with the lyrics playing backwards,” she shared.
She has since named her ability “sdrawkcab” — “backwards” spelled backwards — and uses it as a private language with her husband. “I feel like I would naturally think in sdrawkcab a lot more if I actually spoke it more, but I rarely do because, unfortunately, no one understands what I’m saying,” she noted.
On TikTok, where she posts as @momentsofmichal, Sklar has built a following by demonstrating her skill. She shared: “People are usually impressed by how quickly I can flip words. My favorite way of showcasing the skill is to have someone rapid-fire words and phrases at me, which I immediately flip. If they’re still non-believers, I’ll even spell out the sdrawkcab version for them.”
“People also get pretty floored when they see how quickly I can type or write sentences backwards,” she added.
In the viral moment that sparked widespread interest, Sklar showed off her ability to instantly reverse words spoken to her, converting casual phrases into their mirror-image equivalents in real time. Viewers were captivated by the speed and effortlessness of the transformation, with many commenting that the “useless superpower” was far more impressive than she gave it credit for. The clips racked up millions of views as people tested her with increasingly complex phrases.
Despite calling it “the most useless superpower,” Sklar has embraced the community that has formed around her unusual ability. She continues to post challenge videos and interact with followers who are fascinated by the neurological quirk that has defined half her life.
Sklar plans to continue sharing her sdrawkcab demonstrations on TikTok and expanding her community of followers interested in unique neurological phenomena.