Growing up in Columbia, SC, A'ja struggled in school, but it wasn't until her sophomore year of high school that she was diagnosed with dyslexia. "I've battled with it probably longer than I've probably known of it," A'ja said of her dyslexia during a March 2021 interview with CBS News. "I really didn't pay any attention to it. I was going through it in high school and my parents just thought I was a lazy teenager that just didn't study. I knew I put too much work in for me not to get the results that I deserved." And though she eventually got the resources she needed, A'ja added, "I battle with it still to this day."
Even after being diagnosed, A'ja kept her dyslexia hidden from most of her peers and teammates, but she eventually opened up about her struggles in a personal essay, published in the Player's Tribune in March 2018. The following year, she launched the A'ja Wilson Foundation, an organisation that provides resources for kids with learning disabilities. As she explained to POPSUGAR in January 2020, the foundation is not just about helping those with dyslexia. "It's also getting teachers registered and clear to know how to scan kids with learning disabilities," she said. "Not necessarily the tree, but the root itself."