What’s it like living with Dyslexia? Sam shares his story of what being Dyslexic is like.
Pre-diagnosis
Life was really hard before they diagnosed me, but when they did, life just got a lot easier; I made my teachers aware of it so they could help me.
It all started when I went to school. Before then I was happy and content, but it all went downhill from there.
Teachers kept going on with the same old things like “could try harder”, “go to the optician”, “he can’t concentrate”, “he reads really slow” and lots more things. These are all the main symptoms of dyslexia. For example, when going to the optician, dyslexics find it really hard to copy off the board, but they just thought it was my sight when I went.
When I arrived in year three, my teacher was observing me and said to my parents that I may be dyslexic. We were referred to Dyslexia Action, and I was assessed and later diagnosed as dyslexic and 8 years old.
What happened after you were diagnosed?
Since then life has just got better, my teachers and peers have been made aware, and they accepted me for who I am and not the kid who can’t copy or the world’s slowest reader. I also have tinted lenses in my glasses, which make it much easier for me to read and write. Another thing that has made reading easier is an e-reader where I can change the fonts to what suits me – I use a font called OpenDyslexic. One more thing I have is a laptop to do all my schoolwork on so I am much quicker.
What advice would you give to others struggling?
There are many ways to make life easier if you are dyslexic but just never give up because dyslexia is not an excuse not to work. It is a reason to work hard, and it pays off.
Related Information
This blog post was taken from our archives for Dyslexia Awareness Week. It was originally published on 26/05/2015 by Kit-Kat. KitK-Kat has been given the pseudonym of Sam.
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