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So I only found out that it was #DyslexiaAwarenessWeek today!
I thought I would do a thread of going through the education system as a dyslexic. (Similar to my autism and school thread)
I thought I would do a thread of going through the education system as a dyslexic. (Similar to my autism and school thread)
Blending letters (or phonics) was so hard and felt almost impossible when I was younger. It never made sense why many words in English were not spelt as they sound.
It would take me a lot longer to process words than the other kids. Also I felt I had to put in a lot more effort to read at the same level as everybody else.
One of the worst things was having to read out loud in class, it felt like all my weaknesses were being exposed! Whenever I mispronounced a word (which was a lot) the whole class would laugh, and I was mortified.
Spelling! I still can't spell to this day (if it wasn't for modern technology/assitive software, you may not understand what I am writing now!) Spelling tests fillied me with dread as I didn't even know where to begin to spell a lot of words
The worst was when we swapped spelling tests and us students would mark each others' work. This just led to bullying every spelling tests, and I still remember once when a student annoced to the whole class that I couldn't spell 'paint' when I was 12.
Everybody laughed and I was made to feel so dumb. It felt like the whole class wanted to make a joke out of my dyslexia. The teachers did nothing to stop this, even though it happened in front of their eyes.
Also, I remeber my french teacher making me come back many lunch times to retake spelling tests I failed (which was everyone). Only to do the exact same test again with no addtional support. Pretty sure he even knew about my dyslexia and still did nothing.
Also, a lot of teachers thought my dyslexia indicated my academic ability. I was encoaurged (sometimes forced) to take easier options without me having a say in anything.
I was also not pushed to achieve my best. It felt like as long as 'passed' I didn't matter. At times I was actively discoruaged from trying to improve my academic perfromance despite telling them I wanted to.
I had minimal reasonable adjustments, but if I had some more, then I felt this could have made a big difference.
All these experinces made me hate anything to do with English (both reading and writing). It's only in the last few years I enjoy reading books. I was not able to read a proper book (I.E. children's books) cover to cover until I was 17.
I still struggle with spelling and sentence structure. Honestly, it makes such a huge difference to me and my ability to communicate online. I highly doubt higher education would have been an option for me if it wasn't for asstive software!
I think I'll end it here, but I hoped you enjoyed this thread!
