Dyslexia & me…
Throwback to 2022 — a post I wrote for LinkedIn as part of Dyslexia Awareness Week, inspired by the theme Breaking Down Barriers.
When I was a child, I was diagnosed with dyslexia — but it wasn’t until adulthood that I truly understood what it meant.
As a kid, I just thought I was crap at maths and English.
Turns out, I wasn’t crap — I just needed to learn a little differently. Realising that? Huge relief.
I scraped by with the four GCSEs needed for college and signed myself up for a media course. Why media? Coursework-based! (Translation: extra time and a computer = absolute game-changer.)
I didn’t go to uni — I went to work. Then, in my 20s, I decided to study for my CIM Marketing Diploma.
But I failed. Big time.
There was no way I was going to pass those exams without proper support. That meant biting the bullet and getting assessed as an adult.
What did dyslexia even mean? I couldn’t spell it. (How flipping ironic, right?!)
I had just enough confidence and self-esteem to go for that assessment. I cried during it.
I vividly remember being asked to arrange some shapes… and I just couldn’t see it. I didn’t get it. I felt ashamed and beaten.
But I wasn’t beaten — I was liberated.
Turns out I was also dyspraxic (something that hadn’t been tested for as a child).
That assessment gave me two life-changing tools:
Extra time in assessments
A computer (for exams and for life)
For me, the real win wasn’t just more time. It was reorganisation.
Write it, move it, tweak it, delete it.
Being able to use a computer allowed me to get my ideas across clearly — and actually be marked on what I knew. Game-changer.
💡 Don’t be afraid to discover your differences — whether that’s through formal assessment or self-reflection.
💡 Use the tools. Take the help. Choose the options that work for you.
🚀 Give yourself a leg-up. You’re not less — just different.
I’m so proud of my #dyslexic superpowers — creativity, empathy, problem solving, visualisation, communication.
Big thanks to @MadeByDyslexia for their amazing work and positive messaging.
And to my brilliant friend Hazel McDonald for digging out this pic of us (me on the left!) on CIM graduation day in Birmingham. We did it!! xx