Living with Dyslexia: An adult’s journey
Although Hannah was diagnosed with Dyslexia in the 1990’s while in primary school, this did not stop Hannah from having a successful corporate career, so we wanted to understand more about Hannah’s journey with Dyslexia from childhood to adulthood.
When were you first diagnosed with Dyslexia?
I was assessed and diagnosed late in primary / elementary school. From a very young age I had problems with my eyesight, which involved a lot of eye training. As this eye training progressed it was recognised that some of the issues may not be just because I wasn’t able to see things clearly and that’s when specialised testing for Dyslexia was recommended.
Did you notice that reading was a challenge at school?
I dreaded reading at school and to be fair I still dread being asked to read something out loud even as an adult when I haven’t been given time to pre-read it. Reading was never easy and I often avoided it altogether. I couldn’t sound-out new words and struggled with putting the letters into the right order. I also struggled with numbers, which is called Dyscalculia, and in addition to my Dyslexia is something I still struggle with every day. Unfortunately, in my school years, there wasn’t as much support, awareness and access to tools that we have today. A lot of the burden of my diagnosis and finding the right tools fell on my parents and I’m very grateful for the extra effort they put into giving me the best platform for adulthood possible. Was there any underlying reason to finding reading a challenge? As mentioned before, my eyesight has always been an issue. I also have a family history on my dad’s side. Unfortunately, my uncle was severely Dyslexic and was unable to read or write for most of his life.
Did it affect any other areas of your life at the time?
Upon reflecting many years later, I have come to realise that whilst there may have been more hurdles to jump with my Dyslexia, it has also given me a set of thinking skills that are uniquely mine and I tend to find they are somewhat more creative. I personally believe my Dyslexia and having the right tools has enabled me to see past some of the more trivial details in a problem to gain a better understanding of a whole picture quickly.
Was intervention available at your school or near where you lived?
My family was given tools to help with learning at home but unfortunately in-school intervention wasn’t available until secondary school, and even then, it was more on a teacher-by-teacher basis and not a formalised program. I was lucky that because of my diagnosis and the tools I was utilising I was eligible for and got into an ALFHA (Advanced Learning For High Achievers) program at my high school. They recognised that whilst my reading and writing may have been a little behind my peers, my vocabulary and listening comprehension was actually more advanced than others. The ability to be included with this academic program, even with Dyslexia, was the start of accepting Dyslexia didn’t need to define my journey.
How did you cope with it as a child?
I really struggled with it as a child. I had fantastic family support but it wasn’t until my second year in high school that everything really started to click for me and my brain. Once I had the right tools and using them became second nature, I found that I started to enjoy conventional school learning environments. Before this the subjects I excelled in were PE, shop (metal and woodwork), home economics, all subjects that required a lot less reading and more physically doing, therefore a lot less anxiety for me!
How do you find reading now that you’re an adult?
I love reading but it’s not a fast process for me. I have found the types of books that I enjoy most (thriller, crime and science fiction/fantasy) and some favourite authors. As an adult I find I don’t read unless I’m enjoying it, which in my case usually means non-fiction books don’t get a look in. Growing up, Mum was always reading, so I grew up knowing that if I found the right books for me, I really believed I could find enjoyment in my reading too, it just took until my late teens to get there.
How did you manage a corporate career? And were your colleagues aware that you had reading difficulties?
The corporate world was where my skillset fit the most for a career but it wasn’t an easy start. Unfortunately, the positions I worked in required a large amount of attention to detail in very text heavy roles, with little understanding of Dyslexia and a stigma around it. This resulted in me not disclosing it to anyone throughout my teens and early 20’s. As my career progressed, I found I would disclose it to managers but only after I had proven myself in a role. I can count on one hand how many people I have told about my disability in a corporate environment and I have never disclosed my diagnosis to any of my HR departments, as this is a narrative of my story I still wish to control through discussions and not a ticked box in a online system. I am far more open about my Dyslexia in my general life now, but I am also more confident in my capabilities and acceptance that Dyslexia does not define me. It has also been really encouraging to work with organisations in recent years that have great diversity and inclusion policies, with more corporate companies implementing them as society transitions to understanding and accepting more parts of life outside of the ‘mainstream’.
Are there any strategies, techniques or technology that you use to help you with day-to-day life?
Doing things on computers really changed my life. I struggled a lot in school with low marks for all of the spelling errors I made. I’ve found with advances in technology, I utilise spellcheck and Google’s ‘define’ feature the most, these allow me to write with confidence. One of my major issues is that what I think and say/write aren’t the same thing, so one of the tools I utilise in my computer is the dictionary. I know there are words that I confuse all the time, so I add them to the dictionary that way if I jumble up the letters then the computer will autocorrect them for me. This won’t help if I’m thinking of the word ‘green’ but say/write the word ‘blue’ instead, but it does help when I thinking of the word ‘simplicity’ and type ‘smpilicity’ instead. Because sounding out of words doesn’t work for my brain, I also use Google’s ‘define’ feature a lot. By doing this if I’ve spelt the word incorrectly it usually gives me options of what I was actually trying to look up. It also gives me the definition of the word to make sure it’s what I meant to write. When it’s not the right word I will use the thesaurus to try and find what I meant. Additionally, I also have a process when reviewing text whereby I read, say and hear all in one. I will read the text using my finger to follow each individual word to make sure I haven’t skipped any filler words (e.g., and, or, on, a, etc). With each word I read it, say it out loud and in turn hear it, therefore making sure that what I think is actually what I’m writing. This helps me ensure that what I’m thinking, reading, hearing and saying are all the same. Because these are all solutions when writing I find that my speech when talking to people is far less eloquent and expressive and I often substitute with more simple words. In my early adult years this often frustrated me I struggled with not sounding as articulate as others around me, but acceptance came in my late 20’s when I realised everyone has their own path. My path is that writing is far truer to the capability of my brain and that nobody but me cares what words I use if my point is still made.
Is there anything you wish had of been different when you were a child, in terms of services or support?
I didn’t have easy access to assistance and support, it was something my parents had to really chase and I will forever be grateful for their drive to get me as much help within their means as possible. At home we did a lot of reading, no matter how much I protested that I did way more than my siblings! I don’t remember a lot of the tools that they used but one that sticks out to me was a word box, which is a rectangle with a pull-back slide and as I tried to sound the word out and spell it you would pull the sliding part back to reveal the divided sections of the word to see if I had correctly spelt it. In a perfect world all of the tools to help dyslexia should be easily accessible to everyone, no matter your background or financial situation. I also wish I had understood earlier on that everyone is different and the ways that my brain doesn’t connect something as quickly as other peoples do, I will also have ways that my brain works on solutions that others don’t have. This understanding was key to me accepting that Dyslexia for me isn’t a barrier but rather a different path my brain has to take. In taking these different paths to get to the same end point I may just be unlocking a new way of thinking that most other people don’t have to unlock. It’s often these other paths of thinking that will help me in so many other areas of life. Dyslexia is not something I have outgrown; it is something that I have been given the right tools to handle life with. I often think my journey to reading and spelling is like lining up to 100m hurdle run against others doing the 100m sprint, we all have the same finish line to reach I just have a couple of obstacles to get over before I get there!
We would like to thank Hannah for being so eloquent, open and honest about her journey with dyslexia as a child and now as an adult. Contact The Reading Specialists today if you suspect your child may need a little help.
