Well its nearly Christmas / tragedy in Glasgow

Hi Blog readers

First I would like to send my condolences to the six people who died, their families and to all those affected by the tragic accident in Glasgow yesterday. Also a big thank you to all the emergency services personnel and members of the public who came to the aid of the injured.

Just the final bit of news from Dyslexia Pathways and Unique Dyslexic. We won the self starter of the week award from Startacus

November
w / c 17th November 2014

The Self Starter of the Week is Stephen McCue

Why?
Sometimes being a go-getting self starter is about more than having a business and making loads of money.  Some of the best self starters are those people who go all-in to make a positive change in the world, giving their time and talents for the good of others... people like Stephen McCue.  Stephen is a dyslexic dyslexia and inclusion specialist and founder of founded Dyslexia Pathways CIC, Scotland's first dyslexia focused social enterprise.  With funding from the Big Lottery, Foundation Scotland, Fife Cultural Trust and Fife Learning Network they are providing a wide range of support to people with dyslexia and promoting dyslexia as a difference that reflects the diversity of humanity.

Pop over to his website for more information on what they do.

Follow him on Twitter @SteveMcCue1

Or check out his Startacus profile

w/c 10th November 2014

Finally a merry Christmas and I hope a happy or happier new year to all my blog readers and to all those involved in Unique Dyslexic.

But I would also like to remind everyone that 13 million people in the UK live in poverty a third of which are children. Many are pensioners living on their own. If you can donate to a food bank or just say high to a pensioner living alone it would make someone's Christmas a little better.

regards

Steve

To say I am dead chuffed would be the biggest understatement I have ever made

HI blog readers hope you are all well and, for those who do celebrate Christmas, ready for the big day.

On Tuesday we were given a presentation by Kallum with a K at my Acorn Enterprise business incubator in Rosyth.

This week we were looking at internet marketing and internet tools. One of those tools we were introduced to was Google Alert.

So this evening I put in a little google alert on Dyslexia Pathways CIC and discovered we had been given a mention in an academic paper.

Below is a link to that academic paper:



Erasmus Academic Network paper

But here is the specific passage that mentions Dyslexia Pathways CIC

"There are numerous CICS who have succeeded in providing an intermediation function developing pathways that assist individuals with disabilities to access support to engage in academic courses and vocational qualifications. These include Dyslexia Pathways CIC, All Inclusive Disability Consultants CIC and Acute Need CIC who have all led the way for social inclusion for those within the disabled community looking to access support to enhance and develop their skillset."

To say I am chuffed would be an understatement but hey to read that we and Dyslexia Pathways CIC have been helping to lead the way for social inclusion who would not be.

Thanks for reading my blog

regards

Steve

assisstive technology and you

Hi Blog readers hope you are all well

Dyslexia Pathways CIC invites you to:

Have your say on how easy or difficult your dyslexia assistive technology / software / hardware is use.

Tell us or how useful, or not, it was to you.

Please send us a review of any software and hardware you use. 
Tell us about the companies where you bought your technology.

Let us know what dyslexia friendly strategies you use  as well


Send your views and reviews to me via a message on Facebook. Or leave a comment on my blog.

Many thanks for taking the time to read my blog

 

Fife Hospitals Kidney Support Group Christmas doo

Hi blog readers.........something not dyslexia related but still interesting to many people out their.

The family went along to the above Christmas doo today and a great time was had by all from the youngest member of the family Imogen who is 4 years old the oldest Tom Smith who is 83.

Many thanks to the committee who did a fantastic job of organising this event. To Jim Leishman Lord Provost of Fife for coming along and supporting the group. Many thanks to all the staff at the Bay View Hotel in Fife and the entertainment which was fabby. Oh and many thanks to Santa who gave all the kids a great present.

Fife Hospital Kidney Support Group do great work for kidney patients in Fife.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the family, apart from me that is, from left to right Layla Scott, Tom, Anne, Imogen, Ray and Blaine

 

A great day was had by all

 

ta for reading

 

Steve 

well I have been a busy boy these last few days lol

Hi everyone hope you are all well and, for those who celebrate it, gearing up for Christmas......Looks like it could be a white one here in Glenrothes.

I have been busy writing a Crowd Funding appeal with VC Bloom. I am looking for £3000 to pay for some time with a graphic designer to professionally realise my logo designs for tee shirts and hoodies as well as to pay the them to be printed. The logos are all about being dyslexia positive. If this goes well and we achieve our appeal goal these tee shirts and hoodies will be available around March / April.

The good news is VC Boom are happy for this appeal to go live phew. But I think I will leave going live with this until after the new year.

I am also in the middle of writing a funding bid with the Roberson Trust re the tee shirt idea.

I am also going to give Interface another go with an app idea I have. Yes I know my social media platform idea with Napier did not go very well at all. Not because it was not a good idea but because Napier Uni were going through some staffing / budget issues. Looking at the original idea maybe it was a tad, well more than a tad, ambitious. I have the plan for this app all mapped out ready for completing the first stage application form. Ahh we big picture dyslexic thinkers lol. 

I am also going to try the Impact Fund for this also. Its practically the same information required for interface but with a project budget.

I had my first meeting with my mentor from Acorn a couple days ago. We talked about the next stage of the Unique project. It was all very positive and I came away from the meeting feeling very positive as well as a couple of goals for our next meeting.

Have organised the Dyslexia Pathways CIC Christmas get together and directors meeting for Dec 20th at the Old Manor Hotel in Lundin Links. Blimey makes me feel like we are a real organisation now. This will be the first meeting for our two new directors. Dyslexia Pathways with Unique Dyslexic now has six directors. 

After the last Acorn session / presentation I have bought myself a couple of books one being 7 Habits of Highly Effective People the other 7 Habits for Highly Effective Teenagers. I thought they might help me to become more effective with my business and the other might be useful for my dyslexia support work with university students.

I have been getting a lot of responses to my little Survey Monkey survey on the experiences of dyslexics. I will be getting all the results from that survey collated after December 19th. I will probably publish them in the new year. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to complete it.

There is a link to the survey in my last blog for anyone interested in completing it.

Finally I have been writing references like a crazy man for 6 people

Phew........time to come up for air methinks lol

A little survey about being dyslexic please complete it?

Hi there blog readers

I have put together a little survey about dyslexia for all of you dyslexics, or people who think they might be dyslexic.

I would be grateful if you could take a little time to complete it.

Please do not worry to much about your spelling just give your answers as best you can. This survey is about getting your views and experiences of being dyslexic and not a test of spelling or grammar.

Please just click on the link below:



https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GYH2ZRF

Please your responses will enable us to move forward with our work at Dyslexia Pathways CIC and Unique Dyslexic.

Please accept our invitation to visit our websites to find out more about the work we do:

http://www.uniquedyslexic.com/

http://www.dyslexiapathways.com/

Many thanks for taking the time to read my blog and completing the survey.

This is the first time I have used surveymonkey so please give me any feedback about this survey.

Why it makes business sense to be dyslexia and disability friendly

Hi blog readers hope you are all well

Well every business person in the county is well aware that budgets are tight for all businesses. But every business benefits from a healthy and motivated staff.

Healthy and happy staff are more productive, less likely to take time off due to illness and stress and be far more motivated. 

A business can also serve its dyslexic / disabled customers more effectively by being dyslexia and disability friendly and it makes sound business sense as well.

Remember one happy and satisfied disabled or dyslexic customer, indeed any customer will tell their friends and give positve feedback on social media and in turn will come and buy from your business and / use your services. Every business in the country benefits from returning customers. 

Whilst I do not see dyslexia as a disability it is recognised as a disability under the disability discrimination act. Employers are required under this legislation to support disable and dyslexic staff by making reasonable adjustments.

There is support available for employers to support dyslexic / disabled staff through the government Access to Work scheme. They can provide funds to buy assistive tech software if it required for dyslexic and disabled staff. Last time I worked with Access to Work they were able to provide 90% of the costs towards equipment for dyslexic / disabled staff.

Businesses, training organisations and charities have to remember that 20% of the uk population is disabled, around 10% are dyslexic. Meeting their needs effecitvely can increase business turnover and enhance corporate image and create a more productive workforce. So it makes sound business sense to be dyslexia / disablity friendly.

Disability and dyslexia friendly solutions can benefit non dyslexic staff. Speech to text software is a far more effective and efficient way to input text into a computer.

There are also many ways to enable dyslexic and disabled staff to use the computer more effecivley.  For example many dyslexics can benefit from using different colour background colours on computers.  This could also help non dyslxic staff avoid eyestrain. This is a simple and free solution and there are many others.

Dyslexia Pathways CIC run regular dyslexia awareness training sessions which can be run for whole organisations or in groups with people from other organisations. This is probably the first step in raising awarness of dyslexia.

Then its about providing a safe environemnt where staff can discuss any dyslexia / disability disclose they are dyslexic / disabled. Maybe have a named person in HR where people feel able and comfortable to disclose.

I know it is not easy for small organisation to do this but the benefits from supporting disabled and dyslexic staff far outweigh any possible percieved negatives.

http://www.uniquedyslexic.com/

http://www.dyslexiapathways.com/

Many thanks for taking the time to read my blog

Steve McCue

ahhhh technology dontcha just love it sometimes lol

Hi blog readers hope you are all well.

Been a while since I wrote my last blog..........have been just a bit busy of late.

On the 18th I went to the Startup Summit at RBS at Gogarburn in Edinburgh. Have to say I enjoyed the day immensely. Did a lot of networking and made a good few new contacts.

I also spent the day videoing and photographing the event and all the presentations on my brand spanking new state of the art smart phone which I had bought the day before.

Normally I would write down names of people and organisations to help my dyslexic memory to remember them and what they all had to say. But today I did the video and photo thing. All very clever I was thinking to myself lol.

Until??????

Then after a long day having fun and enjoying myself I down load all the video and photos onto my computer as soon as I got home.

Oh yes I was all very pleased with myself being so dyslexia friendly to myself and already writing my blog of the day in my head.  

That was until I tried to open the files that is lol. Then to my dismay I find all the files from my phone were in a raw format and yes you guessed it my computer will not let me open the files. So all my video and photos of the day cannot be viewed at all.

I have had a good fun filled hours trying to find a way to convert the raw files into jpegs so I can see and use the images but so far with no success.

Ahhh technology dontcha just love it........

Anyway after a little search on google I got a couple of useful images:
 

 
The above is a photo of Bruce Walker young entrepreneur of the year 2014 who hosted the event. He runs these summits worldwide. Bruce is the Founder and CEO of We Are The Future, a not-for-profit organisation headquartered in Edinburgh, connecting and inspiring entrepreneurs across the world through global summits.

 

Here is a couple of logos from the summit

 

 

I have to say RBS at Gogarburn is a massive place. I had never actually been in the place until this summit and had no idea the place was so huge. Below is an overview of the place the grounds surrounding the buildings are massive also.

 
Anyway I will keep on trying to convert my raw image files into jpegs and maybe will post them all in a later blog.

The other news is I am starting a crowd funding appeal with VC Bloom to fund my tee shirt logo ideas. More on that in a later blog.

many thanks for reading my blog

Steve

Taking a rest and taking the time to do the mundain things we all need to do.

Hi blog readers hope you are all well......

Well its nearly two weeks since the Unique Dyslexic Get Creative Celebration of Creativity and I have been taking a little rest to recharge my batteries.

Well when I say taking a rest hmmmmm????

I have been attending the Acorn Enterprises Business Incubator course for just over 10 weeks now and I have to say I have learned a lot out running a business. I have also consider myself privileged to be working with everyone else on this course.  

Looks like Dyslexia Pathways CIC will be taking a new director on board in the very near future....which is just what we need right now. The new director is also dyslexic and I am certain she will be a great asset to Dyslexia Pathways CIC and Unique Dyslexic. Just a couple things need to be sorted out before I introduce here to you all.

My dyslexia support work is going ok. I am only doing one day a week at the moment but I am fully booked up every day I am working. What with the Unique thing, going to Acorn and attending my cardiology physiotherapy each week I just couldn't do any more anyway.

I just have to write two reports for the Big Lottery and Foundation Scotland as the final part of Unique Dyslexic stage one.

Even when this is done I don't think I will take any more uni dyslexia support work on. After my heart attack a few months ago I was supposed to have taken time off from work totally. But just was unable to do this because Unique Dyslexic work had to be done.

What I am going to do is focus on stage two of Unique Dyslexic, on looking for new business opportunities and to develop my tee shirt ideas further. But at a slower pace to give myself time to get my health back together.

I also have to revisit the Dyslexia Pathways website and actually add prices for the services we offer. I also have to start getting my head around Toolkit so that I can update the Unique website. Also have to do the same for the Unique Dyslexic Phone app.

Its a pain because because it means my income will drop by 80%. I usually do dyslexia support work five days a week but am now only doing one.

I actually took some time to organise all my paper work eeeep shock horror. I find paper pushing totally alien and utterly mind numbingly boring. But hey these things have to be done. 

ta for taking the time to read my blog it is very much appreciated.

Some feedback from the Unique Dyslexic Creative event

Most of my regular blog readers will know about our Unique Dyslexic Celebration of Creativity event held on 29th October 2014. This was the first event of its kind to be held in Scotland by the first social enterprise, Dyslexia Pathways CIC constituted in the UK in 1995. I thought I would share some of the great feedback we received from people who attended.

Some of the great feedback Unique Dyslexic Get Creative received for participants:

Fab Important Valid

I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot

How creative dyslexic people are

I have found out some useful information that has made me feel happy

Informed and confident

Inspired and happy

Like I have kindred spirits in Scotland Fantastic

Very happy so interesting to hear so many and empowered speaking about the creativity of dyslexics

Inspiring and Insightful

Amazing justified in how I speak about dyslexia

Just such a great event loved it

 

Very confident, able and creative

Amazing!!!

Great fun would love come to another one next year

 

Many thanks to all for taking the time to read my

blog

 

embracing dyslexia

Hello there blog readers hope you are all well

Ahhh here we go again someone telling me I am dyslexic and therefore something is not functioning properly because my brain is broken sigh. Lets wheel out the old medical model of dyslexia AGAIN!. A medical model of dyslexia that has got we dyslexics exactly nowhere. A medical model of dyslexia that shackles us to a negative stereotype that basically comes down to this. Dyslexia is a problem to be fixed.

I have just read that if we dyslexics go through one particular programme 80% of dyslexic problems disappear. Hmmmm dyslexic problems? Ahhh does this mean teacher training is going to include training on ways to support dyslexic learners in an inclusive learning environment in the future I ask myself?

Hmmmm nope not on your nelly does it.

What it means is our dyslexia issues just disappear and we are no longer dyslexic if we go through this programme. Or is it that we are still dyslexic but somehow cured of those pesky dyslexic problems?

Dyslexia does not disappear it is a part of us. It was a part of us when we were born and it will be a part of us until the day we pop our clogs and go to meet our maker. We need to be enabled to understand and work with our dyslexia.

From my perspective dyslexia is a very important part of me because it enables me to do so many very positive things well. In my life I have been a professional musician, an inclusion and dyslexia specialist, a social entrepreneur etc. I don't think I could have done any of these if I had not been dyslexic.

Dyslexia is a difference that represents the diversity inherent within the human race. How much art, how much science, philosophy etc would have been lost if it were not for the way the dyslexic brain works. I don't say the dyslexic brain is broken I do say it is just different.

Vive la difference I say.

I will finally say I do not suffer with dyslexia. I embrace it for what it gives me. But what I do suffer with is education systems that still fail the vast majority of dyslexic kids at schools all over the world.

Who I do feel for are all the dyslexic students I have worked with in colleges and universities after listening to their nightmare experiences of being dyslexic at school.

By the way happy dyslexia month to you all......keep fighting the good fight

ta for taking the time to read my blog

regards

Steve

Went the day well at the Unique Dyslexic Get Creative Celebration of Creativity



Hi Blog readers hope you are all well

October 29th 2014 saw the first Unique Dyslexic Get Creative Celebration of Creativity event. It was the culmination of Unique Dyslexic Get Creative.

Has to have been the hardest days work, most enjoyable, most joy full and most stressful day of my life. I am so proud of everyone who was involved in this project.

This was the first event of this kind to be held is Scotland and the UK. Organised and run by the first dyslexia focussed social enterprise to be constituted in the UK Dyslexia Pathways Community Interest Company.

I thank everyone, every participant of every workshop, my wife, my directors, The Lord Provost, Ross Cooper, Anita Govan Siannie Moodie and Lizzie Mcdougall, all the artists and everyone of the 60 or so people who came along to the event through out the whole day and making it such a great day.

We had people coming through the door even when we were closing down the event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lord Provost of Fife opening the event. We at Dyslexia Pathways CIC and Unique Dyslexic Get Creative have found a new friend in the Provost. He showed a keen interest in what we did and achieved over the last year 

 

 
A few pictures of me opening the event, have to say I was very nervous and I actualLy threw away all my prepared notes and made it up as I went along LOL

 

 

 
A few pictures of Ross Cooper giving us his key note speech. I think everyone I talked to was inspired by what he had to say about dyslexia, being dyslexia positive and challenging the old medical model of dyslexia. For me it was good to hear someone else saying what I have been since about dyslexia since I founded Dyslexia Pathways CIC just over 5 years ago.  

 

 

 

 

 
I have some film content from the day including film of Anita Govan and Siannie Moodie performing which I will add in the next blog. I will also be adding them to our youtube page.

The next few photos are of Lizzie who, with her beautiful quilt told us some of her aural stories. Stories which have been passed on generation after generation for over at least 800 years or more.

 

 

 

Watch this space for Unique Dyslexic Celebration of Creativity number 2 next in 2015 where we have a bigger and better event.

Many thanks for reading my blog. Watch out for movie content next week.

Remember you can still get involved in Unique Dyslexic by sending us any photos, film, poetry anything creative with us on out Facebook page and web site:

http://www.uniquedyslexic.com/


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Unique-Dyslexic-Get-Creative/1431413910440768

I have updated our Unique Dyslexic android app which I designed and built with info and photos from the event also.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this blog

#PeaceLoveGroovyness to you all