Something new I have just started working on

Hi just a new track I have started working on, just a sketch at the moment really though a lot of work to be done yet.

https://soundcloud.com/raelthing/bassywav

I dunno if this is anything to do with being dyslexic but like to chop and change what I am doing variety wise. I have not really been interested in doing anything musically for a while. But every so often the urge comes and I have to write lol

Invitaion to all you creative dyslexic and neuro different people out there accross the world

The objective of Unique Dyslexic Get Creative is to encourage,
support, promote and celebrate the creative talents of dyslexic
individuals across the full range of the creative spectrum.


You do not have to be a professional artist or writer to get involved. Unique Dyslexic is about encouraging people to start being creative as well and have fun.

You do not have to be diagnosed as dyslexic and we

welcome and encourage people from dyspraxic,

dyscalculic, AD(H)D and Aspergers communities to

share their creative talents

on the Unique Dyslexic site also. Anyone from a

neurodiverse community can share their creative

ideas and talents is welcome.

 

We also welcome anyone from the community as a

whole to come a see what we can do.

 So the invitation to get involved and get creative goes out to:

 actors, animators, sculptures, artists, comedians,

chefs, dancers, dreamers, engineers, entrepreneurs,

games designers, improvisers, information

technology geeks, inventors, film makers, musicians,

 photographers, poets,, song writers, story tellers,

 writers and visionaries.

We have to show the world what we CAN! do and do

well so please get involved.

If you are interested in attending any of the 3 creative workshops we will be running in Fife over the summer please e mail me at:

 

steve.mccue@uniquedyslexic.com

  

Please come and visit us on our brand spanking new Unique Dyslexic Get Creative website:

 

http://www.uniquedyslexic.com/

 

If you would like to show us what you can do please come and visit our Unique Dyslexic Get Creative Facebook Page:

 

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

 

If you like what you see give us a like. We already have 120 likes and are aiming for 200 over the next few weeks If you are a creative individual join our page and show us what you can do, have some fun and share your stories..

 

 

good to be back in the saddle

Hi blog readers, and listeners, hope you are all well and firing on all cylinders.

Some of you may already know that I have been taking a little break from all dyslexia related activity for just over a week now. I went away for a few days to Disney Land Paris with the kids. All of us had fun especially Layla, soon to be five years old, who we couldn't get out of the swimming pool at the hotel. She is a real water baby and a strong swimmer already with no fear of the water at all.

We had four days to explore Disney Land and I think we only scratched the surface of things to do there. If you have kids and they are into Disney in any shape or form then take your kids there. They will love you forever for it lol. But be prepared to spend a rake of cash while you are there mind......OUCH the costs for everything is really very high in the park.

Layla's faves were the Disney Parade and the Nemo roller coaster which was a quite a bumpy ride. She totally loved it best ride in the park she said. The girl has no fear at all unlike my wife who totally hates anything too fast and too bumpy lol.

On the Unique Dyslexic Get Creative front I received three expressions of interest from artists to run our visual art workshop from our advert on Creative Scotland. I put together a little brief with more detail on what we are looking for and am waiting responses to that.

As for the music workshop I am going to contact Fife College to see if we can use their music studio premises. I will be doing that today..........

The Trash for Treasure workshop is all sorted apart from a date to run this workshop.

I have got through to the second stage of my application for support from Just Enterprise. Come of you may already know that I am looking at setting up a more longer term project over a three year period. I am looking for a little support with writing applications for this.

I also received two expressions of interest from two universities through Interface. I am looking for support to set up something new on the internet and Interface gives me access to some support with this. It means I get access to more specialist support to help me realise my ideas.

On the down side if things, and I do mean the downside. The condem government have decided to, "modernise", Disabled Student Allowance. By modernise they mean cuts to, or making it harder for disabled students to access funding and support they might need at university. This is a very short sighted move by the condem government and will only serve to discourage disabled and neuro different students from going into higher education.

This is what I mean when I say it is society that disables. Cutting DSA will effectively disable dyslexic and disabled students at university.

From my experience of supporting dyslexic and disabled students at university I know DSA has been provided them with an invaluable source of support and an integral reason for their success on their chosen courses.

From my own point of view the computer equipment, software and specialist support I was able to access with my DSA enabled my to cope much better with my degree course. Indeed, I don't think I would have been able to pass my honours degree without it.

I have no idea how this might impact on my work supporting dyslexic and disabled students at university at this time. I will have to wait and see about this.

Back to some more good news. June 15th heralds the 5th anniversary of Dyslexia Pathways CIC which is a real mile stone to celebrate. Its been a tough and challenging, but very enjoyable 5 years. Many thanks to Anne, Carolynn Cruickshank Grey and Lesley Smith for all their help and support. Many thanks to Bill Blenman for all his support and super hero antics in getting Dyslexia Pathways back on line again.

The sun has got its hat on.....AT LAST! lol

Good morning from sunny Glenrothes in Fife Scotland

We had our Dyslexia Pathways CIC board meeting on Sunday.....Many thanks to Carolynn, Anne and Lesley for giving up some of their Sunday.

The main focus of the meeting was the next three Unique Dyslexic Get Creative workshops. The music workshop will now happen sometime in July the location will be in Glenrothes and involves making and recording music. Mark Small productions will be running the event for us. I am hoping we will be able to hold it at Fife College in their music studio.

The Trash for Treasure workshop will take place in August and the location will be Dunfermline. It will be about refurbishing / revamping / makeover a piece of furniture. Furniture Plus will be hosting this for us.

The visual are work shop will be taking place in Anstruther. We are having to work on this again. I have just put up an advert on the Creative Scotland site for artist practitioners to run this event for us.

One of the objectives of Unique Dyslexic Get Creative was to take the workshops out to people all over Fife. Particularly those in disadvantaged communities. I think this is one objective that is going well.

We are also looking at putting together a little graduation event after the workshops. Invite organisations in Fife along, showcase the creative works of participants of Unique Dyslexic, get in a keynote speaker etc.

Later today I am going to place an order for 50 Unique Dyslexic Get Creative t shirts. Every participant will be given one as part of their graduation. I am also looking at funding to get more printed and to pay for a graphic artist to realise my other logo designs and printed as well. I am completing a Post Code Lottery bid at this time.

We also discussed possible sources of funding for a much bigger project.

I sent of my application to the Fred Edward Trust Fellowship. Have to give them a big thank you here. I basically filled out my application form over the telephone. Saved me a huge amount of time. They then sent it to me to edit and send back. I don't have high hopes with this, its a bit of a long shot. Think they will be looking at much bigger fish from a much bigger sea for this. But like I always say.

ALWAYS CHASE YOUR DREAMS

 

A big thank you to all the brilliant artists who have shared their work on the Unique Dyslexic Get Creative web site, Facebook page and group page.

 

 

 

To all those who gave the Unique Dyslexic facebook page a like. 107 is less than two weeks...brilliant. Lets go for 200.

 

 

Invitation to anyone who is dyslexic or thinks they are dyslexic or are from any neuro diverse community to share their creative works with us all at Unique Dyslexic Get Creative.

 

 

Invitation to anyone from any community to visit us and see what we can do.

 

 

Lets promote a more positive social model of dyslexia together and develop a more positive profile of dyslexia and all neuro diversity together.

 

I am hope the link below will take you to a podcast of this blog:

 



https://soundcloud.com/raelthing/podcast-1

What does the word dyslexia mean to you?

Here are some responses I got last time I did this. What would your response to this question?

Some time ago I ask a question on Facebook and that question was: "What does the word dyslexia mean to you?" Here are some of the responses I got.

Have to say a big thanks to Sangay Glass for her help with this.


Raymond Alexander
 when I see the word Dyslexia, I immediately think of dysfunction in reading, and being "disorganized"....and wonder if that isn't why we find adjectives in the wrong places in our writing at times...why we can also type words backwards perfectly without realizing it


Gloria Allendorfer Anderson
What comes to my mind is my husband's troubles with it. I don't let him in the checkbook. It appears as a learning disability in that he can't put letters in order to make words. All the letters are there, just not in the right order. I've ...lived with this for almost 47 years and it has been a struggle to handle every single piece of paperwork that has ever come through our hands, unless it's a simple form of some sort that he can handle. He's dangerous on a computer because he misinterprets what he reads. Sounds like complaints, but this is just the way it is.


Glory Lennon

 I always thought it was when the brain sees letters in the wrong order. That must make it virtually impossible to function in a word-dominated world. Completely disheartening too for those who suffer from it.

Mike L Williams

For me, Dyslexia means seeing things in the wrong order or backwards. Letters could be backwards or written backwards. Letters in a word may be mixed up such as "backwrads" instead of "backwards". A person with dyslexia might write "doat" instead of "boat".

Mona Gallagher
yes, for a great many years I associated dyslexia with reading...my son had it. Now I know there's more to it.

Amanda Dcosta

when I think of dyslexia - I connect it with the character of a genius who's IQ is way above average man. While they have a learning disability when it comes to reading and studying skills, they are very creative and have a much better visual perception of things. They are prone to more nightmares because of their heightened imaginative powers, while at the same time they can also be able to see a much bigger picture because of their creativity which compensates for drawbacks.

 Dyslexics are generally slower at desk jobs (there are exceptions) but are good with manual work. On the other hand, they excel at arts with much more aptitude than one who is majoring in that field. (arts). I see them as very artistic and creative people. Drawbacks on the one hand while a heightened perception of select gifts on the other.

 
 Azteclord    21. Mar at 10:17  Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe

Kiazishiru    21. Mar at 10:23

This has been called out to be fake. I can't read stuff like that, I only know what this says because this same stuff keeps popping up every now and then on the places I frequent.

For me a word does exist of letters in one combination, every time you switch a letter I will see it as a different word.

Jongoff    22. Mar at 02:35

 I've done the same with different words, and it is still legible to most people who read it.

 Twisted    22. Mar at 03:33 

I know a couple of very bright people who are dyslexic and who struggle to cope with emails and spelling issues. It tends to push them into different areas so they avoid dealing with the written word and doing other things instead. For example, one is a manager and tends to try to speak to people directly rather than send emails, so she has a reputation as a great influencer with excellent interpersonal skills.

Personally I think there's a high perceptual element to dyslexia, in that people who are dyslexic find it harder to recognise patterns. There must be a compensation for this somewhere in the brain, in the same way that blind braille readers show more activity in MRI scans when touching something with their braille-reading finger than sighted people who cannot read braille.

This is also interesting: www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200310/dyslexia-and-comprehen

Rmp    22. Mar at 11:45 

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe

That's just freaky that I was able to read that effortlessly... 

Janie    24. Mar at 16:34 

word blindness

 Dlandersen   1. Apr at 23:28 

Many people have overcome dyslexia and gone on to do remarkable things, both past and present. Here is a link to a list of famous individuals all purported to have dyslexia. Don't know if that helps in your research but I've always found it interesting and inspiring.

www.dyslexia.com/famous.htm

Flick    Yesterday at 04:57

 My son was diagnosed as dyslexic at university. He'd coped until he was 16 - with help from us - as we didn't realise his problems were anything more than normal education issues. He learnt to read with no difficulty but his attention span was poor. Not all dyslexics have problems with reading. There are so many different learning difficulties lumped together as dyselxia, it's hard to give a definition. My son did the tests - where you have to repeat sequences of numbers, forward and back etc and he couldn't do it. Funnily I can't either which makes me suspect I might have some elements of the problem too. Once his teachers started to give lessons more in the form of lectures, he started to fail. He couldn't sort out the information fast enough to make notes. So when I looked at his books - they started off great and then he was doodling by the end of a paragraph. I helped him at school, by typing his notes up. (called interferring parent syndrome - oh dear) but at university I couldn't help and he wanted to leave almost immediately. But being diagnosed and told he had a recognised problem made such a difference. He was allowed to use a laptop in his exams, given more time etc and though he didn't make use of a lot of the software such as voice recognition, he did stay and finish his degree.

I'm upset that it was missed as an issue when he was younger. Signs were there and I compensated for them when I should have sought help. I did actually speak to a school psychologist at one point but he told me I was the problem not my son. Lovely. But part of it is my fault for not seeing that the problems were actual problems. i just thought he was a typical boy.

Midevil 11. Mar at 09:25

Due to a head injury, I show mild signs of dyslexia when I'm tired. I read words in the wrong order, spell them out of order, and my speech jumbles words. I also will simply stop in mid-sentence, drawing a blank, but I don't think that's anything to do with the dyslexia.

Fun4all 11. Mar at 09:50

I can't help but think of an old, politically-incorrect LOL:

Did you hear about the new group called DAM

Mothers Against Dyslexia

Seriously, I have encountered a few dyslexics who make me think of the stereotypical "absent minded professor" type. Extremely brilliant, but oddly finding a great challenge in certain activities that many of us consider extremely simple.

Also, dyslexia has long existed, but it has only recently has it become socially possible to mention that you are dyslexic without being treated like you had a mental illness or were a moron.

just a wef random thoughts

Turtlesoup 11. Mar at 09:58

dyslexia runs in my family. my brother had a lot of trouble learning to read because of it, but it's something that can be coped with. He now even enjoys reading.

It only bothers me when I'm tired or not paying attention; I'll mix up numbers or mix up my words in a sentence when I talk. Really mild in my case, so it's hardly noticeable.

I don't know how it can be called an ability. It makes clear communication difficult, so it's at least an obstacle, in some cases a disability. I'd consider it more difficult than something like stuttering, because, while stuttering gets in the way of what you're trying to say, dyslexia can get in the way of the information you take in, too.

And it can sometimes be overused as an "excuse." My brother tried to pull that when he didn't want to read something.

My favorite (non-dyslexic) mix-up story is when my husband was signing the bill for a meal and he subtracted the tip from the total instead of adding it.

That, and a little girl calling satan santa. She may or may not have been dyslexic.

Txhilljack 11. Mar at 10:17

I have been told that I in the UK would be diagnosed with mild dyslexia in addition to dyspraxia. I struggle with the inverted Peter Principal in job searching my boxing website in the words of Masters nuero diverse type displays some dyslexic in addition to dyspraxic quirks. In terms of the disability I have no clue what it would be like to have organizational skills to be easy.

In terms of dealing with a disability even in Tales of the Dead Armadillo Ace the protagonist is only dimly aware that other people do not struggle with the things he does he can not fathom the non nuero diverse world.

Birdlady 11. Mar at 14:33

In my family, there's dyslexia from one side and ADD from the other - lots of engineer/math types and artists and other right brain careers, including drunks on the ADD side.

I have an uncle who is classically dyslexic, reverses the letters (which is actually not quite what's going on, according to my ADD/dyslexic sister who studied it, more that the orientation of the letter is irrelevant, and "b" looks like "d," "p," and "q") and who has difficulty reading - he's very, very bright, but did terribly in school. I think this is what most people think of when they hear the word.

 

In the '80s, "dyslexia" was used as a catch-all word for all kinds of learning disabilities, including ADD. My sister says she reverses letters, but she has the focusing difficulties of ADD (and the temper) and she has a sort of "input/output" problem, it's hard for her to take in information that she hears verbally - she used to have terrible trouble with voice-overs in movies and tv programs. Her mental processing is top notch, and once she learned how to deal with these problems, she graduated magna cum laude from an Ivy league college, but she also barely graduated high school before she was diagnosed.

A classic way to find a bright dyslexic or ADD kid is when they don't perform well in a classroom, but do well on standardized exams, btw.

Kiazishiru  11. Mar at 15:00

I did very bad in standardized exams, too short of an attention span... Any test longer than 45 minutes/an hour will be of less quality then an 30 minute test.

I am mildly dyslectic in dutch but barely in English, which might or might not have to do with me learning English only at a later time when I had already had time to deal with how I learn words.

My boyfriend is severely dyslectic but mainly because he sees in images and not words, which means that he'll mess up all sorts of things, though it has been getting better from time to time.

Birdlady 11. Mar at 16:38

My sister could arrange for untimed tests once she proved she was dyslexic, but yes, she had trouble, too. It's the focusing problems with ADD.

On the good side, I'm not ADD, but I have some tendencies that way, and I invariably befriend people who are ADD or dyslexic - they are so much fun and creative.

Pennycandy 11. Mar at 17:59
 My dyslexic daughter's comment. I asked her if she told her honors student boyfriend about her dyslexia. She said,"No." I asked, "Doesn't he question why you're in pull out classes for reading?" She said, "I'd rather. tell people I'm lazy." Sad

Birdlady 11. Mar at 18:10

This is back from the 80s, so I HOPE this isn't the case anymore, but a lot of people considered dyslexia a real stigma for some reason.

Or worse, when my then 20-year-old sister attended a school for dyslexics, she met another gal in her 20s who was only just diagnosed. This girl had two brothers who were dyslexic who were diagnosed as kids, but her family just thought, well, she's a girl, she's just stupid.

Mammamaia  11. Mar at 20:45

to me it means the dyslexic person does not see writing and numbers the way the rest of us do... in my daughters case, lines of math numbers 'slid' out of place, so the solution was to use graph paper for her math work... worked like a charm...

spelling and other word/writing issues seem to be harder to manage, though... and i don't know how that's dealt with...

i would definitely consider it a 'disability' and can't see how it could be considered an 'ability'...

Larkenrye  11. Mar at 22:56

My friend once told me had our teacher wrote everything on the board backward and/or upside down, she could still read it perfectly fine. She really has a great grasp of the English language, and of math.

Other languages were much harder, though. To someone who's had to work to get as good as she is at English (she was placed in a special program based on repetition and a reward/punishment system in elementary school), it makes sense that she'd have to work harder to learn even more rules of spelling and the like.

Another thing that comes to mind is the joke "Dyslexics untie."

Having dyslexia by no means that you can't have a good grasp of language in all its forms. But it did take this friend much longer to learn things than other people, at least initially (partially because she was diagnosed late). For her, I don't think it's turned out to be much of a disability—instead, she's developed much better techniques that will help her later in her school career. She knows how to study, knows how to ask questions, and gets very good grades. Even better, she knows what she needs to do to get work done. Overall, I'd say her dyslexia has made her an even more confident person than she might have been without it.

 

I guess the disability/ability thing also has a lot to do with a person's outlook on life.

Birdlady 12. Mar at 00:26

Just remembered about a good friend of mine who was diagnosed by a neighbor as dyslexic in elementary school, so she got help early on. She's a voracious reader now, so, once she had the right instruction on how to deal with it, it didn't slow her down. But to this day, unless she thinks about it, she will write each word perfectly backwards. I've seen her do it - she'll be talking while writing, and then she'll go "tsk" and shake her head and wave at the computer screen, and there will be this sentence, all the words in the right order, but each word typed in reverse.

 
I don't hold much with pc talk, but my experience with dyslexics really leads me to call it "differently abled" - if you approach it with the right teaching methods, it's fine, it just needs different methods than the standard more left-brained teaching techniques (this does depend on the severity of it, I agree). Dyslexics need more instruction on how to organize things, but they wind up being the most organized people I know - they kind of have to be. My friend above will line up her paper clips in her drawer. They are naturally unstructured people, and thus have to impose structure heavily, but that's a good survival skill a lot of us need to have. I lean this way myself; if I don't rigorously impose a structure on my time, I can daydream the whole day away.

Txhilljack 12. Mar at 13:24

One thing many learning disabled people suffer with is what I call the inverted Peter Principal....in the job market the tasks of entry level work is where their weaknesses stick out like a 747 on airport full of Cessna 172s. Their formidable strengths are underutlized.

Luke 12. Mar at 15:58

"Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomniac? He stayed up all night wondering if there really is a dog."

Inversion is what I think of. I know a guy who has it and had to work with him, so I have a basic understanding. From what little I know, it's not just about seeing things backwards or out of order, but also about flipping things around in your head.

Marysipe 13. Mar at 21:22

I'm dyslexic with a heavy auditory component. I can't understand people who mumble and I have a lot of trouble with other languages, because the sounds combined with whatever sound is nearby. If my brain doesn't already know how the sounds are supposed to be ordered, I can't distinguish between one word and the next. It shows in my typing, too. I'll be writing and find that I've typed "shaft" when I meant to type "she asked," or "hand" when I meant to type "he and," because I fix on certain sounds and the rest doesn't always get spelled out in my head before I move on to the next word.

 

I also tend to drop the endings off my words. I'll type "she jump," or "he was run" instead of "she jumped" or "he was running." I often confuse and reverse numbers and letters, but it's not just because of their shapes. For instance, I confuse "6" with "8" instead of "9" because both six and eight are even. That's actually more when I have to read aloud or when I'm trying to say a series of numbers or spell a word. Although sometimes I'll look at a word and if I'm not concentrating I'll fixate on one or two letters and substitute a different word with those letters. I have to focus on one thing at a time in order to get it right, and so I suck at multitasking and I get really annoyed if someone breaks my concentration.

 

I've had to work really hard to get where I am in regards to spelling, grammar and composition. I don't know if I'd call dyslexia a disability. I mean, it can be a challenge, absolutely. And maybe people who have it worse than I have a reason to feel like it is. I think that my dyslexia made me push even harder to get things right (Typed "write." I do that all the time.), but I hardly think it's my place to tell someone that they're not disabled when they're frustrated and having trouble learning or doing something. Coping strategies are out there and they help a lot of people, but what works for me isn't necessarily going to work for anyone else. I think it's important to take each person on a case-by-case basis. (Typed "business" because I got distracted.) Just my 2 cents.

Edited to add: I just noticed that when posting a thread in my private forum last night, I reversed two words. *facepalms* I hate when I don't catch these things.
r Kukkee

 

 

On a more serious note...........

It is the society which disables many dyslexics. It does so in schools that fail to educate dyslexic kids an ways they can access the learning effectively using recourses that are not dyslexia friendly by teachers who are not trained to work with them in a learning inclusive classroom.

I am placing no blame on teachers here. It is a lack to teacher training and political will that is responsible for this. Schools themselves fail to provide adequate support for dyslexic kids because of budget constraints.

In doing this success in education becomes much harder, if not impossible, because it stops or hinders dyslexics from functioning, communicating and succeeding in school as effectively as people who are not dyslexic.

In the main the education system is designed by non dyslexics for non dyslexic learners. We as dyslexic learners have to fit into the system rather than the system fit around us and our needs.

The ultimate irony of all this is that making a classroom more dyslexia friendly is better for all in the class. Because all of us, dyslexic, none dyslexic and neurodiverse, learn in different ways. These learning needs have to be met if all our kids are going to have a positive experience of school.

We all have different learning styles, strengths and weaknesses. All kids would learn better in an inclusive classroom in which more children are empowered to learn more effectively.

Of course there are some great dyslexia and disability friendly schools out there. But they are the exception rather than the rule.

Then when we leave school society does not provide the same opportunities for dyslexics. I do not have the data for dyslexics alone. But research done by the Shaw Trust found that disabled people are more than twice as likely as non-disabled people to have no qualifications, and only about half of impaired people of working age who can work are in work, compared with 80% of non disabled people of working age.

In a study done by the British Dyslexia Association of prisoners in Chelmsford Prison indicated that 53% of prisoners were dyslexic.

This is a crazy situation when you think about it. 10% of the population in the UK is dyslexic.

This is a waste of potential, a waste of people’s lives, a waste of potential talent and just wrong and unjustifiable.

Being dyslexic brings with it a number of very positive attributes including.

·      Creativity

·      Unique problem solving

·      A vivid imagination

·      Big picture thinkers

·      High emotional intelligence

·      Empathic

·      An ability to see out of the box

·      Persistent

·      Determination

Maybe it’s these positive attributes that make us such great entrepreneurs. Maybe the negative experiences of school push us down the entrepreneurial route. Maybe it’s a mixture of both. But what I can say is that studys show that between 25% to 35% of entrepreneurs are dyslexic.

If we look at the medical model of dyslexia it tell us it’s a condition, it’s a disability in essence when something falls under the medical domain it implies it needs to be cured.

But where would we be without the dyslexic talents of dyslexics such as: Thomas Edison, Einstein, Michael Faraday, Agatha Christy, John Lennon, Nigel Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Bill Gates, Picasso, Zara Reid etc and the list could go on and on.

Dyslexics are always being told what we cannot do when we should be focussing on what we can do and believe me we can do a great many things and do them well.

When I was a student at university one lecturer said to me that I would never pass any exams with hand writing like that. The next year I moved to a different university where I was assessed as dyslexic and given access to a computer. Hand writing problem hmmmm ok it was still there but it no longer disabled me.

Dyslexia and access to a computer enabled me to pass an honours degree, to become an inclusion and dyslexia specialist and it enable me to become a social entrepreneur and compser. Access to a computer unlocked that dyslexic potential. It enabled me to chase my dreams.

If I had one thing to say to every dyslexic it is, “always chase your dreams”.

My experiences both as a dyslexic and a dyslexia specialist, whatever that is, have lead to advocating the social model of dyslexia. I do not have a dyslexic condition,  I do not have a disability and I would never want to be cured.

A peaceful day? lol Naaahhhh not here

Hi blog readers hope you are all well and firing on all cylinders. We will be having Dyslexia Pathways CIC board meeting on Sunday. The main topic of conversation will be the next three Unique Dyslexic Get Creative workshops to be held over the summer 2014. The good news is we have something sorted for each of the three workshops.

The music workshop will involve making and recording music made by participants and will be run by Mark Small Productions:

Two basic recording set ups will be available to have fun with. These would include microphones and synthesizers. Musical parts could then be recorded onto the production software and used to build musical pieces. The attendees at the workshop could bring any instruments they play, these can be incorporated into their project, vocals can also be recorded with these set ups.

The aim would be to have the participants use both the production set ups over the course of the day. Their finished pieces can be put onto CDs for them to take home. The sessions would  cover basic recording and editing techniques. Pre-recorded samples to build the tracks, this will allow any participants who may not own or play an instrument to build a track in a style and genre of their choosing.

 

There is a huge sample library and can pretty much cover any particular style. The main objective would be to keep the sessions fun, and who knows we may even discover some hidden talent.

 

The visual art workshop will possibly have two things going on at the same time depending on demand. The workshop will be run by practicing artists/  arts educator  Gillian Adair McFarland and Chloe Rayner. 

Gillian says, "This workshop will have a theme of "Go Create" An action packed session with printing, pressing and framing and filming...the opportunity to make your own framed art pieces as well as creating a short animated youtube clip from a flick book format"

 

The third workshop is being run by Furniture Plus and is called Trash to Treasure.  On the day choose from a selection of chairs from the showroom, where we will be up-cycling with paint and learning some simple upholstery techniques.

All materials, furniture are provided and we even throw in lunch. No previous experience is needed. Go home with a completely unique piece...perhaps a gift for someone else?

 

As with our first workshop they are all free of charge, lunch and travel expenses are provided. Some help with child care costs may also be available.

 

We have yet to finalise dates and locations but workshops will be held in locations around Fife. We welcome any one from Fife, Edinburgh or Dundee areas to attend.

 

I have to say places are limited to a maximum of twelve participants for each workshop. 

 

You do not have to be diagnosed as dyslexic and we
welcome dyspraxic, dyscalculic, AD(H)D and
Aspergers) individuals at these workshops.

 

If you are interested in attending any of the workshops please e mail me at:

 

steve.mccue@uniquedyslexic.com

 

We will be actively promoting the workshops in the near future.

 

Please come and visit us on our brand spanking new Unique Dyslexic Get Creative website:

 

http://www.uniquedyslexic.com/

 

and Facebook Page:

 

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

 

If you like what you see give us a like. We already have 89 likes and the page has only been active for around a week. If you are a creative individual join our page and show us what you can do, have some fun and share your stories..