Dyslexia, Its a nature nurture thing. We are the #fab 1 in ten

we are the #fab 1 in ten

Hi blog readers and social media followers

As a dyslexic I have been thinking more and about dyslexia as a life experience. 

I experience and make sense of and understand the world through my dyslexic prism. Being dyslexic through eyes, thought processes, decision making and dyslexics senses. There is not a blob in my head that is dyslexic and the rest isn't, it is much more complicated than that.

All of us have different lives have different life experiences as children and adults which can impact on how we manage our lives as a dyslexic.


It's a nature nurture thing.

I was born dyslexic, no getting away from that, thank gawd. That's the nature side of dyslexia. 

Then there is the nurture side. Our experience with family, school, friends etc. The nurture side is ongoing and shapes us and who we are through our lives.

Our dyslexia unfriendly education system can leave many dyslexics with feelings low self esteem, self confident, self worth and even long term mental health issues.

But we can all overcome these issues. For me personally relationships with friends and my wife, reading sci fi comics and books, becoming a musician and computer game player etc all helped me to overcome these issues when I was an assessed dyslexic. 

I had a dyslexia assessment at age 35.

This assessment enabled me to make sense of my inability to succeed at school. It enabled me to realize I was not as thick as a brick at school. That is was our dyslexic unfriendly education system that failed me not myself. Only a dyslexic can comprehend how liberating the realization of this can be. 

But the effects of experiences at school can still come to the surface even today. I can still experience periods of low self esteem and depression etc. I can still scold and berate myself for being an idiot. I can say things about my self to myself that would never say about anyone else. 

My own research showed:

The vast majority of assessed dyslexics, 71%, leave school without being assessed. More to the point so many dyslexics never receive an dyslexia assessment never find out they are dyslexic. Nobody really knows how many un-assessed dyslexic adults are out there. But I think this number is very high. At least my research suggest it high. 

It's no wonder that so many of us hate being dyslexic, can even feel ashamed of being dyslexic. Many will never know the answers to why they feel how they feel. To why they have struggled all through their lives. 
Question to you all:


How do you feel about being dyslexic?

Please leave your thoughts in the comments section of this blog or on my social media.

Dyslexia is about diversity and difference not about disability and deficits.






Its what makes us unique. Humanity and nature have thrived  because of diversity and difference.

I know it seems nuts to many dyslexics because of their negative experiences at school. I know this because I know this from my own life experiences as a dyslexic as well as from listening to life stories from the dyslexics I have worked with. But I love being dyslexic. 

So it's also understandable that so many of us hate being dyslexic.
 


But is it we who have a problem or our dyslexia unfriendly society?


Anyways thats enough for this blog

Peace love and groovyness to you all

Photo from our Unique Dyslexic Get Creative exhibition, taken with the Lord Provost of Fife