Tag: Sam the Dyslexic

Because I am Dyslexic or because I am I just stupid ….?!?!

Iv previous talked about my emotional battle with my dyslexia,but one thing I haven’t touched on is that I have always battled with the above question which sounds controversial but seems to always haunt me ….”is it because I am dyslexic or is it because I am stupid?”

Last month

It’s 10:30pm, my car is parked at the rear of the police station with me in the drivers seat, my head is in my hands, emotions spinning sad/angry/embarrassed, asking how the f@ck did that happen!

Six hours earlier 

I’m sat at a desk with two of my team following countless hours of revision and shifts practicing night passages hoping to pass our advanced power boat commercially endorsed exam which has been 4 years in the making! 

I’m pretty sure nerves were hitting all of us. First up was the writen exam which traditionally is always my nemeses regardless of the subject or how prepared I am. However on this occasion the hours of revision Kicked in and I smashed it, couple of silly mind blanks but flew through with no issues.

Next is planning your night passage. Basically you need to navigate the boat to a charted deep hole in a river in the dark close to shallow mud flats with out using any chart plotters (boat sat nav) and only using a number of bearings to get from A to B to C to D. You lay your chart on the table and draw a safe route from A to D then put that in a writen format that you can translate in the dark using a faint red light to direct the helm (driver) later that night. Get from A to D as per your plan safely and you pass. Don’t get to D or go off track and you fail. 

My plan was created,  my bearings set, my distances checked and the danger areas noted. What could go wrong…..

We left the safety of the inner harbour and was tested on our skills in handerling the boat. He put us under a little pressure in the bad weather but we all sailed through it with no issues. 

Then comes the navigation practical. My team buddies were up first and both smashed it with no issue. Was so happy for them when we turned on the plotter and saw they were where they needed to be! 

My turn

I take a couple of minutes sorting myself out, getting my passage plan out and ready, turning my small red light on so not to dazzle the helm and then set off. My spot depth I was looking for was down a small creek with large mud banks either side that were hidden with the tide making a real risk of running the boat aground. 

For me to get to that spot depth I actually had to find another one first so to get the angle right to safely get into the creek. All was going well and I nailed that first spot depth which gave me a huge confidence boost. I told Ryan who was driving to turn to a new bearing but as we turned I knew something was not right. Some of the transit lights I was using to guide me in were in the wrong places. Then the worst thing happens, the examiner said are you sure about your course, I looked at the depth of the water which was rapidly dropping to a dangerous level. He then stepped in again and said I needed to turn to port. I eventually found my location but it was to late the examiner had to step in. When we got back we checked my last bearing 230 degree however it should of been 203. My brain in the heat of the pressure of planning my passage in the class room had mixed the numbers around the wrong way!!! “Im sorry Sam I just can’t pass you for that mistake as you would have been on the mud”

Over the years dyslexia has caught me out many a time but this for me really got me! I proper mentally beat myself up. This can’t be dyslexia I’m just thick!!!!who makes stupid mistakes like that!!!! maybe I’m not good enough to be on my team!?!?!

Once you fall into that whole it’s a hard climb to get out of it.

The person who threw me that rope was my mate Ben who is the teams lead marine trainer. He told me not to worry and let’s get it re booked as soon as we can. He changed his shifts so we could get more time out at night to keep the skills up and then a month later I was sat in the same class room ready for the retake. 

The examiner was different this time, seemed more personable and calming. His theory test was verbal rather than a writen exam. He did this because his son was dyslexic and believed this was a more dyslexia friendly way of doing it. Wow it was a lot harder this time around but his concept was better and somehow I sailed through it no issues at all.

Then came planning the night passage. I spent so much time running Mocs in all the creeks in the river however he give me a depth in the deep blue of the estuary! I hadn’t practiced there at all. However I laid my charts out and found a safe route. I checked all my bearings so many times that it gave me a headache.

We went out and ran the course with Ben as my helm who I directed and I smashed it, bang on the spot with no issues. A shake of the hand confirmed I had done it! 

After it was all done me and Ben stuffed ourselfs at kfc! Felt good. I had not only climbed out of that deep hole but carried on to cloud nine. I sat there and thought to myself whilst necking a zinger tower burger that maybe I’m not thick after all and just need to remember dyslexia is manageable if you stay calm and keep on top of it!

It’s harder being dyslexic because you have to check everything twice but the rewards are far greater when it all works out. I guess the moral of the story is under pressure you have to check and check again. But if you do make that mistake like i did then rather throw yourself in a hole just pick your self up and learn from it. That then is a bloody good driver for ensuring you achieve next time!

The Fear of Failure and Drive for Success

Exams, Pressure and Banta 

No matter what job you are in at some point there will be an element of stress layed upon you whether induced by pressure in getting the job done to people causing you issues or even just making life difficult. This some times can bring on a sense of fear of failure.

For me that fear of failure is alway present around the word EXAM! There seems to be two types of exams in the old bill; the good old knowledge check that can be talked through and isn’t there to catch you out AND then you have the Exam Exam! 

An Exam Exam is the type the feels like it is trying to catch you out. 

Recently I have done one of each of these exams and thankfully passed both but they came with different stresses that is not only induced by the pressure put on by yourself but also from the people running them!

I recently attended a specialist course out of county. When you enter the room for a first day of a course you tend to get an indercation from the atmosphere of how the whole thing is going to play out.

The differences of this course was there was an exam the first day. Because the course was a combination of two diserplins you were expected to know both subject manules inside out.

On top of that not only to make things worse, three days earlyer I had just completed a two weeks medics course which also had an exam. So I ended up revising multiple subjects each night with my brain spinning like plates on sticks!!

It was a strange experience for me because I felt slightly confident as I had done a good amount of revision but the atmosphere in the room started to over shadow that positive feeling. Following introduction from the staff it seemed as if they were laying a lot of pressure on this exam to the point that there was talk of if you fail by a certain percentage then that could result in you going home. So this was an out of county course which involved two of us travelling up in one car. So if I failed Iv now got that added pressure of having to find my way home.

The exam came with in half hour of sitting down on day one! I really did nuckel down and revise but this was not a easy at all. Some of the questions were not dyslexic friendly. Certain answers being similar which meant it was easy to miss read and chose the wrong answer which I did one one question.

However I reached the pass mark needed to continue. It then seemed that staff down played that stress which was placed on the class saying not to worry if you failed as there will be another opportunity and a chance to speak to staff regarding this but not to worry! It was interesting because they told the class that they would not say who failed and would make them aware of a time they would need to see staff to talk about what went wrong. But just after saying that they placed postet notes on certain desks with times written on for the rest of the class to see!!! Another mind game….?!?

In comparison as I mentioned earlyer the week before I successfully completed a two week intense public order medics course. It basically teaches you to treat colleages and members of the public in up to a full riot situation where ambulances can not get too.

It was a very practical course as you could imagine but the difference being that it built in learning for the written exam. This then took the stress out of the written exam and allowed you to focus on the constant practical sessions needed to get accredited. The trainers were there because they wanted you to pass and there was no negative atmosphere surrounding the whole course. By far this was the best course I have ever done but also one of the most challenging. I can not stress how much of a dirfence it makes when you have the right trainers with the right attituded!

The key to any course I guess is the balance of hard graft, time invested and a good positive relationship with the other course members. That banta level / team positive attitude will be the key factor in the over all success of the group. 

I have just done the Sergeants exam and for me this was the hardest exam I have ever done. There was a lot of blood sweat and tears that went into that process. This will be the topic of my next blog so not wanting to spoil the plot I will save it all for the next blog 🙂

If you liked the blog please follow me on twitter @samthedyslexic

Police, Dyslexia and Me!

Whether you are dyslexic or not life will test you. It push you and it will take you places you might not want to go. BUT if you use that energy then you can do anything.

I guess that is how my story began in my current career as a serving British police officer.

Every story starts with a hard first chapter but it’s not about the 1st 20 pages, it’s about the book, the journey, the decision and the outcomes.

2007 I was sat in a huge briefing room with about 200 other prospective candidates. A video was played which showed police cars screaming down the road chasing the bandit car, helicopters tracking suspects using infer red and fast ribs crashing through waves. It was every prospective coppers dream that really got the blood rushing!

The briefing was in its closing stage when the staff member asked for one of the candidates to stay behind. Everyone looked around to see who was being singled out. I didn’t need to look around because the name that was called out was mine.

I meet the staff member who asked if I was dyslexic to which I confirmed. 
I was told that the force could not discriminate (to which I was thinking this is positive).

They then continued and said “against everyone else”. That positive thinking then was lost in confusion. I was told that there was a five spelling mistake cap and that this would still apply to me. That buzz I had from that earlyer presentation was completely blown away following a 30 second conversation with that person. I explained that there is no way I could achieve this to which I was offered a suggestion of using “simpler words”.

The emotions spilled over and I said “shall I also bring my crayons along too”.

I left that briefing with an attitude of what is the point of even doing the exam. What is the point of applying for any job let alone the old bill. My normal up beat attitude was hammered into the ground.

However I picked myself up, revised hard, practiced my spelling and did the exam to which I……..still failed.

I was in turn offed a role as a police community support officer which I did for three year and then re did the exam when this rule was taken away to which I passed. 

I am now up to 10 years as a serving British police officer and can say that I have had a good career so far working on tactical units and now working in the marine world but it has not all been plain sailing (excuse the pun)

Spelling!!! I can not stress how much this word has got me into trouble. My first hand written statement which I took from a retired teacher is a good example. Following its completion and then needing to sign to say this is correct, they started to pick up on my spelling, pulled out a red pen, corrected it and asked if I could re write it. How embarrassing!!! Funny now but then as a brand new PC out of the box it was devastating.

Typed statements using spell check were not much better. I had to write a crown court statement about me chasing a suspect to which I thought I had written “I pursued a male over the course of 5 minuets” but following being proof read by a friend I had actually written “I perused a male over the course of 5 minuets!!” That got some laughs in the office but again it knocks you down because you can’t even use spell check properly. Iv also put someone’s occupation down as retarded rather than retired!!

My main issue has always been E-learning. Packages are getting better but still they are mainly bulk text with little Video interaction. I have always asked the question about if I get training on a subject and I don’t understand it then subsequently I do something wrong then who is to blame? Me for not understanding it or the organisation for not providing a package I can reasonably learn from.

I put some of my issues to a force culture board and from that was made a dyslexic Spoc or point of contact. 

I wanted to see if it was just me or if there were other people out there having the same problems.

So with management approval I basically wrote an email to all staff across my division throwing my self under the bus. Highlighting these embarrassing stories that have happened to me to try and show people that this does happen and you should not have to be embarrassed about having dyslexia.

I got over 30 emails with a really positive response. Majority of people thought they might be dyslexic but didn’t know how to find out. However one person said they were days away from leaving because they were not getting support from the job and the laptop they were promised was no where to be seen. There are so many other examples but it got me thinking that this was only from 1 division. If this went force wide or either nation wide how many people are suffering on the edge of wanting to leave? No mater how much organisations say that they have processes in place people always slip through the net.

However things are changing and dyslexia is becoming more understood in the policing world. There is still so much more that needs to be done. I was surprised how many people were happy and felt comftable  talking to me including ranked officers because I was just a PC. 

My goal in writing this blog and doing organisation talks is to promote the idea of having points of contact who are accessible for everyone in the workplace. Support services are still key and should not be substituted but sometimes people want to get advice from people that are living it and have experienced similar situations. Even if you help one person then that may be the difference between them leaving or staying.

For me following all the hurdles half of which I haven’t been able to mention I have still managed to progress to the job of my dreams working in the marine world. Even this has tested me with exams, intense learning and working in a very competitive area.

In summery of this blog, I guess your success depends on you, your supervisors and the organisation as a whole. All three of these can create barriers but the good thing about being dyslexic is thinking out of the box and finding ways to go around the problem. But organisations can only change if people are prepared to put the head up and say this is not right. There for whether you are dyslexic or someone who supervises someone who is dyslexic then we all have a responsibility to drive positive change.

The comments section does not work on this site but please let me know your thoughts at @samthedyslexic

I hope you enjoyed reading this. For me it was a big step putting pen to paper but I really want to help people with my experiences.

Dyslexic Dating – Tinder Nightmare

Brief history

Before i start this blog i would just like to start by saying I am married now!!!! Not sure how she puts up with me but I am. However prior to this I had a period of about 6 years of being single and not really finding the right girl following a really long 10 year relationship from like the age of 15 to 25!!! It was a weird time of my life from going from being so young and really into someone knowing nothing else  to an emptyness and feeling quite lonely.

I was also in a group of friends that were either all married or had long term partners. for your average single person this can be a bit poo and you kind of feel like a 3rd wheel which I’m sure you will all agree is not much fun.

Internet dating 

So following ages of mopping around feeling sorry for myself my friend Jenna (who sadly passed away recently but if she were here I’m sure would smile) set me up on this app she called “TINDER”. 

If i am completely honest I had no idea what it was or what you did. I generally thought that internet dating was something that sad lonely people did because they were feeling sorry for them selfs and did not have the confidence to chat people up in the more traditional manner. However when thinking that statement back to myself I realised that the person I was imagining in my mind was actually me!!!! Based on the fact that i had just branded myself a sad and lonely man i decided to hand my phone over and let her set it up. I think there used to be a stigma around online dating but I soon found out loads of single people did it as every one is so busy to go out and meet people!

Literally couple of minuets later she had already set up a profile with a photo she had found on my facebook page and began to start swiping my phone. At that point I was not ofay with the ins and outs of working the app but apparently swiping right is a yes to a picture of a girl and swipe left or no (little shallow i think). So when jenna was continually swiping left i thought I better ask what she was doing. Basically she was going through the girls picking who she thought would be good for me!! I took control of my phone and started to have a go.

Problem number one of internet dating when you are dyslexic……. getting your rights and lefts mixed up can cause you issues. It soon became apparent that I was swiping left to people i did want to date and right to the ones i didn’t!!!! This finally clicked when i realised that both parties have to like each other and then it comes up with “YOU HAVE A MATCH”. However the people I was matching with defernantly were not the people I thought I was swiping for!!! I wonder how many of the ones i mist might have actually wanted to go on a date…. ?!?!? lol I hopping at least one!!

Following cracking the simple task of knowing your left and rights I finally started getting a few matches. Although there was another hurdle that appeared! in the text box the person gets to write a little blurb about them self or who they are looking for. 9 times out of 10 people would put “whats with people that don’t know the difference between there theirs , theres and the 3rd one i can never remember!!!! Basically in a nut shel if you can’t spell properly don’t bother messaging me!!!

How the hell was this going to work!!! spell check usually stiches me up because it auto corrects my words to something completely different and properly offensive with out me knowing. I even considered getting my mum to spell check however discounted that idea after 30 seconds. “Hi I am sams mum, please dat him he just can’t spell thats al, he has a loverly personality”!!!!

But I thought sod it ,what is the worse that could happen, I picked up my phone was stunned to see that a really pretty lady had matched me, took a deep breath and messaged her. Its hard making the first approach but decided not to follow my original plan of using smaller words as I may sound a little simple and chucked in some bigger more sufisticated words such as; Eligant, intriged and intreadsted. I can’t fully remember who i used Eligant but i did!! however I am guessing by the red line currently underneath it that I have once again spelt it wrong.

Anyway back to the story… So I received my first message. For anyone that has not used tinder before I can tell you now this is a truly exciting time of your life! However that excitement was soon to be crushed as the message read. “Is that actually a picture of you or is this a silly joke as your writing is like a 10 year olds”! Apart from the admission that she may have over generously predicted my writing ability age i did make me sad as that was the last message from her. Should of got my mum to write back!!!!

So after many a message coming back about my spelling and on many a date me not interpreting the photo correctly as some seemed older than the picture they put up, I decided to give internet dating up. However i did meet some amazing people and have some amazing memories.

In the end I met my lovely wife at my best mates 2 year old at the times birthday party which doesn’t sound weird at all when i read it back to myself. She was actually his neighbours daughter. Very pretty and extremely bright I gave her my number and then we started dating after about 6 months later when she realised she had missed a message from me on her phone.

Even now I still read things wrong and it has an impact on our dates. So early in the relationship we decided to go over to france for a couple of days. Me again wanting to look good and be assertive decided to book the ferry and organise the trip. Got onto the boat and started the closing to france. She from both being bright and also from living in france for 5 years pointed out of the ferry window and said “the ferry seems to be going past calais” which was meant to be our destination. Me being slightly confused said that maybe the ferry does a bit of a big loop. Then the tannoy went BING BONG you will shortly be arriving in dunkirk!!!! I had read the information wrong and acsidently booked the wrong destination. 

To this day she always does the bookings!!!!!

Moral of the story – don’t judge a message by its cover, it could be that the persons mum has not checked it before sending!!!!!

Dyslexic filter glasses 90’s style!

The story of the purple glasses 

The year was 1992 – a young boy aged 7 (yes it may be myself again) was sat at the far end of the class room. 

Reading time – All the other kids were loving there new reading skills which they had been learning over the last few years. 

The room was awash of nouns and-pronouns, smashing out adjectives and throwing out verbs like they were making it rain with £50 notes!

One girl was so good that she was quoting the current financial climate referring the the Financial Times! 

Whilst this array of word crunching was taking place in the class room, little Sam was sat reading the very hungry caterpillar (#GreatBook).

The teachers realised that Sam was well behind in the reading game. The words just seemed to be all jumbled up on the page. It was decided that he was to be put through a special colour filter test.

The next week a man came to the school with a dark brief case. The case opens and out came a list of words and a number of different transparent coloured filters.

“Nothing to worry about old son, all you got to do is read until I say stop”. Sam hated reading. He really did think the Egyptians had the right idea with there cool picture words.

It said something like “the cat was wearing a hat whilst he had a chat with pat” 

Sam was getting it well wrong from the start “the tat with the part had a hat and a rat” 

Each colour not really making much of a difference UNTIL the man put a purple filter on.

It just clicked and for the first time the words seemed to be lined up together in readable sentences. 

Success you would of thought reading this! Well what the school didn’t say was that they were not just giving him the filter but making him a pair of purple framed glasses.

Not just run of the mill pair… we are talking huge thick brown framed glasses. They were that big that the top of the lance levelled with his hair line and the lower was most of the way to his chin!!! 

To top that the lenses were dark purple and you almost needed a backpack as a case for them!

Picture Elton johns mini me siting in a room full of other children all starring and lathing.

Well at the end of the first day little Sam was so upset and peed off that he had been made the lathing stock of the class that he took the glasses, threw them on the floor and stood on them. 

It felt so good to do that!! The only down side was sams mum had to pay for those glasses and as a family they didn’t have much money at the time.

She went mad, proper mad! To which my hatred for the glasses slipped to an emotional pit whole as I new we had little money and maybe being bullied wasn’t the lesser evil.

It’s a story looking back makes me smile (my work lot think it’s hilarious) but actually was a really vunrable moment in my growing up.

I hope my experiences in life make people realise that being dyslexic is not just about not being able to spell but actually has a real emotional impact.

Does this still happen? 

August Sam the Dyslexic Blogg

So I finaly wrote the letter to Prime Minister May!!

This letter will go one of two ways… She will agree and write back to me saying that her party will look in to it OR she will just think im a bit of a nob and will be filed in the department of recycling!!!

Either way it still is not fair that people have to pay well over £500 to find out if you are dyslexic. That would be like me going into hospital saying I think my leg is broken and the doctor saying “yeah it really looks broken but drop me £500 and I will let you know for sure!!!”

 

I couldn’t spell my name till I was over 10, surname at like 15, I read at like 10 words a minuet and most of the time I read the same line three times because the words are all jumbled up! I think its safe to say something is wrong and I and im terrible with numbers so I may have short changed you with your £500 test money.

 

How many people are out there that can not afford to pay to be told they are dyslexic. Deep down they know they are so why for them to get help do we bulid a huge barrier in fornt of them. AND what does it achive. Does there work really care, understand or even really want to help.

 

Iv noticed on twitter that there are so many groups out there for dyslexia doing an amazing job. It’s a huge community but yet people are slipping through the net in getting help. How can we change that???

 

Its like the government are not really that intrested as it is not something that affects them. Well the proof will be in the pudding and see if we get a reply.

 

Its been a while since Iv hit the blogs and twiter. Sadly my grandad passed away will a 30 year fight with dementure. If anyone who is reading this has family members with this then I really feel your pain.

 

Dementure if so crule and soul destroying that it finaly beat him. Desomond Jack Dyer my grandad who fought in the war, boxed in the navy and worked in construction for over 50 years became the latest victim of the darkness of the desease and he will be missed more than ever!

 

My Run

Please please have a look at my gust giving page under sam the dyslexic as I am running a 32 mile london race for the British Dyslexia Assosiation to raise a bit of money that they can use to help may for dysllexia test for people that can not afford it. Any donations no matter how small will go a long way.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/samthedyslexic 

What is the worst dyslexic error you have made with regards to words that sound the same? My top retired and retarded (on an official document) 

 

Thanks people

 

@samthedyslexic

May Blog

As I was sat in a cocktail bar over looking the beautiful town of Agios Nikolaos in Crete which was a little blurry as the “TRUST THE BARMAN” cocktail was a little stronger than my lightweight self is used to having!

A question was asked within the group of what is the difference between Assume and Presume.

Easy question I thought at first and naturally is said “well assume is like persuming something and persume is like asuming”.

Then I realised the cocktail was clearly talking and I had no idea about what I was talking about so listened to the grown-ups work it out (Im 32 honestly!)

It then seemed aparent that no one really knew the diffrence!

Can anyone actualy tell me the diffrence between them?

What is the point of two completely difrent words that mean the same thing?

And How do you decide when to use the right one…?

And then just to make assume and persume complecated, you can also have supose!!! Any more…..

Another one that gets me is words that are simular but have completely difrent sounds;

Cough (off) though (o) rough (uff) – all ending in OUGH but have completely difrent sounds. How can all these sound different when they have the same ending. If I was french and started learing english for the first time then surely I would be cursing because it is so complicated.

Have we over the years just made our language complicated or is it because our language is a mix-mash of other languages such as French and latin?

Some times I feel that its my dyslexia that makes it dificult for me but actualy I think it is the English Language.

Another example is if I said I like to sit and ROW, do I mean;

1)I like to sit and row a boat

2)I like to sit and row (argue)with my family

3)Or row as in lines of seats.

Is this not just a floor in the english langue. Do the oxford dictory people even know this and if so why make one word that means loads of different things!

Cup – drinking cup or going to the doctors and being cupped and asked to cough!!!!

Dog pound, pound in weight, money pound gave it a pounding!?

When I used to get words wrong – my nan used to say “there there sam, your get t right next time”. Which there or their is right in this senario?

In summery the english language is really complicated and confusing. So being dyslexic it feels a 100 times harder to understand and get stuff in the right context. Infact now I read this back I feel that I need another coctail just to understand what I have writen.

Only a quick blog today but I am looking a writing one about big organisations and how a lot of the time they are not dyslexic friendly at all. Example being terms and conditions – why not summerise so us dyslexic people and actualy read what we are signing up to rather than the hole 95 pages that no one will ever read!

Any ideas on that would be apreshiated to!!!!

 

Let me know what you think on twitter @samthedysleic

 

Thanks for reading

Sam

 

 

 

Can you Beat Dyslexia…???

Hi to my regular readers (mum)

I write my blog mainly just to get my thoughts to paper because mostly my thoughts are like bubbles floating around within my head. Half the time they pop or almagumate with other bubbles before I have actualy worked out what they were.

 

I recently put up a post about beating dyslexia and I recived a reply that made me think. I have always felt that you cant beat dyslexia and that you have to work with it. But recently I had to do a lot of job related exams that were pritty hard and it massivly brought out the dyslexic traits that I have managed to rain in over the years.

 

It reminded me of the huge emotional wait that can be placed on someone causing a huge amount of preasure and stress because ultimatly in my case the exams will help me get on the path way to a better job, SO NO PREASURE AT ALL!!!!!

I hated dyslexia as a kid because it made me different from all the other kids. I had to wear eye patches, purple lence glasses, be put in special needs classes, placed in all the bottem classes even though pleading with teacher to be moved due to all the desruptive kids being at the bottem also.

 

I wanted to beat it then because I didn’t realy know what it was or why it is happerning to me.

 

Later in life I relised that you cant beat it and almost gave up because it always seemed to get one over on me so I just plodded along until I got to my GCSE’s which surprise surprise I did pants in! However I got it back in my head that I can beat this and I can break this mould so I pushed and pushed myself and not only did I pass my GCSE’s but went on to A levels and even got a degree in Business at university.

 

So strangly I have always been torn between this premis of beating dyslexia and working with it. Prior to my recent exams I was very much of the opinion that dyslexia has shaped who I am and that I like working with it to over come lifes chalenges.

But latley the emotional black thunder cloud has be cast again and it realy takes its tole.

 

I know deep down that I would not change being dyslexic and that adapting and working with it is the way forward but soetimes its hard. And even harder what you try to speak to people who don’t realy understand much about dyslexia.

 

Im not trying to say that saying beating dyslexia is right. I think when I use the term beating dyslexia I actualy mean phycologicly beating it and knowing that you can still achive what you want even with the shadow that always follows you (dyslexia).

I still struggle reading and recently I have forced myself to read more and now really seem to have the bug for it, to the point that its inspired me to write my own book. Its not role dar or jane austin but to me its a small goal I have set.

 

anyway I have rambled on way to much to I realy woud like to know what other people think about it and how they deal with dyslexia.

Mum thank you for reading 🙂 and if anyone else got this far then please contact me on twitter @sam the dyslexic.

 

Sam

Dyslexic Game Of Thrones!!

Is Dyslexia like an epasode of Game of Thones?

It defantly has the brutality that can be found in life, work, schools and collages. For most people it has a real sence of love and hate that can boil down into a really deep dark emotional place for some people. And most of all it has houses that have simular traits.

 

House of lanister reminds me of the house of Employer as they are all about power and wealth and have little regards for the soldiers, workers and other houses that put obsticals in there way.

 

House Stark is like House Dyslexic. Is fighting a stale mate war with its values, belives and problems against a bigger more non understanding House employer.

 

Maybe house Targaryan is the ever growing suport groups that defend the rights of House Dyslexic.

 

Ok I feel like im re writing this amazing box set and ruining it!! I just feel that sometimes being dyslexic is like being in a battle with so many difrent factors and people trying to cut you down or break you. Employers don’t really seem to understand the difficulties that being dyslexic can have. AND that sometimes it is only small changes that are needed to help that person get on. Its like the nights watch is protecting our barriers against all the negativity that is out there.

 

House dyslexia is a strong suportive community but outside that it can feel like you are banging you head against a wall. So what can be done….

 

In short – rise up and stand up and make it heard what you want to say. I have been having huge issues at my work because the employer does not provide relivent information on how it can help people with dyslexia. I have been banging on to them for years now saying that we need a website with more information.

Someone took my idea (management) and created a site that was not acsessable and block black and white text. Nice work coyboy!!!!! How about you jump off your high horse and think outside the box and ask the people that will use it (dyslexic staff) what they would like to see and how it should be presented.

 

I guess that is thinking! However one manager has picked this up and has been amazing. He has organised taking ownership of the internal site and is asking me to reasurch what officers and supervisors would want to see.

 

I moan a lot about employers espechaly mine but on this occasion he has been spot on and I think this will really help.

 

Oh on a seprate note I haave been speaking to some really coll people at NUword. They have created a cool site which has a chat forum that covers some real good dyslexic topics. I have writen a few posts in there and think it is a great way of shareing stories and experiences. Please check it out at www.nuword.org/join

 

It is free to sign up and really worth having a look.

 

Anyway I need to get back to my revsion as have a few marine exams on the go. FUN!!!!!!

 

Laters people sorry if I ruined Game of Thrones

 

Sam

@samthedyslexic

Anyone else hate this?!?!?!

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT the correct feeling you get when a negitive question appears in your exam?

  1. A negiitive question never affects me during the exam because I only notice when I failed my exams because I did not see the “NOT”.
  2. I saw the “NOT” but my brain is scared of it and takes the tactical desion to ignor it because if you cant see it it cant hurt you
  3. Put my hand up and ask if I can highlight the question so not to miss the “NOT” but get told you cant write on the exam paper!!!
  4. Or im a cool dude and no NOT is going to hold me back.

i. A and B

ii. B and DA,

iii. C and D

iv. Or you start cursing, rip up the paper, throw it at the teacher and start to cry!!!! (my option)

 

HAHA so you may have quessed Im not a fan of the negitive question which seems to be widley used in moden day exams. I recenly did an advanced version of highway code theory for work. Prior to this I downloaded the DSA official theory aplication for my iphone and smashed the revsion side getting well over 95% each time I did it.

On the day of the race, I was sitting there looking at the exam paper which almost every question was negitive, I thought you buggers are just trying to catch me out rather than actualy test me.

At first I thought it was a bit of a joke test and that the person in charge would spit his tea out laughing, pat me on the back and say “ we got you there lad!”

 

Nope this was the test, and the most anoying thing being the questions wernt actualy that hard but were worded in away that you had to question what they were actualy asking you.

 

Now am I just being silly or isnt it better that the student revises and the exam board test you on what you have learnt… Nope they like to go one step further and try to catch you out. WELL my message to the examiners is stop waisting your ink by chucking in NOT’s and exantending has to hasents and just do your job and actualy test peoples knoledge!!!!

 

Maybe im the only dyslexic that belives in this issue but I just don’t think its fair and ultomatly I don’t think its right.

 

Anyway on a happyer note I have stupidly signed up for a 50km run in september with my best mate. Im looking to run to promote dyslexia and rise a bit of cash which I would like to donate to a chairty / organisation that could use it to help someone who cant afford to have a dyslexia test who needs one. Will keep you all posted on that one.

 

Anyway only a quick blogg but pleae tweet me and let me know what you think!!!!!

 

Samthedyslexic