An open letter to….

On October 4^th, the entirety of Europe will celebrate Dyslexia Awareness Day. As October is known as Dyslexia Awareness month, this blog post is a series of open letters and notes. I’m a twenty-six-year-old who only got diagnosed with Dyslexia when I was nineteen. I still remember the look on the psychologist’s face and his words still haunt me: “Niamh, you have severe dyslexia. With the level you have you never should have made it onto a university course without additional help. You never should have done languages and you shouldn’t have done as many honors subjects as you did in your leaving certificate. You must love reading and have exceptional coping skills… you are a superstar in your own right. Well done!” 

Apart from feeling exceptionally uncomfortable when I think back to what he said, one feeling always stays with me… the feeling of a huge weight being taken off my shoulders. As long as I can remember; I remember hating reading out loud, feeling distant to teachers of the subjects I loved because they told me time and time again, “You’re only average, you need to work harder just to keep average and will need to do that for the rest of your life!” This blog post is not to moan and complain about the past but, I penned several letters to people I think might need a boost or those I can never thank enough. 

To my superpower… Dyslexia, 

Hi, it’s me again. I know we have been battling each other for nineteen years of my life while only learning to work together for seven but we finally got this! I don’t say it out loud much but I am grateful for you. Despite the spelling mistakes, the concepts that I just can’t grasp and the hardship of Maths, you made me what I am today. So many years of fighting the mold of being ‘average’ and being told I would never amount to anything… We finally found a fantastic dance where we both know how to excel together. Today I say with confidence, Dyslexia is my superpower! You make me think outside the box and learn things in ways not many people would think of. Do I want to throw you out of my head at least ten times a week? Sure, but I know I wouldn’t be who I am today without you. We’ve tackled not only primary and secondary schooling, we concerquered university! Not going to lie, I sometimes feel bad for picking the hardest path possible for someone with Dyslexia but we got there in the end. Twenty-six years old, five different languages with old and modern tongue (English, Old English, Irish, Old Irish, Middle Irish, Latin, French, Old French, German and Old High German) and I still love history as much as I did when we started this journey. Day to day we have a new challenge but, instead of getting frustrated with you… It’s safe to say we finally are beginning to see eye to eye. Keep up the open mind and I will too. Afterall, some of the greatest people in history had Dyslexia; aiming for the stars should be the norm. 

To the student struggle with their dyslexia, 

Hi! I know things aren’t really going your way, school can be a nightmare for people like us. Just know that you are not alone; there are hundreds and thousands of us having mini struggles every day. The key to success is, when you feel like bawling your eyes out from frustration, take a deep breath and look at the issue from another angle. It might be cliched but sometimes you just need to look away from the problem at hand or walk away for a little while. If you’re struggling with reading, find that one book that you will adore for years to come; if it’s a maths problem, try doing it another way. Just think ‘if I looked at this upside down what would I do differently?’ From someone who is still terrified of reading out loud, spelling out loud and even explaining hard concepts, know with confidence that it’s not just you! My two pieces of advice would be: One, find a book series you love and read it as many times as you can. For me it was the Harry Potter series and the psychologist said getting into reading at an early age helped me survive. What I never told him was it was only one series I read hundreds of times. The second piece of advice I have is surround yourself with friends who get your superpower. Dyslexia is your superpower and sometimes you just need a friend or two to help you identify it as one. 

To the student aiming to excel,   

Keep up the amazing work! Dyslexia can seem a pain at times but it is your greatest strength. It means you look at everything differently just to get a better understanding of the problem at hand. Keep reaching for the stars because no matter how many times someone tells you “Your best isn’t good enough”. We know better! Our biggest enemy is ourselves, not anyone else. Keep setting yourself those little goals because those little goals will build upon each other and next thing you know… you have conquered a mountain of obstacles. You are going to be your biggest challenge in life because you know exactly where you want to be… sometimes it might take longer than most to get to where you want to be but you can do it! 

To the parents who do not know what to do, 

So, you are in a bit of a pickle… Your child is showing signs that they are struggling with things such as reading, writing or spelling, that you may or may not have experienced. You may be on the fence about what you need to do after putting in hours of additional work to help them catch up with their peers. Maybe their teacher has suggested something like a learning disability may be affecting your child from excelling. Or, maybe like my parents, you have a gut instinct that something just isn’t adding up. The best advice I can give (I don’t have any children yet, but I mean this 100%) is trust your gut. Get your child assessed the worst thing that can happen is nothing shows up. If they do have Dyslexia though, it is not the end of the world. You have no idea how much of a weight will be lifted off your shoulders and theirs. Once you know that Dyslexia is a thing, you can think outside the box and explore different learning styles to help your child excel. 

To the parents who need a thank you,

Thank you! I know us kids don’t say it enough but, from every fibre of our beings THANK YOU! To my own parents and to every parent, Thank You! You are our greatest support and our number one cheerleaders. Do we feel like throwing that maths book or English book at the wall like you do some nights? Definitely. But, together, deep down we are aware we can conquer anything. All the additional extra things you do for us to help us excel with dyslexia is noted. Sometimes it is a pride thing and we feel stupid saying thank you for spelling ‘that word’ or correcting us saying ‘specific’ instead of ‘pacific’, the list goes on!  We may learn some day the difference between words or how to spell something right but for today the only two words we need to say is… Thank You! 

To the only teacher who truly believed in me, 

I owe you my entire academic career! I only had you for three years but, even to this day, I thank you for every success I have. I am grateful for all the additional hours you put in at lunchtimes with myself and my fellow students who wanted to do extra Irish. Turns out anyone who was in that room, all those years ago, found out they had a learning disability. You were our only pillar of support during our Leaving Certificate and, to this day, I know no amount of thanks will ever but enough but, honestly, thank you. Teachers today are more accepting of many different learning styles and levels of understanding but many could learn from your kindness and from you being our number one fighter. 

To my best friend who puts up with me, 

Thank you! A thousand times over, thank you. From doing my spell checks, to explaining words, to ‘Englishing’ my sentences when I am having a horrible word day. I owe you a lot on a personal level. Most importantly, thank you for the time spent going over Latin with me and studying it how many times over? We both passed with flying colours but my success story is thanks to you. As for historical linguistics, (the history of language change, focusing on the Proto-Indo-European Language Branch) I honestly don’t think you didn’t ‘get it’. I know I never said it out loud but thank you for allowing me to return the favour and spend hours in teacher mode teaching you the relevant points. I know I honestly came alive when explaining those concepts and tables. Thank you for being the person to push me out of my comfort zone and begin on the path of where I truly want to be. As for everyday life, cheers for avoiding being a grammar corrector on a daily basis for me. 

To the author I owe everything to… J.K. Rowling, 

I know you get thousands of messages of thanks. Mine is no different. Thank you for creating the most magical world that became my escapism. Among your words I got lost and many years of homework completion was followed with the bribe: ‘one more hour of study and you can read a chapter of Harry Potter’. When I got diagnosed with dyslexia, I got told the reason I got to where I am today was because of reading for hours as a child. I honestly don’t know how I will ever be able to repay you. All I can say is thank you, just a simple thank you but those words hold so much. Thanks to you I learnt to overcome written obstacles. I learnt that sometimes the hardest of tasks can be solved simply by trying it a different way than the teachers are teaching. Thanks to you I fell in love with finding out the history of everyday mundane items and words. You are an inspiration to many but to me you are my hero. I wish you every continued success and I hope you stay writing what you love. 

To my possible future child, 

Hello, hello!  I am going to say it now: I am sorry for giving you a 50% chance of having Dyslexia. One big advantage though regardless if you have it too or not… I know many different learning styles. I cannot wait to tackle through maths of all levels, English stories with many hidden obstacles and seeing what subjects you will adore. Sorry to break it to you but a second language even for fun is going to be a thing. Even if it’s just to string a few sentences together when we go on holidays. No matter what happens though, I know academically we got this!