Dyslexia Association 

What led you to your current career as an RA Agent and information governance Administrator?
I started volunteering just after the first wave of COVID. I was doing general volunteering in Accident and Emergency and in the discharge lounge in Lewisham and Greenwich hospital. I then said to the volunteers department, that I would like to gain a career out of this admin work. It turned out that an audit piece of work started happening within the information governance team and then showing my hard work and perseverance within my time during COVID I was then able to get on to the bank system in the hospital and then from there I was able to get a permanent job doing smart cards for the trust.

What are the highlights of your career so far?  Which aspects do you enjoy the most?
No two customers are the same, in terms of Doctors, Nurses, Healthcare Assistants. It has built my confidence.

Do You have any advice for young people navigating life with dyslexia?
I would say whether it is you or your parents or whoever you are living with that understands that you have dyslexia, try to make down as many notes and comments on maybe your strengths and your weaknesses. It's OK to say weaknesses because we know that we are different to other people in the way that we learn everything but I would say make note of these things as you're growing up, because it will help you to have a better understanding on who you are and it will definitely help you in regards to your school life.  In your your work/ career life it will help you understand what kind of career that you think would be good for you.

Hopefully, you will be able to look back over these notes that you have made over various years of your life and it will help you to feel proud of who you are and where you came from.

Was there a particular person who helped you?
I would say that my Mum was my biggest advocate for me through Infants, Primary and Secondary school.  To try and make sure I got all the support that was needed within what was a very difficult time of my life.  She was always fighting every corner that needed to be fought for me.  A lot of my helpers were not there for me, I did have one helper when I was in sixth form who really did try to help me, when she was able to see how much kind of support I did need.  Especially when it came to exams and she was able to help make sure that I had a laptop within my exams when it came to year 12.   She was able help bring some confidence out of me in school.  Which is something that I never really had within the first five years of my school life there.   So I really was thankful to her and I wish I was able to see her early on in my school life.

Are there any additional ideas that you think might be relevant?
I always wish I would have been able to have as an option when I was in secondary school.  Is that I wish the teachers had realised that GCSE's were not for myself or for the other girls that were in the lower set at school like myself.

Whether they were dyslexic or had other situations that made school hard for them . I wish that the BTEC had been an option across all of Secondary school. So it could be, ‘Do you want to do GCSE?  Or do you want to do a BTEC? What really worked for me being able to do BTEC in my only and 1st year of sixth form.  Was the fact that it was coursework and no exams and I felt like with that life became a whole lot easier for me in a sense of school. 

Considering when I was doing GCSE's my teachers told me that I was being able to get a C/D in coursework.  But in overall exams I got an F.   Which really lacked my confidence. But then by being able to do the BTEC, I then got given my coursework and everything at the end of the year.  They told me, I got a B. I looked at the teacher and I handed it back and said ‘That’s not mine’.

But this is the power of being able to have a BTEC.  Where you have the time and support and everything that you need to be able to understand the goals and do the course.  Compared to a GCSE course, where everything is based on exams, time pressure everything else.

For other people there's routes that are going to be a lot more beneficial to you, but they’re are a lot harder to find and i think this is something that the government should hopefully be able to change.   It would be a lot more of a beneficial situation if teenagers are be able to have this at a younger age.

What is the biggest obstacle that you have overcome?
I think the biggest obstacle is realising how far I've come within myself. Looking back at the start of my primary school years even Secondary school years.  Is just realising the mentality and the personal growth that I've taken in so many different ways.  Feeling quite proud of how far I've come within that and accepting that life is going to be different for me to other people.  I need to stop looking others and thinking, I want to do the same as them.  Life doesn’t have to be like that when we're so different.

If you could go back in time and talk to yourself at Primary school, what would you say to your younger self?
I think what I would say to the younger version of myself would be, ‘Stop looking at others’. ‘Stop stressing on the fact that they're reading such different books to you.’ This was one of the big things that I noticed.  ‘Everyone learns in different ways and time and everything else, it’s going to take longer for you and that's not a bad thing.’

If you could go back and talk to yourself at the time of your GCSE's what would you say to yourself at that point in time.
I think I would say forget about this because this isn't the right thing for you. Knowing what I know now I would say GCSE's are for the people who are able to get the A to Cs.  It’s  unfortunate that The school are not in a position to give you the support or courses that would be more beneficial for what you need.

How has living with dyslexia shaped your life what are the pros and cons?
I think the pros are seeing how strong that you have to be within your life and your career and school journey.

The cons are that there is not so much help out there and it's hard to see all the pros when there are so many hurdles that you have to go through.  To be able to feel strong and confident within yourself that you are doing the best that you can do.