Making sense of dyslexia #DAW15

Hello everyone, here is my yearly blog which celebrates dyslexia awareness week, this years theme is "making sense of dyslexia." Dyslexia is one of the most recognised and known learning differences, up to 10% of the population have it, so there's a good chance you know someone who has it or know quite a few famous faces with it, but the question is do you fully understand it? Hopefully this blog will help you understand it a little bit more and help any friends or family members you know who might have a different way of thinking and a unique way of seeing the world.

A lot of people think dyslexia is just reading and spelling, but there's a lot more than that such as: time management, organisation, memory, and some people may have overlaps with other hidden differences such as dyspraxia. Did you know up to 52% of people who are dyslexic are also dyspraxic? Maybe you have a friend who is always running late (what do you mean you're looking at me!) who always needs a little bit of a hand with organisation and who's day to day life can be a bit chaotic. No two people with dyslexia are the same, we all have our unique profile's of strengths and weaknesses, so it's important to get to know the individual person, yes you may know x friend or y relative who is dyslexic and doesn't find something tricky or is very good at something else it doesn't mean we all will be.

Even though there is a lot more support out there, I still think there is quite a bit of work which needs to be done for adults, as although people may develop coping strategies, you simply don't just grow out of dyslexia and may need additional support in the work place. People need the opportunity to be open about day to day struggles as often we can have "spaghetti head" days where everything doesn't go to plan, on days like these we need a little bit of kindness, reassurance and a good sense of humour in situations like that always helps.

People with dyslexia and other hidden differences literally think outside the box, we see different solutions to problems, we notice things which other's might not and we have the determination and resilience to never give up and to me one of the most important things is because we know what it's like to struggle we have the empathy and understanding for others. Society at times doesn't seem to be understanding towards difference at times, but wouldn't the world be a boring place if we were all the same.

Once you take the time to get to know a dyslexic, and get to know how their way of thinking works, you may never always understand everything, but you will get an insight into how we see and make sense of the world. Please also make sure you get involved in dyspraxia awareness week next week, and let's get dyspraxia being more well known.

Seen as today is world dyslexia day, I thought I would share one of my proudest moments, raising over £550 for Mollie King's birthday fundraiser (I had to) anything is possible when you dare to be different and think outside the box.