Margaret Rooke - Creative, Successful, Dyslexic: 23 High Achievers Share Their Stories

This book provides clear and inspirational hope for anyone with a dyslexic child. Like many excellent books it is written from personal experience. I strongly recommend it.

Sian Griffiths, Education Editor, The Sunday Times

This book shines a light on 23 successful people with dyslexia and demonstrates that having dyslexia should not hold you back from achieving your potential. With the right support and an inner determination, success can be within reach. These personal stories, generously shared, should be inspiring for all who live with dyslexia.

Kevin Geeson, Chief Executive at Dyslexia Action

I would recommend this to people diagnosed with dyslexia and their families. One invaluable message is that perseverance and determination can help people achieve. Another is that talents in the dyslexia profile may be underrated at school but of tremendous importance to society afterwards. One interesting recurring theme was the importance of parents and the difference they could make in helping their children believe in themselves; more than one said that costs nothing.

Bernadette McLean, Principal of the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre, UK

Shining through these highly personal accounts of difficult schooldays and the struggle for understanding is an overwhelming sense of optimism. Dyslexia has shaped these personal histories, but has not limited their ambition or ultimate success. For many, the role of parents is a central unifying feature, parents who believed their children could achieve, regardless of academic success, and who provided the confidence and encouragement they needed. This is a book for parents to buy for their young people, to read together and to find inspiration and encouragement, and it also provides a refreshing perspective for those working in education.

Dr Teresa Regan CPsychol AFBPsS, Principal Educational Psychologist, Catalyst Psychology Community Interest Company

In my experience every person with dyslexia has amazing potential waiting to be untapped. Sadly, this potential is often missed by our exam focussed education system. But once dyslexic people find their passion and talent they can achieve extraordinary things, as this wonderful collection of interviews demonstrates. I hope this book inspires young people, educators and parents to focus on what dyslexic people CAN do, not just what they cant.

Kate Griggs, Dyslexia Campaigner (Xtraordinary People) and Founder & CEO of Untap.it

Creative

SUCCESSFUL

DYSLEXIC

Creative

SUCCESSFUL

DYSLEXIC

23 HIGH ACHIEVERS SHARE THEIR STORIES

MARGARET ROOKE

FOREWORD BY

MOLLIE KING

Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia

Typeset using dyslexia-friendly fonts.

Disclaimer: All the views in the book are the participants own and not necessarily the views of Dyslexia Action.

First published in 2016

by Jessica Kingsley Publishers

73 Collier Street

London N1 9BE, UK

and

400 Market Street, Suite 400

Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

www.jkp.com

Copyright Margaret Rooke 2016

Foreword copyright Mollie King 2016

The Author and Contributors assert their right, under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, to be identified as the authors of the Work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owners written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 84905 653 3

eISBN 978 1 78450 163 1

To L and S
Love Mum

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

Albert Einstein

Contents

Foreword

When your child is diagnosed with dyslexia, all sorts of things can run through your mind. You may feel embarrassed that they are different, relieved to know what it is that is making them struggle, and scared that they wont do as well at school or work as youd hoped; their future may not be as bright as youd imagined. Exactly the same worries can be felt by a child with dyslexia, too.

For me, at the age of 11, it was a relief to identify why reading had always been so difficult. The diagnosis gave my parents and my school important information about what I needed to help me progress.

Even now, dyslexia has an impact on my life. When The Saturdays are recording a new song for the first time, the other girls just go for it and get going with the words. I have to study the lyrics quietly by myself for some time first. If Im on TV, before I read a line from an autocue I have to memorise it first to make sure I dont make any mistakes.

When I think back to my school days, standing up in class and reading out loud, I remember my friend having to whisper words to me to help me through. I felt so puzzled when the others seemed to find their school work so much easier. I hated the amount of time it took me to make my way through my homework!

When I was reading the stories in this compilation it occurred to me that, while a lot more improvements are desperately needed in schools across the country, there is certainly a far greater awareness of dyslexia.

There are terrible stories from some of the older contributors of brutal treatment from teachers, of bullying and a general, shocking, ignorance about learning difficulties. Despite these harsh times, and feeling thick and stupid, everyone in this book has fought their way through and achieved fantastically in their careers. They all talk about how dyslexia brought misery but also how it helped them achieve. They may not have been top of the class, but there is life after school and it was then that their creativity, determination and outlook helped them to get to where they wanted to be. Often there was at least one adult who was really on their side and helped them to move forwards.

People at school laughed when I said I wanted to be a singer as it was so different from what they were planning for themselves, but I knew I wanted this more than anything. I know that self-belief and confidence can be key to overcoming lifes challenges and achieving our dreams, and the stories in this book underline that.

I hope you will read this book and feel inspired that dyslexia doesnt have to mean not doing as well as people whose minds work differently. There are great organisations that can help, including Dyslexia Action, which is receiving proceeds from the sales of this book.

Whether you are reading this book or having it read to you, I hope you will keep your confidence and ambition intact. Work as hard as you can thats really important. See yourself for all your wonderful qualities and keep pushing to make your dreams come true. Mine have and I hope yours will too.