Dyslexia Week: I have Dyslexia Ask Me anything?

As part of dyslexia awareness week, I'm running an ask me anything to dispel some myths.

Bit of my story for you: I also have dyspraxia which I was diagnosed with when I was 10, so I had to get a reassessment for evidence for university four years ago when I was 18. So this involved 3 hours of tests with an ed psychologist, after these tests she then said "did you know that you also have dyslexia?". This was a bit of a surprise as despite having a few signs of it, i had no clue that I could have dyslexia too.
That was just over four years ago now, so in that time I've tried to be more positive in managing the two conditions together, and although for a brief amount of time I was a bit saddened to learn that I had another thing "wrong" with me, i m glad that i found out.

So ask me anything

As part of dyslexia awareness week, I'm running an ask me anything to dispel some myths.

Bit of my story for you: I also have dyspraxia which I was diagnosed with when I was 10, so I had to get a reassessment for evidence for university four years ago when I was 18. So this involved 3 hours of tests with an ed psychologist, after these tests she then said "did you know that you also have dyslexia?". This was a bit of a surprise as despite having a few signs of it, i had no clue that I could have dyslexia too.
That was just over four years ago now, so in that time I've tried to be more positive in managing the two conditions together, and although for a brief amount of time I was a bit saddened to learn that I had another thing "wrong" with me, i m glad that i found out.

So ask me anything

Do you view dyslexia simply as "another thing wrong with you"; or is it slightly more complex than this?

I see it as something slightly more complex as it's part of the way my brain works, so i actually can't tell what is just the way i am and what is because of my dyslexic brain wiring so it could actually be giving me an advantage sometimes because of how i've had to adapt, where as with physical health conditions i know what is definetly caused by then and what isn't.

Do you have bad handwriting like me? (I don't have dyslexia or anything, and this isn't really about dyslexia, I was just wondering xD)

Does it affect you a lot in your day to day life or is it relatively easy for you to manage?


MYTH BUSTED - Having dyslexia doesn't make you 'dumb'. A boy in my year has dyslexia and he is in top set maths / science (the only other thing we have sets in is PE)

This might be deep, but isn't "just the way you are" and dyslexia the same thing?

My handwriting is a lot better than it was as a child but this is what it looks like:


With having dyspraxia as well, I write incredibly slowly and if i m underpressure it can be quite a lot worse, i also put too much pressure sometimes when holding things so writing can actually be quite painful at times.
It is a common myth unfortunately that dyslexia affects intelligence when it's not the case at all.

As for how it affects me in my day to day life, it's like a lot of things that affect your brain, I can have a good day and not find reading too difficult and not forget too much or I can have a really bad day and find reading exhausting and forget where I've put things quite often (amongst lots of other symptoms). I manage better when I sleep well and I m in an environment that i'm used to, if i m ill or haven't slept well then i feel like I'm struggling to cope.

My handwriting is terrible... Yours is much better lmao I'm in year 9 and it hasn't improved since year 3 or something... -.-

I also hold my pen really tightly. In the summer holidays obviously I didn't write much, and when I got back to school half way through maths my hand was hurting. Looked at it and there was a red mark where is was rubbing against the pen :P

Does your dyslexia affect your reading speed?

This is one of those things that's different for everyone. I'm dyslexic too (and dypraxic and dyscalculic and dysgraphic), and yet I can read/write fairly fluently when it's in print/typed. Nobody believes I'm dyslexic, with my being a writer and all.

Do you have any other manifesting problems, OP? I used to have a terrible stammer (which still catches me out if I'm nervous or tired) which was partly down to dyslexia and partly down to self-esteem problems. I've been told stammering is quit common among dyslexics.

Indeed it is different for everyone.
I can't write creatively at all, but some people say that their dyslexia helps them to be creative so I can see how you could write imaginatively.
I have a couple of minor sensory problems, like I'm really sensitive to all the sounds in a room so sometimes it gets overwhelmingly difficult to concentrate as i can't filter anything out on a bad day, I don't like textures of certain foods or clothes either although that does seem to be something some dyspraxics experience.

Lumme you don't hear mains hum too do you?

I'm actually an aspie as well, and it turned out no sounds are filtered out, making it very hard to focus on people talking. I thought it was tinnitus, but it turned out my hearing is superhuman (the word the audiologist used) and I'm getting distracted by stuff nobody else can hear.