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Hi my name is Sarah, I am the TOTKO web designer so if you got to see this from the website,
then I made that, hopefully you found that easy to read and navigate because if you don't
them I'm the person you have to blame for it.
My learning disability is dyslexia. So, I found out I was dyslexic When I was just six
years old, so I had problems as soon as I started school. Actually, the teachers at
my school said that if it turned out I was dyslexic that I would probably never be able
to read or write, or even cope with things like Secondary School.
I now have a degree in English and Creative Writing and I work in a bookshop, so I like
to feel that I have rather epicly proven them wrong. My dream actually has always been to
write books, and I have never given up on that, even though my dyslexia makes that harder,
that's what I really want to do.
It's always really surprised me how low people's expectations are for people with learning
difficulties, because for me personally, other than my dyslexic difficulties, I'm a capable
person.
I got told by teachers at Secondary School that I would never do well in English because
I was dyslexic, not based on my written work, just from that, because, you know, they just
didn't understand it properly.
Luckily I had several other teachers who were incredibly supportive, and without them I
might not have gone on to University to study English and Creative Writing at all.
They really believed in me and what I could do. And it's people like that who really do
make a difference to people like me, people with dyslexia. To have someone actually believe
in you, and not to say, no, these problems you have can never be over come, but to say,
no you can do this, you shouldn't let these things define you.
One of the things I actually really like about TOTKO is that it has such a positive attitude
to learning disabilities. I love that they are going into schools and they are educating
people about what learning disabilities and difficulties really mean.
I really think it's so important that people with learning disabilities are supported in
schools, in the work place, and just generally in society because I really do think we've
go so much to offer.
I suppose I should tell you a bit more about the difficulties that my dyslexia causes me...So
here we go, I
have problems with phonics, working memory. I know a lot of you with other disabilities
will recognise that one. With sequencing. Did I mention processing speed? Because I
have problems with processing speed too, bit of short term memory issue there...and things
like time keeping, but I've got things I can do to help me deal with that. I struggle a
bit with organisation but again there are things that I can do, methods I have to do
with that.
I get my lefts and my rights confused a lot, that was fun when learning to drive, which
was an unexpected difficulty, that too me quite a while to do.
Yeah, so...visual difficulties, did I mention that? I might have mentioned that. My working
memory problems are quite bad.
Lets think...well. things that I am good at. I should tell you a bit about those as well,
because it's not all doom and gloom.
I'm quite good
a big picture thinking, so seeing how, you know...seeing the wood for
the trees is the best way to put it. I am good at that and seeing how unconnected things
connect together.
I'm often told by people, you know, you're really sensible, or your really good at, yeah,
seeing things that, I never would never have seen that right away. Yeah, it all comes back
to that ability, and when you are a young kid at school and you don't think you are good at anything you don't see how
that could be useful to you, but by the time you
are about fourteen and you've got to cope with managing your own deadlines and, set
different types of problems, and difficulties at school
and home life, you start to see how that could be useful.
I'm also quiet a creative person. hense why I enjoy creative writing.