TREVOR

My name is Trevor

I have been asked to write a story about dyslexia for North East dyslexia web site.

I think I can only start from the beginning as far as I can remember, about my life and how I managed.

My earliest memories of school days, is not very good because the teachers at the time did not know very much about dyslexia, and my parents did not understand. The government did know about this disability from 1930 and the British Medical Journal mentioned dyslexia in 1896. So some people who knew about this disability, chose to ignore this fact.

The survey that was done in 1930 stated that 10% of the population suffered from this disability at different levels.

I'll go back to the seventies when I was at school. All I can remember, is the teachers asking me to read aloud in a classroom, in front of the other pupils. My reading ability was two years behind everybody else, and because I was getting words mix up I was bullied by the other pupils.

Not only was my reading ability affected, so was my writing and spelling capabilities. The teachers, did not try to look into this matter at all they said to me that I was lazy, not paying attention, and stupid and put me in a slow learning class. This gave the pupils more reasons for calling me names like Dunce, dummy, an idiot.

While I can blame the teachers for ignorance it is not an excuse for inhumane treatment of any animal. I felt as if I couldn't relate to why teachers were deliberately highlighting my disability. Even when the teachers were writing on the blackboard I could not keep up with the rest and the teachers were blaming me for this. At that time I did not know what was wrong with me even after 10 years of this type of treatment.

My self-esteem was very low at the time I used to blame the pupils but since I've got more experience of life, I realise that the way teachers reacted caused the problem and in the eyes of British law ignorance is not an excuse. People with dyslexia aren't allowed justice in the eyes of British society.

Some people think dyslexia only affects learning but I can see it also affects your everyday life. If not treated at a very young age, the mental torture I received at school affected my life through adulthood as well as my job prospects and working life.

Whenever the subject of reading, writing and spelling cropped up I would use the same techniques that I learned at school for not doing so; the only way to get out of situations, was to tell lies because to tell the truth meant people would treat me differently.

Even in my personal life it would affect me, because I could not trust anyone apart from myself and had to rely on the ability to manipulate any situation that I was in, with lies and deceit. I learned not to respect authority no matter what it appeared as.

When I was at school social workers and guidance teachers used to threaten putting me in a home because I wasn't doing what other children were doing, even though my older brother and sister went to the same schools as I did. The authorities were trying to blame my family upbringing for the poor education that I received.

I felt indifferent to normal people and a social outcast in life. I couldn't let people to close because of fear and shame. The embarrassment that I felt led me to become a social outcast in Christian society. My parents taught me that teachers and people of authority was decent and honest good caring people.

Three times in my life I was offered a chance to go back into education, but with the memories and experiences I had at school I refused. These experiences made me feel so fearful of education that I would retaliate or think up some excuse to escape that type of torture again.

So at the age of 35 when I found out I was dyslexic you can imagine the shock of finding out that I had a brain and had the capability to be intelligent, and be a normal person and that I wasn't stupid.

I decided to go to college in England to see if I could get qualifications, and make a difference to myself. So I took a two and half-year course, on computer maintenance.

There was five NVQ and SVQ qualifications involved, I passed all my qualifications in one year and a half. Plus I got the achievement award in the year 2000 of Preston College .

Plus I had done a lot of research in dyslexia, and found out that it is a disability and is covered under the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995. For the past five years, I have had very good help from people who care including some good teachers.

Organisations like Dyslexia Scotland and professional people are trying to help. Even after finding out the truth about people like me most of us are still ignored by the law. Even though there should be equal opportunities in Britain and Europe , the government in this country still chooses to ignore the law.

Yet MPs expect people like me to do everything right and proper according to society. I know this for a fact because I have tried for two years to get justice by writing letters to MPs and the Queen of this country with no success. For example I have sent a letter to Tony Blair whose wife took a case like this to court and won, but to the everyday person with this disability the government chooses to ignore them. Yet Tony Blair talks about education and the literacy levels in this country.

The survey that I mentioned in 1930 has been repeated several times over the past 75 years by several government bodies and came out with the same results that 10% of the population has this disability, 4% severely.

And even the British prison authorities state that a high number of prisoners are dyslexic, which I can understand if you have been refused justice and discriminated against by the system. Why would you abide by the laws that the government make which alienates people who are disabled?

I have been refused legal aid which is run by the government to get an answer from the government as to why the situation exists in the year 2005. My father paid taxes for me to be educated which is plain to see was not done. I am writing this letter with the aid of a computer using voice recognition software.

For 12 years I have suffered several mental illnesses i.e. depression, anxiety and even attempts of suicide and alcoholism. With out even an apology by the system.

I am told to forget the past and focus on the future, but this is difficult when I still see it happening today to children and adults. I am trying to make a difference by helping to raise awareness whenever I can.

I can't forget what happened when the people that know better and can do something about it choose to ignore it. I will not give up fighting for human rights for people with this type of disability; sometimes I know it's too late for people like me.

But if I could stop one person feeling the way I do, I have succeeded and contributed something to the so-called society, there is thousands of people in the situation young and old alike.

If you read this and relate to anything that I said, there is an organisation telephone 0844 800 84 84. Which is Dyslexia Scotland Helpline 10 a.m. to 400 p.m. Monday to Friday where the people do care and can help.

And they understand how people with several severities of dyslexia feel and very helpful and understand towards people with this disability and tried to make a difference in society.

There are several groups of dyslexic in Britain , and you can get good advice and help with coping with dyslexia, and suggestions to help with every day living in the society.

I have managed to write this by using speech recognition, in a computer that with the help from a teacher, in one of the dyslexia groups managed to train the computer that I am using to read and write like a normal person, and the support I got from these groups was very good for me.

I can only recommend contacting the right people, most of society does not care for people who can not read and write or spell whether they are disabled or not.

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