Dyslexia – I Think I Have Mixed Up My ‘Worms’ Again!

Although I haven’t been formally diagnosed with dyslexia, its effects have undoubtedly been a constant presence throughout my school education and professional life. Like many from my generation, I eventually found ways of coping – and even found ways to use it as a driving force in my life.

But it wasn’t easy.

I used to dread 3rd Form English. Each week, our teacher selected one pupil to read aloud from a book we were studying and then asked them to nominate the next person to read.

Inevitably, I was chosen. My so-called mates thought it a great hoot watching the big rugby player go bright red in the face and stumble through every word and sentence.

It was humiliating and excruciating. Perhaps our teacher thought that exposure to public reading would help. But the experience just left me with unhappy memories and a lasting legacy.

For me, dyslexia meant that letters and words seemed to jump around the page. My reading was slow and laborious, my writing was poor and my spelling was appalling.

I still can’t spell the word “dyslexia” without looking it up. I mean, why on earth did someone decide to give a learning disorder a name so many dyslexic people struggle to spell!?

It affected more than just my reading and writing skills as it also impacted on the way I communicated with other people. It took me years to recognise that my brain needed more time to process information and organise my thoughts. I found answering multiple questions particularly difficult. Giving presentations or speaking to groups could also be a challenge.

So how on earth did I get elected as a councillor on Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council?

The answer is that, over the years, I developed coping mechanisms. I diligently write down key points when I am listening to someone and also make shorthand notes of what to say during a debate or group discussion.

When I chaired the council’s economic committee, I had to record video presentations. Despite having a patient and helpful videographer, I found the autocue almost impossible to read and blundered through a few of the well-scripted pieces. But I managed to get through and learnt about my strengths and weaknesses as a result.

Perhaps dyslexia is also one of the reasons I have always driven myself so hard in my career. I wanted to prove to others that struggling through school and college did not mean I lacked ability. I didn’t want to be silenced by dyslexia and sometimes I thought that my example might help others in a similar situation.

Then in 2019, at about 6am after a marathon election count, I was elected to serve the people of Banbridge with a majority of just 16 votes!

Serving the people of Banbridge for four years as a councillor was the honour of my life. But, for me, it was proof that struggling at school does not have to determine your achievements later in life. By writing about this I hope to give others in a similar situation the encouragement to go for their goals and dreams too.

More recently, I completed Susan Steele’s Performance Breakthrough programme. I found the programme enormously helpful and, importantly, it gave me greater confidence to take on challenges I might previously have avoided, including radio interviews on civil engineering and infrastructure.

I find that some humour helps too. One of my favourite sayings at home when I mix up a sentence and mispronounce a word is, “I think I have mixed up my ‘worms’ again!”

Thankfully, younger people with dyslexia are growing up in a world with greater awareness of neurodiversity and, I hope, better support than many of my generation experienced.

My message to others is simple.

Having dyslexia may mean that you have to find a different route, which may mean developing your own techniques or working harder at certain skills, as I have done. But it should never silence you.

Our neurodivergent differences should be understood, included and celebrated.

If nothing else, dyslexia has given me the determination to keep going and to prove that it does not diminish ability.