Coping with Dyslexia

I was diagnosed with dyslexia and Irlen syndrome, at a relatively late stage of life.  I was in my late twenties and had already left school and started a career.  It wasn't until I made an attempt to take some further education courses with the Open University, that I realised that my life long problem of being unable to read text for more than a few minutes, without discomfort, was something that needed further investigation.

My particular problems, had always been the same; blurred vision and an extreme sensitivity to light, bouncing off a white page.  I also had an inability to retain what I had read and I seem to have no sense of dates or times.  All of these issues, made studying, and especially distance learning, something that I wouldn't have dreamed of doing.  All those hours of reading in isolation, all of those deadlines to remember and notes to write.  It was as near to dyslexic hell, as I could have imagined.

Once I decided to study as an adult, I realised that I had bitten off more than I could deal with.  I started the prep materials that they sent me, and it took me 6hrs to just read through 20 pages and sort out my study calendar.  I suffered for several years more, until I decided to check out the source of my difficulties.

At about this time, one evening, I was driving my usual 1hr commute to work, when I heard a news article on Radio 4.  It was about people with Irlen syndrome.  As I listened to the programme, it was as if they were describing my symptoms exactly!

I arrived at work and then spent the next 3hrs, researching Irlen syndrome and the associated condition, dyslexia, on the internet.  I found an on-line questionnaire and completed it and found that I scored extremely highly, in the 'At Risk' Irlen syndrome part.  There and then, I booked a session to see an educational psychologist and also an Irlen syndrome specialist.

After a total of 6hrs of tests, I was given a prescription for some pink coloured lens, glasses!  The glasses took 4 weeks to arrive and once they did, I remember putting them on for the first time.

It was as if someone had flipped a switch inside my head.  I picked up a copy of the newspaper and read through it in about 15 minutes.  I couldn't believe it, I could read!

I then went through, what could only be described as, a mad 2 days.  I spent approximately £100 on books and started to read as much as I could.  I read history, art history, Jane Austen, James Joyce and even started to learn French and German.

So, after 6yrs of then taking some university distance learning courses that interested me and which I had always wanted to do since leaving school; I finally decided to start the experiment, that inspired the writing of this blog.

Being written off as an underachiever at school, had always sat uncomfortably with me.  I knew I was capable of doing any career, but I also knew that I had problems studying for any extended period of time.  It was this life long struggle and a yearning to make a difference and make a real contribution to life that inspired my decision, to try and become a Theoretical Physicist!

Mad? probably.
Impossible? maybe.
Will I cope? who knows.

But, there is one thing that is certain.  I won't ever give up, now I have removed the blockages that were holding me back for years.