Friday, 31 October 2014

Dyslexia Diagnosis at long last...

After years upon years of feeling stupid and covering up my weaknesses, at the age of 18 I finally had a dyslexia test at my school. I tell you, after putting so much hard work and effort into my English GCSEs it was a hugely triumphant moment to discover that I achieved A*s with this difficulty in information processing.
Telling people about my diagnosis, I got 'about time!' and 'I always knew it' to things from my grandmother like 'you can't be dyslexic, you're intelligent!'. As we know, however, dyslexia occurs independently of intelligence. But for me, it was just a massive relief for my difficulties to actually be recognised for the first time. I also was told that my IQ was in the top 2% of the population- a real confidence boost. 
My school were not very keen for me to have the test done, but after a lot of convincing they agreed, and I now have a very much needed extra time for my exams. I really hope that anyone who suspects dyslexia is able to get tested and get support as soon as possible- mine came late but I already feel like a massive weight has been lifted!