I was very proud to be appointed as an Ambassador for the British Dyslexia Association this month. Dyslexia has played a big part in shaping who I am today. I feel grateful that I had a good understanding of dyslexia growing up and that I was given the guidance to see this as a strength. However I realise this is not the case for many others, with more than 80% of people with dyslexia leaving school without a diagnosis.
As an introduction to my ambassadorial role I was asked to take part in a free online seminar (webinar) for children & parents, hosted by BDA. I was very excited to be accompanied by fellow athlete and former Wales and British & Ireland Lions rugby player, Lee Bryan. And BBC Radio1 presenter and member of 'The Saturday's', Mollie King. We discussed our personal experiences with dyslexia and talked about how we manage day to day, as well as how we coped at school.
We found commonality in the challenges we had faced, as well as in the strengths we had found. We all agreed that by leaning into our creative, musical and sporting strengths, we gained so much confidence. Ultimately dyslexia has lead us all to where we are today in our given fields.
Thank-you to all the parents and children who attended. I hope that we answered the brilliant questions sufficiently and the parents might have found some comfort in the discussions. Particularly during this difficult time, where a lot of families are having to adapt their children's learning from home, during lockdown.
I have found my short time as an ambassador for BDA already so rewarding and if i can play a small part in helping them to achieve their over all goal; To have specialist dyslexia teaching assessors in every school in the UK - I will be immensely proud.
For more information on dyslexia visit https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/ and If you would like to listen to the Panel discussion, see the Youtube video below.
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