Dyslexic Adults: GET INVOLVED!

I mentioned in my previous blog about a dyslexia group that I am a member of on Facebook called Dyslexia Help and Support UK. I’m a huge advocate for the group because I have found them to be very friendly, very helpful and very supportive especially (but not exclusively) towards parents in the UK with dyslexic kids.

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Neurodiversity and Me: Imposter Syndrome

I had never heard of ‘Imposter Syndrome’ until yesterday when a good friend of mine shared this video from YouTube that they had seen. My friend is someone who I have the utmost respect for, so when they post things up I always try to take a look at them, especially when it’s things I haven’t heard of before. As soon as I started watching this, I realised just how important it was not only for this Vlogger or my friend, but also for me to share with all of you who read my blog. It is just over 8 minutes long, but I will explain below why I found it so important (which you will hopefully look at AFTER watching the video).

I didn’t realise that this was an actual thing. I thought that it was just my own personal “paranoias”. “Paranoias” that I can explain exactly where they arose from. 

Dyslexia and Me: Reaction to The Guardian’s Secret Teacher

Source: http://images.clipartpanda.com/classroom-clip-art-ncBazrRcA.gif

Yesterday, The Guardian posted an article online called Secret Teacher: we are too quick to label children who aren’t perfect. I have shared it on social media to see reaction from the dyslexic community, but I thought I would write a response in the blog to the article too.

Knowing where to start with this is difficult. I have given my opinions on social media already, but rather than copy and paste, it is probably best to dissect the article rather than a gut reaction.

Firstly let me note that I am neither a parent nor a teacher, but I have been through the education system as an undiagnosed dyslexic who asked for help on more than one occasion. 

#DDChat Questions 14th May 2015

After an absence last week (because I was travelling home when it was meant to be on) #DDChat returns to Twitter this evening!

If you would like to join us then head onto Twitter and look for the hashtag #DDChat!

This week’s questions are listed below. 

#DDChat Expands

#DDChat has evolved a lot since I first started it in January. I began as a monthly Twitter chat discussing dyslexia. The first hour always consists of topic questions with the second hour open for anything Tweeters want to discuss incase there were any pressing topics they wanted to discuss. After a few months it became clear that a monthly chat was not enough! 

#DDChat Goes Weekly!

First of all a massive thank you to everyone who took part in yesterday’s #DDChat on Twitter discussing all things dyslexia. It was the best one yet, I couldn’t keep up fast enough with the fantastic discussions!

We decided last night that #DDChat will now be changing from a monthly chat to a weekly chat taking place every Thursday from 8-10pm GMT with the format of an hour of questions followed by an open floor for discussion.

If you have any topics you would like us to discuss, then please go to the #DDChat tab at the top of the page and fill in the form.

I hope to see you all next Thursday on Twitter!

#blogging4charity – U is for University

I think the greatest thing that I’ve ever done is to go back to university. I may have been older than a lot of my friends I made, but I think that it was the perfect timing for me to go back.

Being at university wasn’t just an education in the terms of academia, I learnt a lot about myself too. I learnt how to live with other people (even if it wasn’t always a positive experience), I learnt how to socialise (with and without an alcoholic drinks as I didn’t drink until my final year of university), I learnt how to budget money, I learnt how to cook for myself and I learnt more about who I was as a person. 

#DDChat 26th March 2015 Questions

There have been some brilliant questions put forward for this month’s #DDChat. The Twitter chat will take place tomorrow at 8-10pm GMT (that’s UK time). For those in North America, please double-check the times as we have not had our daylight savings yet (I missed a chat today because I was an hour out).

As always, the chat is all to do with dyslexia and you can get involved using the hashtag #DDChat. The first hour consists of the questions below and the second hour is an open floor to either continue discussion from the questions or to discuss anything dyslexia related. 

#blogging4charity – S is for Study Skills

I have really started to run out of ideas for blogging at the moment. Blogging once a day is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. S was proving to be another tricky letter to write about until just before I sat down I was asked on Twitter about studying for exams! So todays blog is about the study skills I used for college and university for my exams and also for writing essays. Hopefully some of my suggestions will be of use. 

#blogging4charity – O is for Optimism

Optimism is something I need to improve on. I can be a real grump at times and often miss the positives in situations. I could make a thousand excuses for this, but instead I will try to talk about something more optimistic today.