Dyslexia: An ability.

By Ian Whelan

My name is Ian Whelan, and I consider myself one lucky dude. I have the truly amazing job of working for a local Skelmersdale charity called Birchwood, developing their Well-being offer for those who need it most. My job is teaching some of the many classes Birchwood offers, such as meditation, yoga, tribal dance, and much more. I also teach cooking and nutrition to families in the area and attend all sorts of local fates and interesting events where I get to perform my funky flow-arts dance…there’s never a dull moment!

I have personally led a colourful life, having the privilege to travel around our beautiful earth, living and working with many exciting cultures while getting myself into all sorts of mischief. I believe myself to be a confident, well-balanced, and generally upbeat fellow. However, I wasn’t always so.

I have a learning deficiency called Dyslexia. Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that about 10% approximately of our world population experiences. It causes problems with reading and interpreting words, letters, and symbols but does not affect general intelligence. The main problem arising from dyslexic is that it significantly interferes with the overall learning process of all subjects taught in schools. This is because we mainly use the process of reading and writing to teach and learn.

As I write these words now, at the age of 57, I still feel like a child finding my feet. The story I tell today is set back in the early 70’s when Dyslexia was in the early stages of being noticed in my home country of Ireland. However, still to this day, I hear stories from people who, for whatever wayward reason, still pass through the schooling process with Dyslexia, which blows my mind.

By far, the most significant problem arising from Dyslexia is an overwhelming sense of self-doubt, leading to a lack of self-confidence that comes from the constant failing of many subjects in the early stages of a child’s schooling career. This can often lead to a mental blockage against all forms of learning and often hinders participation in many

group activities, leaving a young person feeling isolated and resentful of their surroundings. A substantial lack of future dreams compounds that horrible feeling of isolation and self-doubt. Goals like what shall I be when I grow up are reduced to a stale state of melancholy choice, turning one’s young dreams into dull nightmares. 

I remember the feelings well, never trusting myself to answer a question in the public arena, realising that most jobs I found interesting were beyond my grasp. I soon realised that my school experience had primed my life, and that was not the movie I wanted to star in. 

Let me give you some insight.

I remember it well, ‘School’ – that wondrous place of healthy frustration, full of forever shouting teachers. A place where my superhuman dyslexic abilities held no favour. First and foremost, whoever came up with the name ‘Dyslexia’ should be ashamed. Still to this day, I struggle with even the spelling of Dyslexia, as just about everyone who has this ability does! In my opinion, these clowns need to take a step back and think on behalf of others; their white coats hold many unnecessary tears.

I spent the vast amount of my schooling career as the dyslexic classroom dummy, taking little or no part in the whole sad affair. My greatest school achievement was the day I found myself sitting on a chair at the front of a class full of woopen hyenas, laughing and jeering at the funny-eyed fool they had wearing a cone-shaped hat with the letter ‘D’ on it (the likes you’d see in a Dandy or beano comic!). At the same time, the teacher made jokes about the hopeless yoke that sat staring at the 

mindless generosity being so abundantly offered by fellow human scalars. 

Of course, this is going back many years. However, I still feel like there’s much work to be done. Hence my reason to take a few issues of this magazine and start to unravel Dyslexia and help explain its benefits. 

To be continued next time…