The Dyslexia Debate, Mollie King Birthday Fundraiser from a personal perspective

With the recent reports in the media and press surrounding dyslexia this week and weather children should be labelled or not, I’ve decided to write a blog focusing on a personal perspective of Mollie King’s Birthday Fundraiser for Dyslexia Action and why it is so important that awareness and money is raised from this. I hope it might also help others who may be in similar situations too.

I first came across the charity Dyslexia Action a few years ago after a good friend of mine decided to tell me she was having difficulties at school. She was also a huge fan of Mollie King, when I showed her an article on Mollie opening up about her dyslexia she said it reminded her of her struggles and even took the article into school to explain to teachers why she was struggling at school. She then went on to tell me that her school’s career officer had told her she would never get into college and would never get anywhere in life due to having dyslexia, she also told me she was getting badly bullied for using coloured overlays as people had no understanding about why she needed them. I was shocked into making a difference. I hope one day Beth manages to tell Mollie how much she has helped and inspired her. I know Beth’s story is sadly one of many what I’ve heard over the years, many like her and me and probably a lot of you who are reading this blog have found confort in Mollie opening up about her difficulties also her determined attitude to not let anything hold her back in life.

For me I always found it hard opening up about any difficulties I had, it used to give me extreeme anxiety and still does to a lesser extenct now. When I was at University I got told I had to drop QTS as they didn’t have any understanding of any of the difficulties I was having I was branded a bad role model because I struggled to cut in a straight line and put displays up (both symptoms of dyspraxia) and because my handwriting and spelling weren’t amazing at times. My time keeping was all over the place and my organisation had less to be desired for, it was like I was in chaos and my head was full of spagetti and I was very close to giving up on everything. My confidence was shattered, my self esteem left to nothing and anxiety levels were very high and I was very down and depressed and truley believed even though I had graduated with a high 2:2 degree that I was stupid. Then I came across Mollie, and was amazed by her openess, by that point the thought of being open with others filled me with dread as I thought nobody would understand and have the same ignorant attitude. I realised for the first time I wasn’t on my own and that somebody else’s brain functioned in the same way as mine did. I empathised with her lack of time keeping skills, awful cooking skills, and poor short term memory. It was a very good feeling. It made me determined for her to win Dyslexia Action’s It’s Me award twice and try and raise awareess and offer support to those in The Saturdays fanbase and further afield who may be struggling and it something which personally I’m very proud of. I’ve also been very lucky to receive advice from Mollie on radio one twice where she gave me advice about being scared about being open and making other people aware of this, I was very grateful for this advice and it helped pull me out of a dark period. Little things too like her commenting on her birthday book taking a while to make and tweets about things which I have made have meant so much to me. She once tweeted me about a handwritten letter I’d wrote and it was the first time somebody had ever been complimentary in my life about something handwritten I had done. Being involved in Mollie’s birthday book with some amazing other people throughout the last few years has allowed me to focus on the things which I’m good at mainly creativity and being able to visually see ideas and think outside the box. Also at the same time being able to strengthen and improve some of the skills which I struggle with, I feel very lucky to have been able to have been given these opportunities and a way of expressing myself creatively.

This is why it’s so important that conditions like dyslexia, dyspraxia autism aspergers etc need all the awareness they can get and are very real. It’s important that people understand that dyslexia is not just a difficulty with reading or spelling but a much bigger spectrum and encompaseses many positive aspects too. The team at Dyslexia Action are amazing people, so lovely and I’m personally very grateful for the things they have done for me, they told Mollie about my struggles when she visited their London HQ a few years ago, I had no idea she was going to be there and to this day the thought of someone talking to my idol about me is something I have difficulty comprehending. They’ve also offered me a lot of personal support and advice and imensley improved my confidence. They save lives. I know I am not on my own and Mollie has inspired and helped so many people over the years so this birthday fundraiser is a way of saying thank you for her for that. Cheesy as it sounds Mollie has changed my life for the better and I don’t know where I would be in life, I know it would be a lot darker place. She’s inspired me to not let anything hold me back in life and now I have a masters degree and am determined to be a specialist teacher. Please donate as generously as you can to Mollie’s birthday fundraiser I hope you can see from my story they really do change lives, and their work is so vital in supporting the many many children, young people and adults in the UK who without the correct support can feel stupid and can go onto developing associated mental health conditions. They make people proud of learning differently and that it’s not a bad thing. Let’s help make a difference to so many people across the UK and say a huge thank you to Mollie too, she has helped save lives herself mine being one of them.

You’re probably all wondering what happened to Beth aren’t you? Well I’m very proud to say she is now a full time University student, and is a lot happier. What an inspiring young lady she is.

If you would like to donate to Mollie’s book fundraiser please click the just giving link http://www.justgiving.com/MollieKingBirthday or text Text MKBD87 (amount) to 70070 please give as generously as you can afford thank you <3