#MyDyslexiaStory: Emma Rampling
Monday 5 September 2022
My earliest memory of realizing I
had dyslexia was when I was in primary school. I always struggled with
schoolwork and found it very hard to concentrate. I was sent for a meeting with
my teachers and my parents who all agreed that I needed to take some tests for
a diagnosis.
I was diagnosed with dyslexia and the school was very supportive and gave me
additional support. Unfortunately, not long after, I moved schools to a
completely new area and they were not so supportive. Although I had additional
help such as a reader, or writer in exams, it was a larger school with fewer
support workers to assist us pupils who struggled. My classmates were mean to
me also, often putting me down and looking down on me because I was in a lower
set than them.
“My dyslexia has helped me concentrate on my strengths and given me the power to keep going!”
My main struggle is spelling and concentration. My job is rather hectic at times which means I don’t have time to focus on words and end up making spelling mistakes and pronouncing words wrong. If I get tired later in the day the same mistakes happen. I’m fortunate that I have the third-party applications to help read back what I have written and help with spelling mistakes.
Workplace support
The company my business partner and I have built has a foundation of both of us being dyslexic, so we make sure third-party software is always available to help and chat groups for the team to discuss their strengths and weaknesses.
Prove them wrong!
At secondary school on receiving my GCSE results, a careers advisor had been booked in for one-to-one careers talk with each student. Unfortunately, mine was awful. She read my results and realized I had dyslexia and told me to go and apply for every supermarket in the area as that’s as far as I’m ever going to go. I was heartbroken.
For some time, it got me down and I doubted my abilities, but I enrolled myself in a GNVQ in IT. I completed the first year but again had another setback. The head of the department told me that I can perform very well on the practical side but in the written part I didn’t meet the standards expected to pass the second year.
We decided together it would be best that I seek work and try and get some work experience and work my way up in the industry.
The determination I had was listening back to the words the careers advisor said to me, and I was determined to prove her wrong. I got a job and built my way up through different companies. I am now a Technical Director for a company in London. It's taken a huge amount of hard work and determination, but it's all been worth it.
My advice for someone who has recently been diagnosed with dyslexia:
Congratulations you have been blessed with a gift. True fact, the wealthiest people in the world right now are all dyslexic. Just shows you don't need to be a brain box to achieve your dreams!!!
Dyslexia is a gift not a disadvantage.