#MyDyslexiaStory: Niamh Ayrton
Tuesday 28 December 2021
I was diagnosed at university in my third year during a really tough time on placement, but my academic advisor had asked me in my first year and I got persuaded by my family not to go for it because they didn’t think I had it. Then when I had my third-year placement I went back to my academic advisor and she persuaded me to get assessed and then I got diagnosed.
I see this positively, it’s helped me realise my difficulties and work to my strengths but my dyslexia impacts on my processing of information and structuring written and verbal information. I’m very creative and having dyslexia is part of my creativity.
My dyslexia was never recognised at school.
Very little support was given throughout school nobody picked it up at school or at college, I was always labelled as anxious and received support for my anxiety at school. At college, I attended additional tutorials and still nothing was picked up.
You can achieve your dreams
I graduated with a BSc in Speech and Language Therapy in July 2019, after A significant struggle academically throughout my life, this was my biggest achievement. Following on from this, in May, I achieved my NQP competencies and will have been practicing as a speech and language therapist for 2 years in September.
My advice to someone who has recently been diagnosed with dyslexia:
If you have a dream never give up on it! The way you are is a blessing. You will have a different way of looking at things to others and your creativity and skills will be very different, so own it! You are amazing!
Dyslexia needs support in all areas of life and everyone needs to be tolerant and understanding of it, it can be hard enough having it sometimes, so be kind!