If you're new here, welcome, I'm Jessica. On this channel I talk about vintage fashion

(obviously), gayness (not so obviously) and invisible disabilities (really not obviously).

Make sure to subscribe, if you haven't already, for some great amusing and educational content

on Tuesdays and Fridays! And hit the little bell to get notifications. Because otherwise,

how will you know when I post!?

Well… unless you follow me on Twitter and Instagram…

[ding]

In today's video we're going to be discussing: dyslexia!

I'm really interested to know how many of you watching identify as having dyslexia (or

dyspraxia- although despite being related that's very much a video in itself!) and

whether you've made it over the hurdle of being officially diagnosed. There will be

a little question card in the corner above.

Have a look at them and let me know

This was actually a request I was sent by a subscriber, Dylan, and my channel members,

The Kellgren-Fozard Club, helped me decide on the content. If you would also like to

become a member and have a say on future videos then click the 'join' button below or

the link in the description.

I'll go into what dyslexia actually is and the signs of Dyslexia in a minute but for

now just know that it is one of a family of Specific Learning Difficulties.

Don't panic! 'Learning difficulty' and 'learning disability' are not the same

If you're a parent watching this and you've had no prior contact with anyone has brain

troubles of any kind and your child has just been diagnosed with dyslexia… well this

can be a lot to process. I know

Ha! 'Process'. Nice use of words, Jessica.

It's a 'difficulty', not a 'disability' although it can be classified as one under

the UK's Equality Act of 2010 and thus extreme cases will make a person eligible for various

types of assistance.

Also: people with learning disabilities are cool.

Trust me: I have brain damage and I'm fabulous.

It's estimated that up to 1 in every 10 people has some degree of dyslexia but it

varies wildly in severity.

A Specific Learning Difficulty affects the way information is learned and processed.

It's a neurological, rather than psychological, problem- that means it's caused by your

nerves not functioning the way they should, rather than something you can physically see,

like your brain being in the shape of a peacock.

[beat]

Weird example. Guess my favourite animal (!)

Although dyslexia usually runs in families- my mother, brother and various cousins are

dyslexic- doctors have yet to find the root cause or even the one specific gene that controls

it. Whilst dyslexia has a significant impact on your ability to learn and acquire literacy

skills, it occurs completely independently of intelligence.

So you can be a genius and also be dyslexic!

Leonardo da Vinci, Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, George Washington, Whoopi Goldberg and Richard

Branson!

- Granted, he might not be winning any prestigious prizes for his intelligence but he IS worth

over £3 billion so he's doing something right.

You can also be dyslexic and… not… a genius.

That's why an IQ test is given alongside a standard test for dyslexia: to

make sure the issues the person is facing are specific to dyslexia and not part of a

wider problem.

As with any disability, no two people experience the same combination of difficulties. When

most people find out I'm dyslexic they assume it means I can't read very well. Interestingly,

whilst my mother and, to a lesser extent, my brother really struggle with reading, I

was that little Matilda who spent the summer holidays dragging a cart full of books to

the library and back every day.

At my peak I was reading six books a day and by the age of eight I'd gobbled up everything

in the children and young adult section so stumbled into the weird adult fantasy romance

section because they had pretty colours and- boy- were those not okay for a child to be

reading!

I was also very loquacious as a child but when it came time to put those words onto

paper… I just… couldn't…

I could chat to my teachers all day about a topic but the second they asked me to pick

up a pen and begin writing…

It was as if the words would form in my brain, travel down my arm and then get stuck in my

hand. I just couldn't get them through my fingers and into the pen.

I tried bright colours, sparkly gel pens, different types of paper… but nope! Even

when I was writing a nice note to my Nana or a birthday card to a friend, I just couldn't

make the words come out of my hands and I'd more often than not sit crying over a sheet

of paper, unable to do anything.

- You should see me attempting to write an Instagram caption-

I can read when a word is wrong but I can't tell you how to make it right.

I would sit in exams, wasting hours and hours, trying to work out how to spell the word 'of':

- that last one was because I'm aware 'z' seemed like an underused letter of the alphabet

and yet we still had to learn it so surely it was used for something, right?

Right?

Right?!

[deep breathe]

Why are you making me learn unnecessary letters, like this isn't already hard enough?!

Writing is a little easier if I'm creating things as I go- whether that be fiction writing

or a script for something I'm very passionate about.

BUT when it comes to concrete facts and stitching them together…

Gah! [bomb sfx]

No...

Even writing a text to a friend is something I really struggle with. Once we get into the

flow of conversation I'm good to go and can instant message backwards and forwards…

as long as no one says a date, time or 'to do'. Then I'm stuck.

Please feel free to weigh in on why on earth you think that happens to me. I think it might

be because I'm so worried about 'getting it wrong' like mixing up my times, days

and places that I just stop, drop and roll out of that conversation…!

But what causes dyslexia?

So far, nine different genes that control the development of the brain have been identified

and several more have suggested. These genes all control the development of the brain and

can cause differences in its structure which can create abnormal collections of nerve cells

in the wrong places during development. These miscroscopic differences in connectivity between

neurones particularly affect 'magnocellular' systems which are specialised for rapid information

processing.

Meaning if you ask me to spell something immediately, quickly, now, on the spot!- I will freeze

up and 'letter, who they? I hardly know them.'

This is because dyslexic brains are wired in such a way that they find it difficult

to recognise the different sounds that make up words and how they relate to letters.

Even before losing my hearing I had a very hard time telling rhyming words apart and

I still am pretty much unable to break a word down into its phonetics (the component sounds)

even if I can say the word.

Yesterday, whilst testing myself for this video, I learnt that 'Jessica' and 'Claudia'

have the same number of syllables. I learnt that yesterday. I've been married to her

for almost three years and I only learnt that yesterday!

Jess-i-ca Claud-i-a

I've always thought 'Claudia' was a four syllable word.

Don't ask me how.

Clearly I can't tell you how.

Words are confusing.

That's this video in its entirety!

I was first diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia when I was 8 years old. I think it was a pretty

obvious go-to diagnosis for me since dyslexia already ran in my family and I was clearly

a child who could express herself verbally very well.

- and still does! People sometimes class me as a 'blogger' and I'm like…[laughs] no friend,

I can't even spell 'milk'

I've just realised it's a four letter word. Damn right it is!

So no, I'm pretty secure in my vlogger-ness.

I also have correctly spelt merch!

I lived in Bristol at the time and there was a special Dyslexia School in the city that

children attended full-time or part-time depending on the severity of their dyslexia. It's

also where a lot of children took the official dyslexia test.

I actually remember my tester getting very mad at me though because he thought I was

faking my test results and purposefully getting things wrong as he didn't believe I could

be so eloquent and yet so utterly unable to spell!

The results of that first test when I was 8 years old was that I had an adult reading

age (it only goes up to 18+) and the spelling age of… a 4 year old. Preschoolers

could spell better than I could.

I was tested again before I went to university at 18 and the tester that time was again like…

“What is happening in your brain?!”

Because I have a visual IQ in the 99th percentile (which is the top) and phonological awareness

in the… under 1… th percentile.

Is that how you say that?

No! Under first!

Gah!

Bah, what do I know?!

That's actually not uncommon for dyslexics though- we tend to have very strong visual,

creative and problem solving skills whilst being terrible at reading, writing, telling

our left from right, remembering sequences like the alphabet or months of the year, copying

down written instructions or even following spoken ones.

It's also very common to mirror things. For me the letters-

-are pretty indistinguishable. I'm actually reading that out. Because… they're all

lies!

What even is the alphabet anyway?!

I find that signing letters actually helps me to remember the sequence of the alphabet

but I have to ask my sign language interpreters not to fingerspell to me because I… just

can't work out what on earth they're saying!

Other common difficulties of dyslexia: a tendency to confuse verbal instructions, places, times

and dates. Difficulty with planning and writing essays or even getting started and completing

I was counting and it's just gone off

Greater difficulty in learning a foreign language, disorganisation and frustration

which can lead to behavioural or emotional difficulties.

Having said that, again, dyslexia varies from person to person and no two people will have

the same set of strengths and weaknesses. It also often co-occurs with related conditions,

such as dyspraxia, dyscalculia and attention deficit disorder.

So it can be difficult to tell where the problem comes from precisely. I don't know. Maybe

I have dyslexia because I was already brain damaged but I got diagnosed after my dyslexia.

Maybe I wasn't. Maybe I just happened to have two things. Who knows.

Although Dyslexia is a life-long condition which can have a substantial effect on a person's

day to day activities, and certainly school work or careers… there are some things that

dyslexic people are generally pretty awesome at so let's take a few moments to talk about

those and if you're a dyslexic in need of a self-confidence boost I want you to pick

out the ones that relate to you. Don't worry about the ones that don't, we're not here

to beat ourselves up, just concentrate on the things you're really great at and then

at the end, once you've finished watching the video, leave a comment with the things

that you think you're really great at. Don't be British about it (especially if you're

not British- you definitely don't have any excuse then!), don't feel you have to be

overly humble. I want you to big yourself up!

So:

Imaginative Good at thinking and reasoning skills

Able to see the “big picture” Good at problem solving

Good general knowledge Good understanding of texts

Curious

Sophisticated receptive language Good visual-spatial skills

Good critical thinking and reasoning skills Capacity to perceive information 3-dimensionally

Creative practical skills Good interpersonal skills

Intuitive Good visual memory

Sport and/or drama skills

There are probably lots more that I've forgotten so write them in the comments below and let's

create a really positive space where we can boost amazing people with dyslexia rather

than always talking or thinking about the things we can't do.

If you Google 'are dyslexics…' you get: messy, disorganised, dumb and intelligent…?

Along with 'more successful'? Which: yes!

A dyslexic person can, yes, have difficulties with structuring work schedules, filling in

forms or map reading and likely will constantly lose and forget things BUT-

With a little extra time in school and access to their own personal computer- which thankfully

being officially diagnosed as dyslexic gave me access to- we can produce amazing, complex,

beautiful work!

Often dyslexics will have a low opinion of their capabilities because we're compared

to neurotypical people constantly and it can be a battle in the classroom just to get work

on the page, regardless of whether it's spelt correctly or not! But, when people take

the time to read those almost illegible, horribly misspelled hasty squiggles, they'll often

see amazing creativity.

Through weekly one-to-one sessions with a specially-trained dyslexia teacher at the

centre I mentioned earlier, and then latter at a special learning unit that was attached

to my school, I developed my love of writing.

I also learnt cool memory tricks for spelling like:

Does Oliver Eat Sweets? Does!

Or “I take the bus into business”- one s!

Or “Big Elephants Can Add Up Sums Easily”- because!

Still haven't found one for 'of'…

With the right help dyslexia really is something you can find your way around and it doesn't

have to stop you from anything you want to do or becoming anything you want to be. But