Category Archives: Personal Stories

Dyslexic thinking made me the scientist I am today

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Progress has always been made by people who think differently. Neurodiversity helps us think outside the box – and when we do, the sky’s the limit

That matters, because dyslexia is still so often described only in terms of what it makes difficult. And yes, some things are difficult. Reading and writing are still a slog, processing information can take more brain power than I would like – and my spelling remains gloriously unreliable. But difficulty is not the whole story. Not even close.

Read more HERE

Graduate student Abigail Cordiner navigates dyslexia in science

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While her classmates puzzled over mathematical word problems on the page, the moment the problem was read out loud, the answer clicked instantly. Noticed by her teacher, this pattern became the turning point that led to Cordiner’s dyslexia screening, and, years later, continues to shape how she navigates graduate school today.

Read her story HERE

I was told my dyslexia was a ‘superpower’ at school. Adulthood told a different story

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Britain still treats dyslexia as a school problem, not a workplace one

A few years ago, I was in a café with shared toilets as part of a larger complex. To use them, you needed a four-digit code. When I asked where they were, the staff gave me detailed directions and the code at the same time.

My brain had to hold both pieces of information, where to go and what number to remember, while my stress levels were rising. I went back to the counter four times: first to check left or right, then because I couldn’t find the toilets, then because I’d forgotten the code, and finally, repeating “7435” under my breath, I tripped and cut my knee.

This might sound like a small thing, but for me it’s a perfect example of what dyslexia can feel like in everyday life – juggling too much information all at once, often with time pressure, knowing that if you drop something it could be misunderstood as careless.

Read it all HERE