Chris
I was told in high school that I would never make it to university because of my dyslexia. They told me to find more practical routes or something hands-on, like construction. I was going through testing at school for my dyslexia, but the person who was doing my testing left, so I had no proof and never got any help for my GCSEs or A levels.
When my teacher said I wouldn’t get to university, it gave me more drive. I’m the sort of person where if someone tells me I can’t do it, I want to do it even more. I wanted to show people that I could do it. I applied to study Sport and Exercise Science and put myself through the testing when I got to university, and finally got proof of my dyslexia.
My dyslexia is verbal at times, but it’s mainly that I can think of things but can’t get them down on paper. Me and reading don’t really get along. I read the same line about four times, which can be difficult as a lot of my course is theory.
I’ve opened quite a few avenues over the summer with volunteering, as well as balancing on-call firefighting. I’m now a phase two firefighter after getting to the top rank of Station Officer as a fire cadet. I’ve been to many different types of callouts. It’s a really busy station, so you have to learn fast. I had to do maths, English and statistical thinking exams off my own back, but I managed to pass them and get the job.
At the moment I either want to go into primary school teaching or I want to go full-time firefighting or even into headquarters, which is quite paperwork based.
A friend of mine is dyslexic as well and they want to start university because they’ve seen that I can do it. I want to prove that dyslexia can’t stop you and that you can still get what you want, even if you have knockbacks.