If anyone had told me on the day I left school in 1974 that I would be running my own company and be a dyslexia specialist I would have laughed loudly in their face. Like most dyslexics I struggled at school. As a result I didn’t pass any exams. Well I say I didn’t pass, I don’t really know how I did because I never opened the envelope my results came in.
On leaving school I went through a number of manual labour jobs from bagging sand in a builder’s merchants to being a tree surgeon. But like many dyslexics I had a creative talent which was for music. So I learned to play the bass guitar and was a musician for the next 20 years
In 1987 I decided to go back to school full time and see if I could get myself educated. Little did I know at the time where that would take me. Eight years later I left full time education with an honours degree and inclusive education specialist teaching diploma. It was during this time that I discovered I was dyslexic and my passion for all thing dyslexic began.
Between 1995 and 2007 I worked as a specialist teacher in a number of different colleges in London. In my last post I managed a dyslexia department at a college for around 8 years.
In 2007 I moved from London back to Scotland where I was born in 1958. It was in 2007 that I decided to leave the teaching profession and do something different. That’s when I founded Dyslexia Pathways CIC. I managed to win two social enterprise awards from Scotland Unltd and First Port. Both of which I have to thank for having the faith in me and my ideas and provide me with funding to get Dyslexia Pathways of the drawing board.
Since I founded the company we have won contracts to supply dyslexia support services to two universities here in Scotland. I have also worked in a voluntary capacity at the Scottish Parliament raising awareness of dyslexia issues.
