Day 3 - Support Network / Tips & Tricks

The Definition of a support network goes a little like this

A group of people who provide emotional & practical help to someone

I have always been lucky enough to have a support network from being a young age, be it my brothers, parents and friends growing up, however at the time I can safely say it didn’t feel like a support network. If anything it felt like a group of nitpicking folk who would drive me crazy about my spelling and reading always flagging up my errors and constantly saying I need to try harder, how was they to know that no matter how hard I tried it something I wouldn’t be able to fix… don’t get me wrong at this time dyslexia wasn’t ever on their radar.

It’s only in the last 15 years that my mindset change on this group of people, no longer do I see them in such a negative way. If anything they are hugely important to me and making my life a little easier when it comes to doing grown up stuff like writing, these people now have a place near and dear to my heart. It’s like having this little elite team of ninjas you can rely on, ladies and gentlemen may I introduce you to my support network… okay maybe a need a better name for them moving forward!

My support network consists of around five different people and a group of selected tools that work for me 80% of the time, which I will come to later.

While writing this I took 5mins out to reflect on the people within my support network and the skills I think they all have and why I have them as my support, in the end it came down to four things they had by the bucket load and ones I would recommend you look for when finding your own support network - Empathy, Humor, Patients (or is that Patience), Trust

Empathy

“The ability to understand and share the feelings of another”

While I think it’s near impossible for a non-dyslexic to understand the world through a dyslexics eyes I think there are some universal feelings that everyone can relate to, they are frustration, anger and a general feeling of being overwhelmed, these are all the emotions and feelings I feel when writing a blog, article, tweet etc.

In the past I have made the mistake of asking people who couldn’t empathize why I was feeling all these things or why my spelling was so bad, I quickly realized these are the people not to add in my support network.

However, the opposite end of that spectrum are the angles they do get, why I am still up at 10pm writing something I started at 1pm, they understand why am frustrated, why I can talk about this stuff all day long but to write about it is a nightmare… they also allow me to vent and more importantly they understand and share my feeling as best they can.

Humor

The ability to find thing funny

Humour is a big one for me, not only because it is one of my personal coping mechanisms with dyslexia but because sometimes when your frustrated, after reading your 2000 word article for the 50th time, the people who are in your support network will see that and address it in the best way possible with laughter and humor. I also find it works well when they are fed up of reading the same article for the 50th time too.

Patience

The ability to wait, or to continue doing something despite difficulties, or to suffer without complaining or becoming annoyed

My days does your support network need this and lot of it, while you may think your handing over a masterpiece to them, the chances are what they are seeing is a lot of made up words with no punctuation or maybe the punctuation is being used like it’s going out of fashion a,bit,like this.

Their skills to not only navigate through this minefield but also come out of it with some form of story… and actual sing your praises is something you only see in angels.

They also need patience when yourself doubt kicks in and you think your writing just isn’t up to standard so you ask them over and over if it’s good enough. The amount of times I’ve handed over my next masterpiece to my support network to have them read and edit, then I edit again, it can be a right challenge, sometimes we get into version 7 and 8 of a post.

Trust

To believe that someone is good and honest and will not harm you, or that something is safe and reliable

This is the big one for a few different reasons, not only do I need to trust the person that when they read my post they won’t laugh point or forward it on to everyone one else.

I also need to trust the person that if my next post is really bad they will be honest and tell me.

Not everyone is open about their dyslexia and I sometimes think this is half the battle, in day to day life dyslexia can be invisible to others, so to open up and trust that the people you go to for help are the trustiest kind is such a huge deal.

Tips and tricks when there is no other way but to type an article

1.    One of the biggest things that came out of my dyslexic assessment was how I respond to page colour – I found that my preferred colours are green and pink, so whenever I type a document (like this) the first thing I do is change the page colour to green. You can also get different screen overlays for laptops, however I lost mine a while back

How: To do this in Microsoft word – go to design and page colour (this is how mine looks)

2.    Make use of the tec around you, be mindful that not all tech was created equal for example while Microsoft Words spell check is great for giving your document a quick once over it isn’t the best one stop shop as it doesn’t take the words into context, see above patience vs patient above.

It will also let certain words slip and highlight false positives e.g. American vs UK spelling, instead I recommend Installing Grammarly into your browser, while it doesn’t catch everything it is by far better than word. It’s also the best thing I’ve installed on chrome as it’s saved me from some very embarrassing moments.

3.    Use voice – If you’re on the mac load up the dictation and use that for voice to text

How: Hit edit start dictation

If you’re on Microsoft I would recommend using something like Dragon Voice althought it isnt cheap. You could also use voice memos on your phone and transcribe them to text later, using services like Temi again this isnt free but could save you a lot of time, or maybe jump straight into google doc and use their voice to text.

When it comes to using WhatsApp I wouldn’t worry too much about the spelling, the chances are the people your talking to appreciate you for you and will overlook the error or they will simply ask what you mean. Where possible just use voice notes within the app I find it much easier and faster in this busy world and let’s be honest it’s the way the world is going anyway.

It’s only right that I use an opportunity like this to give a massive shout out to my dyslexic support network, who over time have been my eyes and ears when reading or listening to me going on when the self-doubt kicks in and I ask if my writing is even good enough.

I am sure there is more but this blog has taken me nearly two hours

1.    Helen Yates

2.    Jamie Good

3.    Jo Byrne

4.    Jo Wright

5.    Family

While I know it can seem like hard work at times proofing reading my stuff I just want to say a massive thank you, I deeply appreciate the help you give.

#DannyDiscussions #21stCenturyDyslexia