My road to being a Dyslexic Mech

I am a Dyslexic Mechanical Engineer and this is my Dyslexia story:

I haven't shared my story publicly before but 2020 has been a year of reflection and making plans for the future. I don't think you can plan where you are going before you look at where you have been... So this is me versus education at various stages of my life. 

I am a design engineer and would not change being Dyslexic, I love it. It hasn't always been easy, but I've made it work for me.

So to start, I am a normal kid. I grew up loving cars and making things. Loved Lego, I still do at 34. I don't remember much of my time at nursery but life got tricky when I hit primary school!

So school was never a breeze and I hated reading books.  Basically, the academic life really wasn't for me but put me in a design tech class and give me a blank sheet of paper of some raw materials and watch me go. . .

Primary School

I don't remember too much from the early years of primary school but I don't remember the later years, the big classes, the clever kids that just got it. Math and the more complex aspects of English just seemed to click for them and it's only upon reflection how much this bothered me really. I worked for my achievements but was easily discouraged in these two subject areas and when it came to reading home-work, let's just say my mum is very dedicated and has a lot of patience!

Her dedication you will hear more about later on. . .

 I'm sure I will reiterate this through my writing here but I am a visual person. I do shapes. A classic example of my challenges are letters that are the same shape. . . b, d, p & q are all the same shape, exactly the same just different orientations.

So primary school was difficult, this was going to compound by the threat of high-class numbers in the final year. Now for a kid that was sat there hobbling along through his Maths, I needed a bit of help from time to time although I wouldn't have necessarily asked for it. I didn't really know any different at this point, or any other way to do it. This was in a normal class, now double the number of children in the class. . . talk about a needle in a haystack!

With English, specifically reading I described it later in life as seeing the spaces on the pages between the words before the words themselves. I would have to make my head work harder to focusing on the words themselves.

 My mum had been keeping an eye on me during this period and had been reading up as parents do and looked into this thing being referred to as Dyslexia. It turns out I fit the description quite well.

So, I was very fortunate to have parents that put my needs ahead of there's for a year. I was given the option to stay in my current school, battle on and endure drowning among the masses or to go to a private school where I would be in a class of 18. To this day I remember the trial day at the new school. I remember contributing. I remember being listened to. I never really appreciated that quite so much until now. I'm going to repeat myself. . . I was listened to!

That night I was given the option. I chose to be listened to. . . 

Now, this was when my dad worked in London. He would usually get a season ticket and commute on the train. But for them to afford to send me to this school and give me a chance, he started driving instead in a hot, Volvo estate that did not sport air-conditioning, up and down the M4. For this, I will always be so grateful!

At the same time as starting at this new school, I started doing one-on-one sessions 20 minutes down the road once a week to learn my way around being dyslexic and starting to understand other ways to make all these words and numbers make sense in my head and in my own way.

I fully appreciate that not everyone will be in a position to make this move and it was by no means all smiles. I lost friends in the process and got one hell of a shock seeing how other people can live their life.

Anyway, my time during the final year of primary school was amazing and a memorable one. I actually learned and retained the subject matter being taught. I was given the space and time to take it in and understand it at my pace. If it didn't sink in the first time around, the time was taken by the teacher to give it another go under different terms.

I enjoyed learning. For the first time, I liked the boring bits at school.

Secondary school

Time for a leap back into the real world, I didn't go on to attend one of the private secondary schools that my new friends. I was aware of them going off and sitting entrance exams and to be honest I didn't really have a wish to do that. I had had my dose of that world. But that was enough.

I went to one of the local state schools, it was good but it had its challenges. I reconnected with some old friends and made new ones. We started with all the different subjects. Maths, English, Science, French, Geography, History, Design Technology, Art, Music. I very quickly knew what I enjoyed and what I didn't but I really did feel like I was set up well for what was coming.

To my surprise, maths I got on with, I had supportive friends who helped out with the maze of numbers (you know who you are and thank you always), I actually enjoyed some of the algebra but more in terms of seeing it as deciphering codes in a way rather than calling it maths . . .

Now when it came to sitting exams I was entitled to extra time. This was invaluable. It gave me a bit of breathing space to properly read through the exams and make sure I fully understand it before getting going. Yes, there were comments from other kids but in the grand scheme of things, that doesn't matter.

So, I got a C with Maths at GCSE but given the time to get my head fully around it, I knew I could do it. The proof of this was the B I got for my coursework. I'll take that!

That's one thing I do, I don't really see numbers and letters. I see shapes and I just know what they stand for. I'm a shapes and patterns person, not a numeric, sentenced, and grammatical person.

In English, I had an amazing teacher called Miss Potter. She had time, she enjoyed helping me understand. It's wasn't until later in life however that I released just how much of this understanding of English had completely passed me by. Having met my girlfriend and now my wife was the person who has inadvertently taught me rules of grammar in English. 

So you can do it, you just need to find the best way in which you will be able to interpret the information. Now science. . . this is the subject I have the worst memories of. Not because I hated the subject. I loved it. It had so much life in it, so much I wanted to understand and relate to. The bad memories were down to one particular teacher who simply didn't have the time or didn't care to spend the time helping the minority in the class. . .

She used an overhead projector during her lessons. Now the drill was that in each lesson she would talk and write on one accelerate sheet. I was expected to listen, take in what was being said, understand what she was saying, and also take notes down from what she had written projected on the wall. If you didn't get it all down, though! She would wipe the sheet clean and carry on writing again. If you didn't quite get the point of what she was saying because you were busy making sure you copied every word down, tough! Not her problem. Everyone else was getting on just fine!

I did not stand a chance with her. It was like a train just slowing down at a station, it wasn't going to stop, and if you couldn't quite hop on tough. It was going with or without you. . . 

Now with the challenges of Maths, English, and especially Science, I participated in French but my heart was far from in it. The more complex aspects of my first language were strenuous enough so in French I did what I could but was always in a low set and was content with a D when I got my GCSE's through.

Geography, again this was a case of a subject I could enjoy and relate to but I also again had the benefit of teachers that were understanding. Don't get me wrong, I think I kept them busy with spelling corrections on homework but I got through it. geography was under my feet literally and it was filled with natural wonders! What's not to love! A field trip to the glorious sites of Switzerland helped I think.

History was different. It was a subject I was happy to let go. The lessons primarily entailed trawling through textbooks. Lots of reading (trying to keep up) whilst again trying to listen and take notes . . . err no thanks. 

See a trend emerging at all? 

Being given the time to listen and be listened to and document it in a way I would get was fine. Possibly slower than others with some subject matter but the point is I got there!!

Alternatively being forced to choose between listening and hoping I retained it in memory or write down what I could hear being said and hope I understand the collection of words on a page when I read it back to my self later. . .

This now brings me on to the fun aspects of my secondary school chapter. Music I loved, still do. I love listening to it, I love to make it even more. I imagine it in my head and then try and make it a reality. Guitar, drums, piano, pencils on a desk. . . . it was hands-on. Nothing that academic to get my head around. That said I still learned to play the guitar my way. The chords I play aren't a combination of my first finger on A at fret 4 etc, they are shapes that I remember my fingers making that make up a chord of A, G, D.

Art was a breeze although the art teacher and myself never really saw eye to eye. . . a bit too airy-fairy for my task. A random abstract collage versus sketches of a Morris Minor, no contest really.

Onto my forte. Design Technology. There were a few different sections under that title pre GCSE's stage. Textiles, food tech, graphics, and resistant materials. So in other words, waistcoats, samosas, pretty pictures or hands-on construction with wood and plastics!!

Among some of my biggest passions are cooking, making things, and drawing. I loved graphics and resistant materials, to drawing something that I previously imagined in my head, and then to take it further and make something that previously only existed in my head a reality! Awesome, just awesome. No greater satisfaction.

With Maths and English, I sort of knew where I needed to get to with it but never quite got there.

With design, the way I describe it to people who aren't dyslexic is having a piece of 3D CAD software in my head. I can picture something inside and out. Flip it around, imagine the other side of it. Now I always thought that this was normal. It was only after talking about how I think and how my head works with my parents that I realised went about things a bit differently . . .

So GCSE selection time came around and to cut a long story short, rather than do music or drama etc, my mum battled and rallied and I wound up not doing one Design Technology but two. So I ended up in graphic design creating a Concept Morris Minor for the 21st century and in resistant materials, I designed and build a custom toolbox for a Morris Minor Traveller. So having got an A and an A*, I knew what worked for me for sure!

You might be wondering why the result of both subjects related to Morris Minors? Well at the age of 14, like you do. . . I talked my parents into letting me buy my first car. A 1969 Morris Minor Traveller that was in need of a bit of help of its own. Over the next few years, my dad and I stripped it down, boxed it up, and restored it. Now, this entailed lots of occasions where my way of thinking on some task definitely made me stand out from my dad's! 

There are several ways to skin a cat, then there's the dyslexics way!

My ways weren't always the best, sometimes I'll admit that tried and tested can be the best route. But every now and then I did get a kick out of approaching a challenging task head-on and going about solving it my way and watching the reaction on my dad's face of

"Not what I would have done at all but okay!"  

Don't be put off stepping out the box, it can be fun! Lots more space for activities outside the box. . . 

So, I've made it through primary school, I've made it through Secondary School. What now?!!

College

So I knew enjoyed design, I was interested in technology and learning how to make ideas a reality and I loved getting into the nuts and bolts of a problem and getting my hands dirty!

Only one this for it really in my mind! I undertook a BTEC National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering at college. I also at the beginning took on A-level maths. 

As it turns out, that extra Maths wasn't such a good idea. The pressure taking that on, compounded by a hot afternoon classroom caused me to physically shut down and blackout one afternoon.

I wasn't a small chap and would not have been surprised if some shouted 'timber'!

Shortly after that, oddly enough the decision was made to drop the A level and concentrate purely on the National Diploma.

So I spent two years working on pure mechanical engineering with some electronics mixed in. Maths was still there but a manageable amount of it and purely related to the BTEC course. I learned 'proper' engineering drawing techniques on drawing boards (Paper-based not CAD) and the best bit was Fridays. Fridays were in the workshop on lathes and milling machines! Making stuff!!

And the best was that the majority of the marks came from coursework that was submitted. Ideal!

Following college, I had a choice to make. Go out and apply for apprenticeships or have a pop at uni. I have enough UCAS points to give uni applications a pop so I went for a sit down with lecturers at Bournemouth University with the idea of doing Product Design. I have to admit, the beach was a big draw looking at the prospectus but they had a good reputation for Product Design.

I was successful, so off I went and along with it, I got a grant for supporting materials and a computer. I found my own way of taking notes when it came to big projects. At the beginning of each one, we would get a brief. mostly verbal with a supporting sheet with the basics. I got into the habit of voice recording the briefing sessions. I then had an easy way of playing it back afterward word for word and making notes, leaving me to just listen, take in and ask questions at the time of the session.

University

These days I took Dyslexia in my stride, I was fine. Don't get me wrong, Google and the spell check within Word was very much my friend, and getting work proofread from time to time had its benefits, but I was doing something I enjoyed although maths was still a chore at times. Again I found this out the hard way. . . the first year exams did not go to plan. that summer break at home was spent studying up ready to take another stab at it in resists. Still, with extra time, Maths has just been and always will be my Everest. I made it a second time around but only just!!

With the course I was on there was a lot of camaraderie, so help was never far away, sure there were challenging lectures and lecturers alike but I mostly made it work for me. Having the presentation slides on hand after each session was a godsend. (Would have been a handy system for GCSE Science)

I didn't get perfect grades through uni. I worked hard, I studied, I did countless past papers and research and on occasions, I did resort to all-nighters. But I have to be honest, you have not had the full university experience if you haven't spent a whole night knocking back Pro-plus, red bull, and coffee on rotation and successfully bound your coursework at 08:30 the following morning without impaling yourself. I got a 2:2 and I'm proud of it.

Time for the real world now!

Flash 10+ years forwards into the future and it's 2020. I have got a successful career that has so far consisted of being a furniture designer, consultant design for inventors and start-ups, a development designer for a retail design consultancy, a design engineer for ticketing machines, and a Senior Design Engineer for a company specialing in communications equipment for the ministry of defence. It has not always been easy but it is definitely worth it. I love what I do and look forward to seeing what the future holds for me and what ideas I can come up with next.

I have designed my own range of furniture and I am gradually working towards getting it off the ground as my own business and I am loving life with a fantastic family and a roof that my wife and I have put over our heads. I am Dyslexic and I am successful.

Go for it! What's your story?

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Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. Confucius

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