#MyDyslexiaStory: Julie Howard
Wednesday 18 January 2023
13
months ago, I was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 45. This coincided with
my daughter aged 9, being screened for dyslexia at school. I recognised she was
having similar challenges at school, to the ones I encountered when I was going
through early education myself.
This also prompted my father and my sister to admit a few shared challenges
themselves in terms of having and coping with dyslexia in their lives too.
I have successfully carved out a career as an art educator all my professional
life and currently work as a senior lecturer at the University of Brighton,
where I train secondary art teachers. However, my recent interest in dyslexia
has prompted me to investigate what it all means as an artist, teacher, mother
and wife - all aspects of my identity, as well as my families.
At the beginning of January 2022, I decided to create a series of postcards, that explore the challenges we face as a family coming to terms with dyslexia. My aim for the project was to process how I feel about getting my dyslexia diagnosis as an adult. This was accompanied by trying to support my daughter.
A recent loss of my mother, meant we were also witnessing more of my father’s struggles that were more exposed by the loss of my mother’s support.
A closer connection with my sister was also important to recognise through a mutual interest and shared experience of dyslexia challenges and triumphs. I wanted to gain more knowledge on how we all found coping mechanisms throughout our lives. The postcards were connecting us and prompting discussions between us, which normalised our associations with the learning difference.
It has really helped me process my own understanding of it all and the way my brain works, as well as seeing how we could share this understanding in the family and not hide our weaknesses any longer as a painful embarrassment and to realise it’s not one to be ashamed of.