What makes you #UniquelyYou: Danielle

What makes you Uniquely You?

My ability to have empathy and read people, something I didn’t realise until later in life on in life, I just loved working with different types of people and gave everyone the same level of respect. Respect is earned in my books, I would give the same respect to a child as I would an elder.

When I was younger, I couldn’t understand why people were reacting or treating one person differently to another because they were younger, older or more senior. I used that in my career to really understand what motived people and how to interact to create good teams as a project manager.

I am not perfect but that’s what make me unique. My dyslexia empathy and behaviour curiosity, I am also sensitive to things and people around me.

I have dyslexia and/but…

I find reading challenging I am severely dyslexic, I find reading the hardest, spelling and grammar I am starting to deal with. But I can talk, I can really articulate in words, not always, sometimes the brain fog kicks in.
I have always talked in a way to try and inspire others by sharing stories and experiences. I find this is a great way to connect with others.

However with books, when I do find a book that I really like, I do get hyper focussed on it, I like fantasy and escapism, then I do enjoy it. So I may find it challenging reading books, but the imagination that sits behind it, helps me have a love for non-fiction books.

It is important to raise awareness of dyslexia because…

I think it is important to raise awareness around dyslexia as there is still a taboo around it, people believe that reading and writing in one way is the core foundation of how we learn, but I disagree, I do challenge people in academia and educational settings on how we can celebrate different formats of learning and communication, especially in today’s world and how Covid has really changed things. Being a step mum, has shown me how a child can really thrive through different communications.

I also think a lot of confidence gets squashed because of it, when you add in all the other things dyslexia can impact it has an even deeper impact on confidence and mental health. I think we to do - like we have with race, ethnicity, gender, is to break that down and say – it is okay! You have dyslexia!

This is why I became a neurodivergent coach. I was getting really frustrated seeing individuals really struggle to see their greatness. I struggled for many decades knowing that from a very young age, I was better than some of my peers but not understanding what was wrong. I had to look at my talents and be seen. That is what I want to raise, that individuals want to be seen, they should be proud of that and for the challenges there is much more support out there now. We need to break down the stigma around dyslexia impacting intelligence because that correlation doesn’t exist.

In my black community it’s making people understand that we are learning differently, our brains function differently, we bring amazing things to the table and how can we leverage on that for our children. It begins with awareness, community, and unitedness, opening up and talking about it.