Red Letter from Alex Edmondson - Olympian Cyclist
Dyslexia has been a huge part of my life since I can first remember.
From my days at primary school where I was the last person to get my pen license,
being laughed at when I had to read out allowed, being so happy when the first Harry
Potter movie came out as I could finally see what all the talk was about, as I
wasn't able to read the books to finally having to leave the classroom to go to
a different teacher in year 6 as I was apparently to dumb to stay in the class.
School was a huge struggle for me, I absolutly hated it. I can
clearly remember all the times that I would argue and refuse to go to school with
mum. Or when I would blow the candles out for my birthday cake and wish to just
be "a normal kid". Finally the huge amount of homework I had to do at
home to remember syllables and how they were pronunced.
I was so lucky to have the most amazing people around me who
always supported and helped me with my struggles with dyslexia. From my parents
who were there every step of the way and Janice McPhail who was my shining angel.
I can easily say if it wasn't for her I would not be where I am to day, both with
my cycling and my life in general. She taught me ways to deal dyslexia and most
importantly except that I wasn't dumb like everyone called me, I was just different.
My parents every step of the way encouraged and motivated me
to be able to learn how to overcome dyslexia. Through all the hard times and the
times I wanted to throw the towel in they kept my feet on the ground and motivated
me to stick with it and in their words, "show it who was boss"!! The
endless amounts of time they would help me with my homework, remembering games,
helping me with my spelling, reading books for me the list really goes on, they
really were unbelievable.
I was so fortunate to have had the support I needed at St Johns
Grammar School with Janice McPhail, but most people are not so fortunate. Dyslexia
is a learning difficulty that effects 1 in 7 Australian children, yet not many people
know what dyslexia really is. We need to put some big changes into schools and the
teaching force about understanding dyslexia and knowing that everyone is a little
bit different and giving us patience.
To now be able to look back at my schooling days and see it
as a positive is pretty amazing. The reason this is possible is I now know that
if times get tough I can get through it and also if you set yourself a goal you
really can achieve them.
These two key points have played a huge part in my life
since leaving school. To this day I can call myself a 2 time Olympian and Olympic
Medallist, Commonwealth Campion, 3 x World Champion and 14 x Australian Champion
and most importantly a boy who over came the hardships of dyslexia.
Finally if you are struggling with dyslexia and you want to
throw the towel in thats all normal, but what you need to do is stand up and say
to yourself, "You know what, I am better than this and I can overcome it."
If you have dyslexia you can achieve things that you dream about. I was in your
shoes and thought I would never be good enough. But I can now say that I have
achieved dreams that were in my wildest dreams .....
Dream big you really never know what is around the corner!!!
Cheers,
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