Chris "Savvy" Red Letter
My name is Chris, but nowadays most people call me “Savvy”.
I was identified as having Dyslexia at a young age, and must have been 5 or 6 years old when that happened, but this “identification” did not really help me much when I was in school. There was a lot of talk and theory flying around about Dyslexia but hardly any practical elements were implemented to assist me and others who had Dyslexia in our day to day activities at school. That was over 28 years ago, and what has changed since then in my opinion?....not much. Kids are still struggling in School and are still being labled as “Stupid” by their peers and teachers alike. Bullying is still happening to the kids who have Dyslexia, and all of this kind of stuff is a lot to cope with for a kid in school. It also leads onto mental illnesses like fear, depression and even in some extreme cases, suicide. I used to live in fear as a child as I was constantly targeted by students. My teachers used to yell at me to “Make my letters bigger” and to spell properly. In a perfect world, I don’t want any child to experience what I went through as a Dyslexic kid in school. A young persons childhood should be filled with fun and exciting times, along with joy and happiness…. not fear, anxity and depression like mine was in school.So I am focusing my RED LETTER at teachers everywhere…..Please Please Please go that extra mile to make sure that any children in your class suffering from Dyslexia are happy. Encourege them. Motivate them. Make them feel like they matter….because they do. Boost their confidence levels. You are not just a teacher to those students infront of you……you are influencers…..how you tech, nurture, and even interact with those kids will influence what that child will become. It only takes a single teacher to change the life of a child with Dyslexia. Thanks to a single teacher, I changed from a shy, introverted boy with no confidence to a very confident and outgoing man. I still remember what this single teacher did for me all those years ago and how he changed my view on the world for the better. I now have a highly enjoyable professional career as an Audio Sound Recordist and content Producer in main stream media.
I only this year opened up about my experience with Dyslexia, and have also taken the wisdom of that single teacher onboard, by becoming an active Dyslexia advocate who conducts motivational speaking in schools and clubs to motivate people – especially if I know that there are people in the audience who have Dyslexia. I always make sure that my speeches include them, or if my speech is specifically about Dyslexia, I empower them, and share the secrets of the super powers that us Dyslexics have. It’s true….it’s our “out of the square” thinking that changes the world. But that square….it’s so 2 dimensional….. us Dyslexics can’t deal with that square because it’s too limiting….we prefer to think “outside the cube” because it’s more 3 dimensional. It gives us more space to be awesome.
To sum up this letter – The change I want to see for today’s classrooms. More teacher understanding of Dyslexia. They need to be trained in this. More practical “Hands on” approach to Dyslexia. Enough talk….more do!
Savvy.
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