I was bullied for dyslexia - let's spare kids the same fate

At school, I wasn't called “dyslexic” - I was called “lazy”.

- ADAM DANCE

Teachers said I wasn't concentrating. I was told I was a distraction, sent out of class, or left to struggle alone. I can still picture myself sitting at my desk, the letters swimming on the page, my stomach twisting with fear as I waited to be asked to read aloud.

My heart would pound, my hands would shake, and I’d pray the teacher would move on.

I was trying my hardest, but no one saw that. I couldn’t read or write like the others, and that made me a target. I was one of the lucky ones - eventually, I received a dyslexia diagnosis in primary school - but in some ways that made things worse. Few teachers understood what dyslexia meant, and even fewer pupils did. To them, it was just another word for “stupid”.

The jibes and teasing went on for years. It wasn’t one big moment that hurt the most, but the constant drip of shame, laughter and exclusion that chipped away at me. When classmates laughed every time I stumbled over a word, I started to think I wasn’t clever, that I didn’t belong, and that I’d never achieve anything.