As someone with dyslexia, I have a somewhat love/hate relationship with books. So when I was told I would be featured in a book about dyslexia, it gave me somewhat of a dilemma. What do I do when I receive my copy of the book? Many books about dyslexia I’ve attempted to read have not been writing with the dyslexic reader in mind. They can be heavy, wordy and very academic. In the past, if I started a book and quickly realised it wasn’t worth the struggle, I could admit defeat and add it my ‘books I couldn’t be bothered to finish bookshelve’. However this time I was a bit more invested, I was in the book and I knew the author would want to know I thought. Out of politeness whatever I thought of the book I was gonna have to battle it through with this one.

Cut to a few months late and a brown package from the publishers lands on the door; my heart sinks, it was a very thick looking package, meaning it contained a thick book, meaning there goes two months of my trying to get through this beast! But as I peeled away the perforated tab, things started to look up. First of all the book was bright orange, which is one, my favourite colour and two, my history with books with orange covers has been one the whole quite positive. So a good start.

The good news kept coming; as I flicked through pages I realised, rather than being an academic tomb, this was a beautifully illustrated and visual book, with just enough words to lead me through the story.

A few months later the book was about to be published an I was invited to speak at the launch which was one of the best dyslexia events EVER!. You can check out how that went in the video above or to find out more about the book click here: The Illustrated Guide to Dyslexia and Its Amazing People

And here’s more photos from the event:

Video produced by Sean Douglas


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