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Welcome to day 7 of 7 of my celebrating dyslexia for Dyslexia Awareness Week 2014!
Today I bring I’d like to introduce you to someone who is as passionate about enabling our fellow dyslexics as I am . . .
Name:
David Edwards – Dragon Dave
Age (optional):
51
Business name:
David Edwards
A brief description of what you/your business do/does:
Computer trainer on all areas of Assistive Technology on Windows and Apple Mac
Area you live/your business is based:
I live in the West Midlands. I cover West Midlands and London
When did you find out you were dyslexic?
1998 – I was assessed for Dyslexia but it wasn’t explained clearly in plain English what it all meant – even my dad was struggling to understand where we went from here.
2007 – on my 43rd birthday, I met Brian Hagan who completely changed my life in one day – he explained everything about my dyslexia report, in plain English – this should have been done by my assessor 9.5 years earlier.
How did you feel when you found out you were dyslexic?
1998 – relieved – it answered a lot of questions.
26 June 2007 at 10am –best birthday present ever – at 10am I went into the meeting with Brian Hagan feeling a total loser, signed off with stress by doctor, on anti depressesants and going through a course of counselling.
26 June 2007 at 5pm – a totally different person, a lot more self confident, knowing I was perfectly normal for a dyslexic. Before 26 June 2007, I would hide my dyslexia. After 26 June 2007, I am very open about it and sell dyslexia to other people in a very positive light.
What difference has it made, if any, to your life /business since you found out you are dyslexic?
I now know how to manage my dyslexia a lot better and to not be self critical.
What advice would you offer to other dyslexics?
You are as good as anyone else – if Ron Dennis, the MD at McLaren Cars Formula One and Richard Branson can do it – so can you.
In the words of Ron Dennis from Car magazine in 1994 he said something along the lines of:
“With hard work, you can achieve anything. The reason people fail is because they aren’t prepared to put the work in”.
What do you do to relax/hobbies?
Drinking wine, studying Japanese, visiting Japan and of course, computers.
Anything you want to add?
With the correct support, a dyslexic person is equally as capable as a non-dyslexic person. In fact, a dyslexic person is better in some areas than their non-dyslexic peers.
It’s highly important that both the employer AND employee are fully educated in what dyslexia means in theory AND in practice.
Due to not understanding my dyslexia, I have been a whisker away from a nervous breakdown four times in order to discover the above statements.
Dyslexia is neither a sign of laziness nor a lack of intelligence.
Most people I help are highly intelligent and have great entrepreneurial skills. In the correct environment, they are more successful than non dyslexic peers – often because the think and operate in different way to non dyslexics.
Your website & business contact details:
0750 222 0175
www.dyslexiacareers.co.uk
Eli’s Note:
David is an excellent trainer, he has trained me how to use Dragon Naturally Speaking and I found him to be very very good at what he does… David even trained my father too. I highly recommend him to anyone who wants to learn how to use Dragon and remember what they have been taught!
