I Was Bullied, But Look At Me Now!

Verity may have been brought down by her challenges with dyslexia, but she’s not letting the bad times outweigh the good. Here’s her story on how she’s tackled bullying and learnt to thrive...

When I was at my first school, I struggled to learn things that everyone else seemed to find easy. This really brought my confidence down and people would pick on me for not being able to understand simple things. I ended up getting the lowest score in maths across the whole year group, mainly because my confidence in my ability was so low, that even trying to pass the tests seemed ridiculous. And this was all due to my dyslexia. 

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that affects the left side of the brain dealing with language. It creates difficulty with reading, writing, spelling, processing speed and even short term memory, however it does not affect your intelligence. This didn’t seem possible to me. ‘I must be stupid!’ is what everyone made me believe, to the point where, some days, I  would come home crying. On those days, my dad would show me videos of successful people who where also, like me, dyslexic, but this didn’t change my mind that being dyslexic meant I was stupid. It was only until my parents began to realise how difficult school was for me that they placed me into an academic environment that was far more suited to my needs instead. 

This new school improved my confidence, and enabled me to learn through methods other schools wouldn’t take the time to attempt with me. I went on to achieve the highest scores for maths...which no one could have predicted! I also found a passion for art and my creativity helped me win a scholarship to the school. My dyslexic creativity helps me develop amazing art, with techniques many academic minds could not come up with! Along with this, I am also able to come up with interesting and unique storylines which has made writing a new love of mine. At my first school, with everyone bringing me down, these loves and capabilities I now have would never have been unlocked. Now, through the environment I am in, I am able to say to those who thought I was hopeless, that I am on the same level as them, or even higher.

I hope my personal experience with bullying inspires you to look at your challenges in a different light. At first I thought my dyslexia was the worst thing to happen to me, but now I’m proud to say I’m dyslexic. If you are being picked on for your differences, show them how special they make you. No one gets famous by being the same, it’s the unique people who go far. So I advise you - even if you don’t want to be famous! - to see where you can go with your individuality.