Think I'm dyslexic but can't afford an assessment

FunkyFlowers

Hi guys

don't know if any of you can help or have any ideas about this but I strongly suspect that I have dyslexia and am finding life more and more of a struggle. Struggled badly in school and didn't do very well and people talk to me as if I'm stupid but I know I'm not. I've inquired about assessments and the cheapest I've had a quote for is 400. Trouble is I can't afford it as I'm of work sick on Incapacity Benefit. I've asked Access To Work but all they did was talk in a condescending manner to me and weren't very helpful at all. I don't know when I will be well enough to go back to work so they'd probably run rings around me anyway and I really don't need the stress of that. For my own sanity though I really need to know what is going on with my brain.

Valli

well I only spotted one minor error in that post.
Can you be a bit more specific about what causes you problems.
Also what would be the POINT of a dyslexia diagnosis? I mean - how would it benfit you to have a label?

McKneff

I can only echo what Valli said.

In what way is it affecting your life.

Your post looked pretty good to me,

pmlindyloo

As a specialist dyslexia teacher I can fully understand your reasoning behind your question. When you have these feelings that something is wrong and people treat you as though you are stupid and you know you are not then you lose your self confidence.

Rightly or wrongly sometimes a 'label' does help. It gives you the ability to know that you aren't 'stupid' and consequently improves your self confidence.

I believe that you may be entitled to a Dyslexia Assessment at a reduced rate but, I also believe, that you would need the support/referral of a 'group' to do this.

I think you should contact your local authority and ask if they have an Adult Literacy Group. If you haven't one in your area then I would google 'dyslexia adult assessment' plus your area/nearest large town and see what it comes up with.

FunkyFlowers

Val, McKneff: I'm not going to go into details about what makes me think I'm dyslexic or why I want a 'label' as you put it as I don't know you well enough to discuss such personal matters. Also your lack of knowledge of the condition, revealed by your counting my typos, makes me uncomfortable.

PMlinyloo: thanks for your suggestion I didn't think of an adult literacy center I will look into that.

melancholly

FunkyFlowers wrote: »

Val, McKneff: I'm not going to go into details about what makes me think I'm dyslexic or why I want a 'label' as you put it as I don't know you well enough to discuss such personal matters. Also your lack of knowledge of the condition, revealed by your counting my typos, makes me uncomfortable.

PMlinyloo: thanks for your suggestion I didn't think of an adult literacy center I will look into that.

just to say, it isn't about how much you know them, as this is an open public forum which anyone can read. keeping personal information private is usually very sensible! however, i think it's important for you to think about what a diagnosis would mean and why you want it. that suggestion is very valid, especially for an adult diagnosis (for children, it's about accessing educational help).

some people may find this blog post interesting:
http://deevybee.blogspot.com/2010/12/whats-in-name.html
whether anyone agrees with it or not, it's an interesting discussion and the comments at the bottom also add to the debate.

blossomhill_2

Good move to try and get an assessment, it makes a difference just knowing what is going wrong and why, even if your brain has learnt to compensate or has strategies in place that can fool other people into judging you as not having a problem
Best of luck!

Valli

FunkyFlowers wrote: »

Val, McKneff: I'm not going to go into details about what makes me think I'm dyslexic or why I want a 'label' as you put it as I don't know you well enough to discuss such personal matters. Also your lack of knowledge of the condition, revealed by your counting my typos, makes me uncomfortable.

PMlinyloo: thanks for your suggestion I didn't think of an adult literacy center I will look into that.

as a matter of fact I know a fair bit about it - just wondered what reason you would have for 'wanting' a label...
or perhaps it's another problem you have, such as discalculia. But we only have your post to go on. There are posters on the forum who are dyslexic and do make mistakes. Mind you when I type quickly...

The only person I have ever known of who needed a label (and hence was able to ask for support) was a dyslexic who was also a teacher. She was supported in her school; letters she wrote were checked before they were handed out and she was supported with report writing, in that her reports were checked prior to being issued.

Having said all that I can see the benefit of knowing 'for yourself' - sort of confirmation that you're not stupid but have some 'problem' that prevents you learning easily. I was only commenting on your lucid post because - well you didn't come across as dyslexic; though that's not to say you hadn't had it checked;)

Like melancholly says though - it's not about how much you know McKneff and me. There's plenty of people who will read and not reply anyway. But you're asking on an open forum.

Personally I'm uncomfortable with any label, really. Partly why I like the forum. Most people get my gender wrong!

Savvy_Sue

Valli wrote: »

I was only commenting on your lucid post because - well you didn't come across as dyslexic; though that's not to say you hadn't had it checked;)

I have a very dyslexic sibling. When they type, you'd hardly know. Handwriting still looks as if a spider crawled through an inkwell, and spelling all to pot then, but the computer's made a HUGE difference.

formaldehyde_perfume

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I have a very dyslexic sibling. When they type, you'd hardly know. Handwriting still looks as if a spider crawled through an inkwell, and spelling all to pot then, but the computer's made a HUGE difference.

Agreed.

I am dyslexic. In some areas it's pretty severe, but most people online wouldn't notice. Mostly, that's because the computer I have uses auto correct for any typing. It becomes very apparent when I use a computer that doesn't have an in-built spelling system. If you read back through some of my posts I'm sure it will be quite obvious where I'm typing on my mums computer rather than my own. Also, the forum and instant chat type communication fits me very well as I find it hard to read large chunks of text such as emails, letters, blogs etc but smaller yet more frequent blocks of information are much more manageable.

I am lucky in some ways, I have very good verbal communication skills (although my fibromyalgia has some-what robbed me of this with the constant brain fog) and I have adapted this to be able to communicate with the written word; but this also meant that despite being only 23 now I wasn't diagnosed until I was 17/18 meaning I missed a lot of the learning opportunities I could have had.


By the way, this post it's self has taken 15-20 minutes for me to write.