00:03i'm glad we got them blue memo as well exactly fantastic as you know i am guest editing the
00:10digital issue of hello which is back to school related um and one area that i really wanted to
00:16talk about is dyslexia and you talk about it so passionately and honestly watching previous
00:25interviews that you've done it's it's incredible that you're sharing in the way that you are
00:29what inspired you because obviously you know you know the the impact that you sharing such a thing
00:36is going to have so what inspired you to do that well i think that's a it's a great um
00:42it's a great
00:43opening and i think with the references you've said about as back to school you know we've had
00:47to we've all been through so much as well that if by sharing a story you know and i think
00:53storytelling
00:53is one of the most fantastic ways to um to communicate that if by sharing a story and if
01:00i can share my story in one way that helps one young person whether you're you know whether you're you
01:05know 11 or 7 just receiving you know receiving the news that you've got the gift that is um dyslexia
01:11or you know if you're a parent or um or to a teacher or somebody looking at new ways to
01:18support in the
01:18classroom then i think that you've got such a fantastic opportunity to share some of these
01:24great learnings honestly what inspired me to kind of talk about dyslexia the way that i have
01:30is because i really want to change the narrative i was very lucky that um you know when i was
01:36first
01:36kind of told that i had dyslexia that not one person around me sort of ever made me feel like
01:43it was a
01:43lesser than subject right it was always about moving forward it was always about what you could
01:50do um never about what you can't and i think that that's something that's really really important to
01:55me um so yeah i find it very inspiring every day to talk about it because if you can just
02:01change one
02:02little idea in someone's head then uh you've done a great thing well it's fascinating i don't think i've
02:07ever heard someone say dyslexia is a gift but you know the more i hear you talk about it and
02:13and say and talking about how it's looking at things in a different way and actually that is
02:18such a brilliant thing because if we all none of us think of things in the same way but actually
02:23having someone think a little bit out of the box that's how great things happen exactly and you know
02:29i think that having dyslexia and you know we're being reflective of where i am right now in my career
02:35path and and also as an older person looking back you know it definitely has allowed me to look at
02:42things in a new way and sort of thought about you know coming up with solutions and being able to
02:48and i always describe it like being able to think in a circle you know and and it's uh you
02:54know there's
02:54all these sort of little subtleties yes my spelling is appalling um and i wish that i could do something
02:59about that but luckily spellcheck has sorted that out for me exactly so going back to when you were
03:05first told that you had dyslexia what was the run-ups that like because i know it's such a
03:10like so for me and i think it's also for me having kids if i think back to my time
03:16at school and so i
03:17was bullied enough think back to my kids in that setting so it is weird i think when that's on
03:22your
03:22radar and you're thinking about those school years what was the lead-up to that you remember how you felt
03:27from the school years i remember feeling really confused right so an overwhelming sense of kind of
03:34why is why does this all feel a little bit muddled why do i feel like these words on the
03:40page are just
03:40a bunch of you know this is this what what is going on here what am i expecting to do
03:45with this
03:45but that feeling of kind of confusion feeling a little bit like you're the odd one out um and a
03:51little bit like i remember you know one teacher describing you know i'd be looking at the words
03:57trying to formulate them in front of me and i'd just look at her with these big eyes to be
04:02what am i supposed to do and her response is sort of the words are not written on my face
04:06i'm like
04:07well i don't know what they're doing on the page either um so i think um you know so i
04:14think trying to
04:15sort of find for myself and i think it's quite an empowering thing as well as somebody in an
04:21early age um between you know between seven and eleven really figuring out what you could and
04:27couldn't do yeah i actually found you know i think it's it's been the making of of some of my
04:33best
04:33decision makings it must be a really scary time to to be told that you have that but i wonder
04:39if it's
04:39a mixture actually i wonder if it's a bit scary but also a release knowing that there is this there's
04:45a
04:45word there's a word associated with your muddled brain like you said and actually there are then
04:50these tools that you can you can use and actually you know they're going to help you i've spoken
04:55about this in the past but you know i was lucky enough to work with some fantastic teachers and
05:00even now i if i see them they're kind of well up with sort of tears of excitement to hang
05:05out with
05:06them um but that we always described as the toolkit right that you have different moments for
05:12different you know different scenarios in your life and you need to kind of refer to your toolkit
05:17and i think that's what helen arkell charity really works on um which is the toolkit for success
05:23um so you know that as i've said down to the you know the teachers the student the assessment
05:27um the follow-up care you know it really is kind of a a fantastic collaboration model
05:34i think when patrons of charities are really connected to the charity and it means something to
05:40them it it just it just shows for you being with helen arkell the helen arkell center they helped you
05:47so you know you have that drive to help even more children who who find themselves in your position
05:52yes i've been lucky enough to have um not only have been um kind of with helen arkell charity for
06:00the whole of its um to to have learned about it to to study but they've really been there for
06:05me
06:05um and i'm incredibly grateful to the work that they've done to support me in my life
06:11um that also i feel very um inspired you know going back to your earlier question i feel incredibly
06:17inspired to pay it forward that um those that you know those that have had the chance to look after
06:24you you should do it in return and um you know i think now when i look to the future
06:30and the great
06:30legacy that that helen arkell has put in front of us to support young people um i feel greatly honored
06:37to be a part of that storytelling now that you are you know you're you're having a baby you know
06:43how do
06:43you feel about what's to come for you i mean it's a great question um i was thinking about this
06:50as well
06:51that you know if if if any try any child any bonus son or future babies that are on their
06:58way um are lucky
07:00enough to be diagnosed with dyslexia i feel incredibly grateful to have tools such as the
07:06uh helen arkell center to be able to to tap into to be able to to give them that extra
07:12support you know
07:13my my husband's also dyslexic so um we'll see whether we're having this conversation in a couple
07:19of months time with a new baby in the house but uh but i really see it as a gift
07:25um and uh i think it's
07:28life is a little bit about the moments that make you uh that challenge you are the ones that make
07:35you and so i i of course would never want um there to be any difficult situations but i feel
07:41like you
07:42know if we're able to um embrace some of the tools um that we um that helen arkell and others
07:49are
07:49are working to support then i feel very very lucky that we can have this conversation i think so many
07:55parents have felt quite lost in the last year and a half so to know that the helen arkell center
08:00have
08:00been there giving that support to people that need it is so important home schooling definitely not my
08:06forte i feel very lucky to have had the chance to um to work with my bonus and my bonus
08:12son over the
08:12over the uh the course of the uh for his school closures and i it was a huge learning curve
08:18for all of
08:19us princess beatrice when i say to you back to school how does it make you feel i love school
08:24i
08:25hated writing i hated writing essays hated um and uh really you know but i loved the environment
08:33and i think we were very i think we're very lucky that that school does give us such a post
08:37such a
08:38positive environment um but oh my goodness i still have i still have those dreams where you wake up in
08:44the middle of the night going which homework have i not done thank you so much thank you so much
08:49i
08:49honestly this is my favorite subject i could talk about it for hours and hours now
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