Quick Reads: Words Apart - Triumphs over Dyslexia

By Llinos Dafydd

A diagnosis of dyslexia can cause anxiety and confusion. This illuminating book shares triumphant stories of people in Wales who have found creative ways of getting to grips with the condition. Some even say that their dyslexia helped them to be more successful.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rily
• Release date: Oct 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781849674058

Book preview

1

doodle

The doodles are my life…

Lloyd Everitt, actor.

I’m Lloyd Everitt. I’m Cardiff-born. I’m an actor. I live with dyslexia. That’s my superpower. What’s yours?

Not only am I Lloyd, but I’ve also been known as Jez Andrews, my character on Casualty of course, and also Othello. I made history as the youngest actor ever to play Shakespeare’s Othello on the Globe Theatre stage – and I think I certainly left my mark with all my doodling, which I will soon talk about. I have my own picture-based language to help me read and learn my scripts – thank goodness for my doodles. Although I’m no Picasso!

I’m a firm believer that if you have dyslexia, you’ve probably got it for a reason. There’s something else going on in your head. Maybe you’re more creative in some ways? If you’re lacking in something, you’ll have gained in other places – that’s for sure. It’s a matter of finding where these other places are.

Accept it, embrace it.

So there you are. I’ve said it. And I’m not ashamed of it at all.

Over the years it has affected my mental health. When I couldn’t learn my lines properly, it became depressing.

I just feel that dyslexia isn’t understood enough. It will affect people in different ways. It’s all about getting to the root of how it affects each particular person.

To tell the honest truth, dyslexia feels very different to me these days, almost as if I don’t have it. Apart from when I have to read a script that I haven’t prepared for.

Some actors turn up and only have to look at a script once, as they have photographic memories. The words are already in there. But I can’t read and act. I have to know the lines. I need to get better with my sight reading, but it’s the ‘sight’ that’s the difficult bit. Sometimes, what’s down on paper isn’t what comes out of my mouth. I mix the words