Jay Blades

I watched it. I taught Adult Literacy as a volunteer, and many of my students only wanted to read 'certain' things. One student wanted to read the TV Guide - she liked a programme and her sister used to say it had been cancelled, or wasn't on. She wanted to check for herself.

Seeing him learning takes you back doesn't it. It is remarkable that we can look at a shape written on the page, and give it a sound, then join the sounds together quickly to make a word. The coloured plastic wasn't around when I was teaching, just the cut out window.

Enjoyed the program. Confirme how much time and energy is needed to be spent on young children. Congratulations to Jay on showing it’s never too late.

Very moving. Brilliant man, amazing what he has achieved, in spite of adversity.

I've recorded it. I love Jay. The Repair Shop is wonderful.

One of my roles was as a part time adult literacy tutor. The majority of the adults who bravely came forward had found their own way of coping. One lorry driver could recall memorised directions for every town he had visited. Another person had learned the shape of the words for the most common dishes on a menu. Reasons for coming forward were as varied as the people. Many wanted to read to their children, some to read a newspaper others to be able to read in the workplace. A belief often shared was their family was embarrassed by them, a painful sense of shame and sadly an inability to consider that perhaps the education system had failed them and no, it wasn’t their fault. Often the older people recalled being regularly called stupid at school. With a relaxed structure it was possible to spend time building confidence and self esteem. I left when a new structure was introduced requiring specific goals to be attained and measured. The groups were not the same. Before the changes I loved it all, the groups were invariably supportive, fun and heartbreaking in equal parts. Tonight’s programme has been recorded, I’m very much looking forward to seeing it.

I have recorded it to watch. There seem to be quite a few of us who were adult literacy volunteers. I worked with one lady whose husband and children had no idea she could not read and she was finally persuaded by her sister to come for help so she could read letters from her children's school. She had missed a lot of school as a child through looking after her sick mother and had therefore never learned. Her strategies were amazing including pretending to wear glasses which she frequently lost. She was also a judge at dancing competitions and had learned the judging form by heart so she could put ticks in the right boxes. She had also passed her driving test and used to take me home as I didn't drive at the time!

I watched it last night and admired him for doing this so publicly. Am sure it will encourage others in the same situation to seek help,

I watched the programme last night and thought it very good.
It has changed the way I think about Jay Blades, as I never liked him in his presenting role on The Repair Shop, or when he was 'repairing' things.

Brilliant and enlightening programme. He really brought home the mental stress and frustration of seeing jumbles of random letters on the page where non-dyslexic folk see order and form.
He seems a lovely, brave man, very kind and caring and a very natty dresser too - what's not to love about Jay?

I haven't watched it. I might, but I do have problems with programmes about dyslexia that imagine you can teach a dyslexic to read and the whole problem goes away. It reinforces the beliefs so prevalent in schools and general society that reading is some sort of measure of intelligence and is essential. My severley dyslexic DS can read but says it isn't a pleasure and it is difficult especially whan he is tired. He has a whole range of technological aids that help him out and have enabled him to have the career he wanted which actually involves writing. We need to equip dyslexics with all the aids available and realise that the appreciation and the use of language is not dependent on the process of reading.

I’m amazed that he has achieved so much without being able to read. Going to university for instance. I wasn’t that keen on him before watching the programme as though I love The Repair Shop he doesn’t actually do much in it, but I really admire him now. How brave. He did really well and I hope it encourages others to get help to learn to read and not to be embarrassed. It’s never too late.

I was quite shocked. I don’t think I really believed there were still adults who couldn’t read. I was also puzzled. He was said to have the reading level of an 11-year-old, and yet appeared to be at the c-a-t stage, sounding out letters. How many 11 year olds still do that?

I am very cynical about the claims of a university qualification. No university I have been connected with would award degrees to people who can’t read. There is a lot of reading to do that isn’t a ‘set text’. I know technology is a great help, but still…….

Then I remembered that at school I had a friend whose mother could neither read nor write. My friend wrote her own absence and excuse notes. There must have been some arrangement with the school.

I too have warmed to Jay Blades - he is so brave to tell his story and show that it's never too late.

I just cannot imagine how it feels to not be able to read - my parents taught me before I went to school, so I've been reading for 72 of my 76 years and I couldn't get through a day without it.

Billy Connolly once said (and I paraphrase a bit here) "People think alcohol or rock'n'roll sets you free but in fact the library is where the escape tunnel is; all the knowledge of the world is there, the great brains of the world are at your fingertips."

So very well done Jay, and now go and explore the world!

I am very cynical about the claims of a university qualification. No university I have been connected with would award degrees to people who can’t read. There is a lot of reading to do that isn’t a ‘set text’. I know technology is a great help, but still

Would you say the same about someone who is blind? Dyslexia is a disability. People with disabilities get degrees. In order to do so they need a whole range of support, in the case of a blind student texts in braille, in the case of a dyslexic student a range of audio-visual information, computers, and programs for reading and writing text.
My DS has BA and an MA.

trisher

*I am very cynical about the claims of a university qualification. No university I have been connected with would award degrees to people who can’t read. There is a lot of reading to do that isn’t a ‘set text’. I know technology is a great help, but still*

Would you say the same about someone who is blind? Dyslexia is a disability. People with disabilities get degrees. In order to do so they need a whole range of support, in the case of a blind student texts in braille, in the case of a dyslexic student a range of audio-visual information, computers, and programs for reading and writing text.
My DS has BA and an MA.

Good point. Indeed I have known blind students. Not thinking, sorry.

Grandma70s

I was quite shocked. I don’t think I really believed there were still adults who couldn’t read. I was also puzzled. He was said to have the reading level of an 11-year-old, and yet appeared to be at the c-a-t stage, sounding out letters. How many 11 year olds still do that?

I am very cynical about the claims of a university qualification. No university I have been connected with would award degrees to people who can’t read. There is a lot of reading to do that isn’t a ‘set text’. I know technology is a great help, but still…….

Then I remembered that at school I had a friend whose mother could neither read nor write. My friend wrote her own absence and excuse notes. There must have been some arrangement with the school.

My DN went to University, dyslexic, obtained two degrees, a friend dyslexic got an MSc. Why should they not. .

Grandma70s

trisher

I am very cynical about the claims of a university qualification. No university I have been connected with would award degrees to people who can’t read. There is a lot of reading to do that isn’t a ‘set text’. I know technology is a great help, but still

Would you say the same about someone who is blind? Dyslexia is a disability. People with disabilities get degrees. In order to do so they need a whole range of support, in the case of a blind student texts in braille, in the case of a dyslexic student a range of audio-visual information, computers, and programs for reading and writing text.
My DS has BA and an MA.

Good point. Indeed I have known blind students. Not thinking, sorry.

Thanks Grandma70s I'm afraid it is one of my bugbears that people don't realise dyslexia is a disability. It's history means it is often overlooked and the people who are dyslexic never get the consideration others do. I also don't like this idea that it can be "cured". Dyslexics can learn to read, but as my son eventually got through to me for many it is always hard work and not the great pleasure some of us know it as.

He did go to university and apparently graduated. There was technological assistance available to enable him to hear books being read and to dictate essays. As regards blind people, I was privileged to work with a blind solicitor years ago. He had some technological help to convert the written word to Braille and a very good secretary. I wish such technology was available when my Dad went blind in his teens in the 1930s.

I taught at the RNIB in the late 80's teaching audio typing on old golf ball electric typewriters. We did have a few word processors with a programme called Frank Audiodata, a horribly robotic voice. Only some students learnt braille, some learnt Moon.

I'm sure visually impaired students now have far superior access to the written word.

Very moving. Amazing that he managed to fool everyone all his life.

Grandma 70- did you watch the programme. His University tutor explained how he achieved this- with the help of technology that would scan texts and 'speak' them to him, and he could dictate essays to his computer that would type and print them.

It was a very moving programme. I admire him for his effort and his determination to succeed and to try to overcome the many difficulties he has faced. He says that learning to read is a difficult process for him, but he is going to continue. I really believe he will succeed, but I also understand him when he says the process of disentangling symbols (ie letters) into sounds and groups of sounds to make meaningful words will always be difficult for him.

I think he is very brave for going public about his dyslexia, and I admire him tremendously for doing so, as I’m sure it will help others.

It was also pointed out that not everyone who struggles to learn to read are dyslexic, but need extra help to progress, and for some, this help was just not available for many reasons - funding, staffing, understanding, attitudes at the time they were at school are just a few of them.

I didn’t watch the programme, but as someone who loves reading, I cannot imagine not being able to. How sad, and how many pleasures in life you must miss out on.

So, so important for children to be able to read adequately.

Calendargirl

I didn’t watch the programme, but as someone who loves reading, I cannot imagine not being able to. How sad, and how many pleasures in life you must miss out on.

So, so important for children to be able to read adequately.

Sorry Calendargirl but you have expressed exactly what is wrong with our attitude towards dyslexia. It is a disability. Would you say to a blind person "It's so important to see?" or to a paraplegic, "It's so important to walk"? Accepting that dyslexics may read, but they will not necessarily do so easily or confidently (much as a partly sighted person may manage),and the disability remains, is what is needed.
Given the help of technology children can and do learn to live with that disability but their ability to read may never be the same as someone who is not dyslexic, just as a partly sighted child will not see as much.
I hope you don't take this as an attack. It is still in many places the assumed norm and reading is often seen as a sign of a child's intelligence when it is no such thing. I'm just passionate about recognising hidden disabilities

Grandma70s. How he got his degree was explained, his dyslexia was diagnosed early in his course and he got all the technological and personal help he needed. Including someone reading texts and in other cases audio readers that read text aloud. He 'read' for his degree alright, but not in a way, we would normally recognise.