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    • A Busy Week of Volunteering

    A couple of weeks ago, I had an enjoyable and busy week. I was helping at Dyslexia Scotland. This included helping set things up for Dyslexia Awareness Week and the Education Conference in Glasgow. I became an origami expert in folding the boxes for our ribbons. Helping with all the laminating, posting and of course putting packs together for all the teachers at the conference. I met new people and enjoyed the interesting conversations. One person was helping and lived in Australia. He was an engineer also dyslexic and told me stories of living out of a suitcase and going to posh restaurants with his clients. When everything was complete, we parted ways looking forward to meeting up at the conference. I got up very early in the morning for the conference and set off for Glasgow. I got my bus heading for the train and all was going well. Then when I got to the train station disaster struck as my trains had been cancelled. I of course panic as I hate being late. I then go to the other station for a train as this is a different line. This was when I found out the Caledonian sleeper had broken down and this was why there was delays on trains. I tweeted I was delayed but would be there as soon as possible. The Glasgow Caledonian University is very easy to find from the train station. It is in an area called Cowcaddens, this brought back childhood memories of watching Glen Michael’s cavalcade on a Saturday morning on STV. The university cannot be missed once you go behind the large shopping gallery. It is about a five-minute walk and covers a large area. I eventually found where I was going and set about helping. I found out later that all the other volunteers had turned up in red. I had missed the memo for this one! As all the volunteers are also dyslexic it made an interesting day. We had our chief usher with his iPad looking very professional and a t shirt reading if life has giving you melons then you could be dyslexic. I went into the main lecture hall to watch the opening speeches and the lecture by a professor on improved reading for children in Canada. It was fascinating to see this come together. Dyslexia Scotland had a large hall filled full of stalls with help not only for dyslexia but other learning differences such as adhd, autism, visual impairment etc. The books and all the new apps and help and support from tech pens was amazing. It was great talking to everyone and seeing how it worked. We were helping all the teachers to find the classes they had booked. This is not easy for a dyslexic person upon being asked where W010 or W110 was confusing, it is much easier to say they wanted the early learning or tech workshop. It was great catching up with everyone and fun trying to read another dyslexics phone which is so different from mine. I think it was a wonderful success and I hope there is great feedback for Dyslexia Scotland. Susan Taylor, Dyslexia Scotland Events Volunteer