Higher education is not for people like you, I was once told.
Why isn’t it a place for me?
Is it because I am a woman?
Or because I am from the working class?
Or is it because I AM dyslexic?
Why isn’t higher education a place for me?
I have a degree like you.
I have a PhD like you.
Even though I am dyslexic.
Higher education is not for people like you, they said.
We write.
We publish.
Words have power,
And you can’t be trusted to get them right.
But why isn’t higher education a place for me?
I write,
And I am published.
I must have got the words right,
Despite that I am dyslexic.
Higher education is not a place for you, they cried.
We have complex ideas,
Which changes the world.
We articulate these with sophistication;
A skill you simply could not have.
Then higher education is a place for me.
As neurodivergent I see things differently.
I give you different solutions,
I offer alternate logic and different answers.
This diversity is powerful.
And all of this is because I AM dyslexic.
Learned Words 