Abigail’s Story: My Journey with Dyslexia & ADHD

Hello, my name is Abigail and I am a late-diagnosed neurodivergent individual. I was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 25 and ADHD at age 36.

Here’s my story…

Primary and Secondary School
Support: None

I grew up thinking I was a nuisance and thick, using humour to compensate, although I often got this wrong too. My school report would say ‘Abigail could do so much more if she tried harder’ or ‘Abigail is easily distracted’. One comment from a teacher always stayed with me, in secondary school my English teacher told me that although she knew what I was writing, the examiner would not. This never sparked any testing or support, I never knew what it meant or how to change it.

College (First time)
Support: None

After school, I went on to complete a course in Beauty Therapy as this was practical and I knew I didn’t want to do A-levels or anything which would require my brain to work hard. At times I didn’t like it but my mum made me finish. I then left and went to work in retail and hospitality roles.

College (Second time)
Support: None

After wondering what I wanted to do in my life, I discovered the world of Psychology and I wanted to know more. Roll on to my early twenties and I decided to go back to college to gain access to higher education so that I could go to Nottingham Trent University and complete a Psychology degree. I loved Psychology at college, and to my surprise I also did well in Maths which I had failed at school. This taught me that I wasn’t thick, it was merely down to ‘how’ I was being taught that made a difference.  I still didn’t understand and retain information taught in biology though, and failed this one. However, I was then offered a place at Nottingham Trent but due to personal circumstances I never enrolled.

Open University
Support: Dyslexia Diagnosis, Dyslexic Tutor, Laptop, Assistive Technology

Roll on a few more years to my mid-twenties, and I enrolled in the Open University - this fire in me would not leave, I had to study Psychology! This is when I officially found out I was dyslexic, at age 25. Finally, I knew why I acted, learned, and processed things differently to others. I was not thick! I just think differently to ‘normal’ people. For the final assignment of my second year, I assumed I’d done everything right. I had gone over this with my tutor and dyslexia tutor yet for some reason I kept failing. After raising a complaint and feeling down about the whole process, I decided not to continue with the course. Open University was not for me, the lack of contact teaching was challenging and I felt I needed more support. I like to talk things over and clarify my understanding with lots of questions.

Northumbria University
Support: Dyslexic Tutor, a very supportive Personal Tutor, Student Life and Wellbeing Support, Student Enterprise Support, my Society Team Members and a new Disabilities Assessment where I was given an additional screening

That fire would not stop burning, and at the age of 32 I decided to quit work and enroll full-time at Northumbria University to do my undergraduate degree in Psychology. Daunting? Yes. Exciting? Yes. Nervous? 100 million per cent. I never pinned myself as an academic, did the degree challenge me? Of course. Did I succeed? You bet I did, and to top it off I gained a first-class honors degree!

Not only did I achieve this but I learned to accept support for my dyslexia. I initially thought no one would tell me more than I knew. I got by. However, I only accepted this after I was falling behind due to low scores in my exams. The support consisted of a dyslexia coach who read through my work, and it helped me discover where I would often make mistakes. At the end, I was correcting most of them myself. I had access to software and an additional screening, and this was a game changer.

To add to my University success, I also published a book which I designed, planned and wrote all in a few months while on summer break from my first year as an undergrad student. It became a number one best seller on Amazon, and I also won awards both in and out of University for my efforts to support others. My University also added a wellbeing section to the library following my campaign and proudly showcased my book on their shelf.

I stayed on at Northumbria to complete my Master's degree in Organisation and Occupational Psychology. I dedicate my success to my late dyslexia tutor who I never got to share my results with.

The World of Work - Lexxic
My ADHD Diagnosis

When I began working for Lexxic as an Assistant Psychologist I was able to conduct screenings with clients for different neurodifferences. I remember the first time I conducted an ADHD screening and thinking, ‘I tick all of these boxes’, I was relating to the client's experience as I too experienced the things they were experiencing. The more sessions I did with clients with ADHD, and the more in-depth conversations I had with them in coaching, I very quickly came to realise that I may myself have ADHD. Upon full reflection of my life, it made so much sense that this could have been what was actually impacting me. Prior to this, I put everything down to my dyslexia and also challenges with my mental health such as anxiety and depression.

I recently had a diagnosis which confirmed I have ADHD, at age 36. If I’m honest, this gives me conflicted feelings. On one hand I'm happy to know that this has been a part of my life, it offers an explanation for a lot of things. On the other hand, part of me feels angry and upset that it has taken me until the age of 36, and the fact that I fell into a job that focuses in detail on neurodiversity, to discover that I have ADHD. It's that cliche saying, ‘if only I'd have known sooner’ it could have saved me so much trouble.

However, I now know and so I can now learn, adapt and continue to move forward with a growth mindset and a better understanding of who I am and why I do what I do. I’m also very lucky to work in an organisation that understands and offers me the support that I need in my day-to-day, to enable me to flourish.

Upon Reflection

Upon reflection, my ADHD was staring me in the face, but I never associated with it myself until I started doing assessments with my clients at Lexxic, hence the late diagnosis. Despite my challenges, I have never stopped learning. I have achieved many other qualifications including fitness, massage and holistic therapy, wellbeing and more. Each of them was a challenge in its own way, but I excelled in the practical sides and re-sat all the exams necessary which were actually incredibly stressful, mind blanking and just a horrible experience every single time. Only now in my mid-30’s have I figured out strategies that work for me in combatting these challenging experiences.

My Message for You

Here’s my message to anyone reading this with a neurodifference, diagnosed or not. The possibilities in life are endless when you are able to seek support.  A label or no label does not define who you are, only you get to define who you are. Yes, a diagnosis makes it easier, but if you’re not ready to or are unable to get an official diagnosis, the support is out there in one way or another. The four fundamental tips I share with all my clients are to understand where your challenges are and look for options to ease those challenges; be that developing strategies, using software or speaking to family, friends, colleagues or management. The four tips include:

1.       What do you like (tasks, interests, things that make you happy and want to complete them)

2.       What do you not like (tasks, things that you avoid)

3.       What works for you (strategies, techniques, software)

4.       What does not work for you (verbal information, overload of text, being put on the spot)

We are all individuals on our own journey, with our own stories and our own challenges. No two people are the same. Let's embrace our differences and those in others, together we are stronger.  

Abigail Tennant

Assistant Psychologist at Lexxic, and Author of Beautifully Broken: Helping You to Push Past The Broken Parts to Find Your Inner and Outer Beauty

Learn about Dyslexia, take a look at our blog post: Dyslexia - Breaking Through Barriers