Adam Dance

I beg to move, That this House has considered support for dyslexic pupils at school. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Butler. I start by thanking the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate and hon. Members from across the House for supporting it. I thank all the young dyslexic pupils, their families and the campaigners for their tireless work to raise awareness. They are all such inspirations. Dyslexia is a neurological difference that affects around one in 10 of us. That is more than 1 million children in classrooms across the UK. It presents in a range of ways and with different degrees of severity. For me, words float on the page—Members may be able to tell that they are doing so at the moment. I struggled with reading, writing and spelling, and I have the reading age of a 12-year-old, so I ask Members to bear with me through this speech. Dyslexia is not a flaw or something to be ashamed of; that is the most important thing we can take away from the debate. It breaks my heart when I hear young dyslexics say, “I wish I never had it”, “I feel ashamed”, “I felt stupid” or “I will never achieve anything”. Intelligence and poor behaviour are not linked to dyslexia. Being dyslexic just means that one learns and expresses oneself differently. That comes with challenges, but it also often comes with strengths in problem solving, resilience, creativity or practical work. That is my message to all dyslexic young people: they can do anything in life, and it is the job of schools and the Government to help them achieve that. Unfortunately, support for dyslexic pupils at school is still not where it should be. I have said this before, but in Somerset, chronic underfunding means that support has got worse since when I was at school, despite the hard work of educators. I left school in 2008, and I had more support in school then than there is now. We have gone backwards as a country, and it is not good enough.