As you might (or might not) know, this week is Dyslexia Awareness Week. There’s a whole bunch of activities going on, take a look at the Dyslexia Action and the British Dyslexia Association 🙂
If you cast your mind back, in the early summer myself and Rosie popped over to Dyslexia Action HQ (of which Mollie is an ambassador!) and Rosie discussed and talked about Dyslexia. They have now made an edit of the video below, its a shame its only three minutes long, but sadly we had no control of the editorial process! But please take 3 mins and give it a look, and if you can get involved this week in Dyslexia Awareness Week 2014!
Gorgeous pop star Mollie King, who as one fifth of the UK’s most popular girl band The Saturdays is used to success, had some solo success of her own as she collected the It’s ME! Award for most inspirational dyslexic celebrity at national educational charity Dyslexia Action’s Annual Awards dinner at The Savoy Hotel onThursday.
Mollie who is the 2nd time winner of the publicly nominated award was presented her honour by famous broadcaster and presenter Gabby Logan. Mollie commented “I’ve got my Mum and Dad with me tonight which is great, considering how much they’ve helped me I thought they deserved a night out! I am so proud of this award and I really hope that anyone out there with dyslexia knows they are not stupid, can access the help and support they need and has the confidence to take on as many opportunities as possible. This means a great deal and thank you so much to all of you who voted!”
Mollie was in good company at the event which drew support from many familiar faces and respected professionals in education and the field of dyslexia. She was also able to share the experience with Young Persons Award winner Angelina Bateman (16) from Chelmsford, who was nominated by her Dyslexia Action teacher for her hard work and dedication to her specialist classes. Angelina receives subsidised tuition from a specialist Dyslexia Action teacher through the organisations Learning Fund.
Last night’s event aimed to raise more awareness and crucial funds to ensure that more people like Angelina have access to this support and do not miss the opportunities they deserve due to dyslexia or dyslexia related issues. Also at the event were adventurer and Dyslexia Action President Charley Boorman, rugby legend Kenny Logan who also chaired the event and racing driver Damon Hill.
Mollie ends “Angelina is such a lovely, intelligent girl and so inspirational! I am so happy that she was able to get support from Dyslexia Action and this work is why I am here tonight!”
@MollieTheSats unfortunately couldn’t attend the awards this evening to accept her award in person, but she did leave a lovely acceptance speech which you can watch below:
Once again, we are proud as a website to have helped contribute to allow her to achieve this award, and thanks to everyone who actually took time out to vote for her – we thank each and every one of you individually 🙂
@MollieTheSats speaks to the Dyslexia It’s Me charity at last weeks London event launch about her dyslexia and how finding the correct help and support goes a long way!
@MollieTheSats helped @dyslexiaaction open a new centre in London this week.
The Saturdays star Mollie King told today how she had to “cheat” in school to cover up her difficulty reading.
The singer, 24, spoke candidly for the first time about her struggle with dyslexia and the embarrassment she felt when she was unable to read aloud fluently in front of fellow pupils.
She said: “When you had a go around the class, reading a few paragraphs each from a book, I would sit there dreading my turn.
“I used to have my best friend next to me, whispering the hard words to me. But once I realised what the problem was, I felt much better about the fact that I wasn’t thick.”
Today she backed the Evening Standard’s literacy campaign, saying she would have “loved” a reading mentor like those in our Get London Reading scheme. The campaign has raised £220,000 so far to fund volunteers who give one-to-one reading help to children in primary schools across the capital.
With partner charity Volunteer Reading Help, our campaign has already placed 100 volunteers in 70 schools, with another 100 ready for placement in the run-up to Christmas. King added: “I have been there, so I can really relate to it. I’ve had these difficulties and I got through them.
She added: “I used to have extra tutoring after school, so I could really have benefited from these volunteers. Just knowing there are people who want to help is inspiring.”
She spoke as she opened a new teaching centre, the Help A Capital Child Learning Room in Bloomsbury. “I want to do everything I can to raise awareness and make young people and adults realise it’s not a taboo subject,” she said. “I don’t want anyone to feel they can’t achieve their ambitions if they are dyslexic.
“When I was at school, most people were planning on going to university and becoming doctors or lawyers. I wanted to be a singer and I was laughed at. It was tough but I never let anything stop me. I would like to think that in some way I could encourage young people to achieve their goals.”
The new centre, created by charity Dyslexia Action, will provide lessons for children and adults with reading and writing difficulties.
The Wandsworth-born star went to Surbiton High School and was diagnosed dyslexic at 11 after being assessed by an educational psychologist. At school, said King, “I could read but it was – and still is – a bit of a struggle. My spelling is quite good, but reading is quite slow. I did get help from my school and was allowed to do my exams on a laptop.
“I recently presented the Radio 1 Teen Awards and had to read off an autocue. I had to make sure I knew the whole script beforehand otherwise I would have struggled.”
It’s time for #teamsats to start #missionmollie for @MollieTheSats
We call upon every member of TeamSats to vote for Mollie for the Dyslexia It’s Me award, to vote simply copy/paste the tweet below and tweet it (or create your own, but remember to keep the important bits in!)
@dyslexiaitsme I nominate @molliethesats Mollie King for the #itsmechoiceaward! #missionmollie
You have a whole month to vote, and thats not just voting once now and forgetting, vote daily, vote several times a day – a lot of other people are for other acts – so we need to all vote for Mollie as much as we can. So remember to vote vote and vote again 🙂
This year Dyslexia Action are hosting the 10th Annual Awards Ceremony, in aid of the It’s ME! Learning Fund, at The Savoy Hotel London.
Every year we present an award to a dyslexic celebrity who has provided inspiration through their achievements. This year we would like you to decide who receives this award. You can submit your nominations through our Twitter page, our Facebook page ,using hashtag #itsmechoiceaward, or by emailing us.
The Celebrities who receive the most nominations will be put to a public vote via our website.
The Award will be presented to the celebrity who receives the most votes, subject to their availability to attend the ceremony.
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