Same but Different

My name is Archie.

I'm 10 years old, and I have got cerebral palsy.

Charlie's my twin brother, he's got the same disability as me.

We've got a lot of things in common, and we do lots of things together.

It affects my legs because the signal from my brain

can't properly get down to the legs so they're not as strong.

So whenever I stand up, my legs feel like jelly.

The doctors predicted I would never be able to speak,

I would never know my parents, I would never be able to eat,

and I would never be able to wheel myself.

Wheelchair basketball is very good

because it allows me to play with other people that feel the same way

and have the same disability and we can just play together.

Our team is called Lewisham Thunder.

Kyle and Deon are two of my friends at basketball.

My name is Deon, and I am 13 years old.

And my name's Kyle and I'm 10.

Archie is a good player.

He likes to defend a lot, but he sometimes attacks.

And he's got a brilliant right hand!

Sometimes people think just because we're in wheelchairs

we can't play sports, but that's not it.

If we're in wheelchairs we can still play Olympic sports.

My coach is called Steve, Steve inspires me

because he is on the England team

and he brings a message that you can still do what you want to do.

I spend half the time out my chair,

and I crawl when I'm not in my chair.

My favourite bit of gardening is doing archaeology

with Charlie and my dad.

Charlie, let's have a competition, who can find the most pieces.

I can't do things as quick as other people.

Do you want to lie down and have a look?

The frogs are probably hiding under those logs, there.

I can't wheel as fast as other people,

I can't, maybe, speak as fast as other people.

Well, I'm sure I can.

But I can still do exactly the same things, it just takes time.

What's the treat? Oh.

Er, I'm not sure.

-Er, I don't know. The washing up?

-No!

That's you!

Oh!

What a lovely run!

I especially like playing FIFA 12 with my brother.

2-0!

I know it's a videogame,

but I picture myself being the player.

Oh!

I picture myself scoring all the goals.

-'He takes the shot and he's put it away!'

-Yes! Oh!

Being in that West Ham shirt, because it helps.

Oh, what a cracking shot! What a cracker!

In real football, obviously there's going to be a disadvantage for me,

but in FIFA there's no disadvantage.

It helps me with something that I might not be able to do,

but I can do it in a videogame.

I do not need any help academically.

It's only one half of my body that doesn't work.

My brain works.

I like school because it gives me a chance to see my friends,

Kai and Hector are good friends.

-The yellow thing.

-Well...

-I just ate your hotdog!

They help me take my plate.

They help me get my coat.

They help me around school.

They go down in the lift, they go up the lift.

And we always play together, always.

-I'm Hector.

-I'm Kai.

-And we're friends with Archie.

-Yup.

-Stay back!

-Argh!

-Back!

We really kind of play army games.

ARCHIE MAKES GUN NOISES

And games where we have to hide,

and then Archie has to come and find us.

And we kind of play stunt games, where we have to do some stunts.

Like jumping over his wheelchair!

We can include Archie in everything we play,

most of them are quite simple but fun games.

Another thing I play at break is tabletop cricket.

Four!

-A four!

-Four!

Basically it's cricket played on a table and it's really fun.

I don't really think it's my place to tell people what to do.

But if I had to send a message,

it would be - I'd like me to be treated with some respect.

If you want to push me, you've got to ask if you want to push me.

Ooh!

If you want to hold the door, then please do, just ask.

Or, just ask me if you want me to hold the door, because I can.

Bang on!

THEY GASP

I don't think being a wheelchair user makes me different.

Well, of course I might look different,

but it doesn't make me feel different.

I'm just the same but on wheels, that's all I am.

My name's Rebecca, I am 10 years old, and I have an allergy to nuts.

When I first found out I had the allergy,

I was quite nervous and scared,

but it does get easier and you generally get to do normal things.

A typical Saturday, we go into the fish and chip shop.

Can I have chips and gravy, and can Dad have some fish and chips?

Chips and gravy and fish and chips?

-Yes!

-OK.

Thank you!

We know it's a nut safe fish and chip shop

and it's one of the only places I can get lunch in Huddersfield.

-They're nice, aren't they?

-Gorgeous, yeah.

Just as good as usual.

We go down into the market, get some sweets from the sweetie stall.

Hi!

Hi, how are you? All right?

We go to that particular store for sweets because it tells you

if it's got nuts in it.

I can't have eclairs.

It does get quite boring sometimes,

reading labels after label after label after label.

I support Huddersfield Town.

When we go to the match, instead of eating the things at the ground,

we take our own snacks.

Yeah!

Hudders!

We can't have Twixes any more.

Mum can't eat her Snickers

and dad can't have his peanuts in the cupboard.

If I touch nuts or come in contact or eat nuts,

my throat will start to swell up

and I can't breathe so I'll have to have my EpiPen.

Tip it in.

-What are we making now?

-Raspberry and white chocolate cookies.

It smells nice.

From the top.

-The last bit of chocolate.

-Can I have it?

-Make sure it's all mixed together.

-It's getting harder!

Make it flat.

I bake my own cookies because, well, when we go to the shops

they always put on the packages that they can't guarantee it's nut free,

so we just make our own so then we know that they're nut free

and they're safe and it's a lot more fun

than just going to the shops and buying them.

-What are we going to do with those now?

-Throw them in the oven!

-Good.

We went to a craft fair at church and we brought a chocolate cake

and I went to eat it but my throat swelled up

because somebody had used a knife to cut an almond cake.

They used the same knife to cut the chocolate cake.

We have to be very careful, because if I've not got my medicine with me

I definitely won't take the risk.

If I have got my medicine with me,

I'll take the risk of eating a chocolate cake or something.

-It's hot.

-Do you want to try?

-Yup.

-Mmm!

-Don't eat too much of it.

Huzzah!

My school supports me by helping me with my school dinners.

You're not allowed to bring in food with nuts in or chocolate bars

or anything like that, just in case me or any other pupils

come up with an allergic reaction.

Right, who wants a Kit Kat?

All of my friends know that I have a nut allergy, so it's quite good.

-Fruit Winder competition!

-They are the same size.

TOGETHER: Get set, eat!

People can't really share with me

because sometimes people will say I "...probably should be all right,

"my brother has an allergy to nuts and he can eat these chocolate bars",

but still it might be a different nut that he's allergic to.

This is the bag I usually take around with me,

here I've got a little sign that says I have an allergy to nuts.

Inside we've my EpiPens, two of them are real

and this one's a practice one.

What I do is I take the lid off,

then I just grab the EpiPen in a fist,

jab it into my thigh, and hold it for 10 seconds.

Then I would rub it for another very long 10 seconds,

then if the ambulance still hasn't come, I use the other one,

do the exact same thing but in the other thigh.

Then, if the ambulance still hasn't come, I have to use my inhaler.

If I didn't use the EpiPen then I would probably die

because my throat would be swollen up and I couldn't breathe.

If you saw someone having an allergic reaction the way to help them would

be by sitting them up

and making sure it's a bit easier for them to breathe.

Calling the ambulance and just, basically, reassuring them.

If someone has got an allergy, it doesn't mean they're any different,

you've just got something difficult to cope with.

Now I am kind of used to it and not really bothered.

Kind of one of those things.

My name is Phoebe, I'm seven years old, and I have type one diabetes.

TOGETHER: Trick or Treat?!

Type one diabetes is that I have a pancreas what doesn't work.

It means that my blood sugar goes low and high,

so I have to have injections to help it.

Other people give me sweets and I say no,

because I have to control it properly, the way I should.

-Do you want these?

-I don't mind.

I couldn't just sneakily eat one

because I didn't bring the diabetes kit.

I feel sorry for Phoebe

because we can eat as much sweets as we like, rather than Phoebe,

every time she picks up a sweet

she has to ask her mum and then take a test and also has to take a jab.

I test and I inject myself four times a day.

I do the insulin before I eat my dinner.

-6.8!

-6.8? Excellent. OK.

I have to fill the insulin in my pancreas to make it work.

Put in 55 grams of carbohydrate, that should do it.

In the morning, when we're doing our breakfast,

what we do is we have all of these little strips

and then what we do is we get my finger prick ready

and then we prick my finger, blood comes out,

I tell my mum the reading

and then after that she tells me how many carbs to put into the monitor.

I put them in and then it tells me

how many units I should give to inject myself.

-Tested!

-Thank you!

-Four units.

-Four units.

When I had my injection the first ever time it did hurt.

Now I have gotten used to having the injection

it's actually getting better and better every time.

-There you go.

-Thank you, Mummy.

-No worries.

# Three, six, nine, and twelve!

# Fifteen, eighteen, twenty-one... #

At school I have to do it at break time

and lunchtime I have to do it again.

Phoebe, could you go and take yourself down to Mrs Ball, please.

Good girl, thank you.

If I don't do that, my blood sugar will go really, really high.

The signs are when I have got a bad tummy, maybe the headache,

and when I am really teary and I am really shaky as well.

..sept, huit, neuf, dix, onze, douz, treze, quatorze, quinze.

-Make sure you eat all your apple up. OK?

-Yup. Thank you.

There we go.

I do have to be kind of careful, because even though I've had the jab

and I can run around, I can't run around too much, mad.

You see the pancreas, it goes a bit "oooh"

and that's when I start to feel a bit low.

My friends at home, they always say, "Are you OK?"

when they just notice that I'm running a bit weird or shaking,

they just run and knock on the door, then my mum knows

and they bring me in.

Whenever you see a diabetic a bit shaky or anything wrong with them,

just go and look after them and tell somebody straight away.

My hobby is singing, acting and dancing.

# Santa's got to make it to town

# Santa make him hurry

# Tell him he can take the freeway down

# Yeah! #

Whenever it's the snack time, I have to do my blood tests

and my injection whenever I am eating.

-No!

-Oh no!

-Ohh!

-Oh no!

-I'm not going to eat my lunch.

-Yeah, you are. It's fine.

Have that. Then we'll do it again. In a bit.

When I have a low reading I have to have a sugary drink

or anything what's got sugar in it.

And then I have to wait for 10 minutes

and then it'll bring back up the sugar levels.

-Ahh...

-6.9?

Two units!

It makes me feel like I'm really left out on food

because loads of people get to eat straight away

and I have to have the blood test and the injections before I eat,

it's not really that fair, if you know what I mean.

But some of my friends what are really kind,

they don't eat their sweets, they eat it when I eat it

and they be really kind to me and I really enjoy that

because it means they're being a really kind, thoughtful friend.

# You don't know how I feel

# I'm so sad inside... #

I have my own little book where I write my own songs

from singing as well.

# I want to be a normal girl

# That's all I want

# If only I could have this... #

Diabetics can still be normal children and normal people,

but all is wrong with them is they just have to have blood tests,

it doesn't mean that they're going to stop doing what they need to do.

When I grow up I would like to be a nurse, a vet,

or, mostly, I would love to be a singer.

PHOEBE SINGS SCALES

-Good!

-Another one!

I do singing lessons with Polly,

and we do harmonies together

and then she brings me new songs what I should learn,

then I sing the songs to her and she helps me.

# Nevermind, I'll find someone like you

# I wish nothing but the best for you too... #

It doesn't matter that I've got diabetes,

even though you are diabetic,

whatever happens to you, you can still go anywhere.

My name is Theo, I am 10 years old.

There's no one else who's visually impaired who goes karate.

But it don't really make a difference because they treat me the same

as everybody else and that's what I like,

I don't like being treated different.

I think karate is something really, really good to learn,

because if, like, one day someone comes up to me in the street

and they know that I'm blind

so then they know I won't be as strong as the others,

but with karate, I learn how to defend myself and all that.

Kiai!

When I was born I had tumours in my eye,

so then they had to take those tumours out

but I cannot see out of this eye now.

With my right eye, imagine an alien with one eye,

and the eye is about this big. That's what I can see.

Theo, don't forget to put your eye drops in, yeah?

Every three hours I have these little drops that I put in my eye,

I need them, because if my eyes dry out,

the tumours might come back to life.

-Your eyes all right?

-Yeah.

-Cool. OK.

CHEERING

On a Saturday I go cricket, for the VI team. VI means visually impaired.

The only difference in normal cricket and this cricket is

in this cricket it's much, much more communication,

you have to shout your name when you catch the ball,

you have to clap your hands, say yes or no, and the ball is a big ball.

Right, ready?

It's got little jingle bells in it,

and then you hear the ball coming to you.

I like it because we get to interact with lots of people

who have the same problem,

and I think that's really, really good that they've got this.

-Dad?

-Yeah?

-Do people do this for a job?

-For a living, they do, you know.

Sometimes I help my dad, I help him do the easy jobs like carry a bucket,

paint, scrape stuff off walls for him, clean.

Some people will say to me,

"Oh, you might not do this good because you've an eyesight problem,"

But my dad, he is really good,

he don't even remember that I have an eyesight problem.

He treats me normal.

Sometimes you just forget because I act so normal to everyone else,

and I think it's really, really good that people give me a chance.

"Put the work in to save the..."

When I read, I have big books. 26 font, it's easier for me to read.

"I've got to get out."

If it's a small book, I have magnifiers to help me find it.

"..pedalled forward."

On a Tuesday and a Thursday I have a Braille lesson.

Braille is an alphabet,

but you feel it with your fingers, for blind people.

Next line.

I'm not blind,

but I still use it just in case I become blind later on in my life.

Five eights?

In class they treat me the same as everyone else there.

Good, well done, Theo. Well done, Jenny.

The only difference is I get blown up papers,

and they explain it more to me.

Like the one you just wrote and then you change it over here.

When people are too nice to me I hate it,

because the only difference between me and you is,

I've got eyesight problems and you lot can see perfectly well.

Some of you can, anyway.

But, with my eyesight problems,

yeah, I hate it when people treat me like a kid.

"Oh, Theo, do you want this?"

"Oh, Theo, here you go, let me take you to your desk." I hate it.

My name is Jake and I have been Theo's best friend since reception.

Theo is very, very clever in maths and sometimes he helps me

with my maths and sometimes games, like, on the computer.

So, yeah, he helps me quite a lot.

Having Jake as a friend,

it makes me feel like I've got someone to look after me.

One time in Year Four, a boy was teasing him about his disability.

And I had to tell him that he is just like you,

and you shouldn't be teasing him.

If that happened to you, how would you feel

if someone was teasing you about it.

So, yeah, there were some hard times for Theo.

I tell people that I've got bad eyesight, I'm half blind,

and I can't see that good.

I tell them, "I'm sorry if I bump into you, or stuff like that."

Beep, beep, Theo!

Because I can't see, I have to use my senses a bit more to live.

So if I am going to the shops and I have to cross a road,

I could hear from the cars.

If I can't see them, I could hear them.

With my cane, I do use it sometimes.

So, when I'm on the trains, I'm like,

"Move out the way, VIP coming through!"

At night time, when I go out, I take a torch with me.

Sometimes there's lights just not working,

So on that bit I just have to switch on my torch.

Thank you very much.

THEY CHEER

Most people with a visual impairment, they find fireworks quite scary.

But, me, I enjoy it.

Yay!

In this little space I could see the fireworks,

because they were far away and because they were big,

I could see them.

Ha-ha!

Just because someone can't see as far as someone else

that doesn't mean they are really different,

it just means that, well, he's blind. Yeah, so what?

It don't really make a difference that I am visually impaired,

I'm used to this and I was brought up this way, I don't feel any different.

My name is Elna.

I'm Felicia.

Alexandra.

My sisters Felicia and Alexandra are the same age as me.

We are in Year Three.

We are triplets.

I've got brown/black hair.

My colour hair is brown

and, Alexandra, my other sister's hair is...

..Yellow.

I'm different to my sisters

because Alexandra has Down's Syndrome

and Felicia likes fashion more than me.

Sometimes she needs help with everyday things,

sometimes she doesn't.

That's it!

She can brush her teeth by herself,

but she can't get dressed by herself.

-Mummy, I love you.

-I love you, too.

She likes to cuddle and hold people's hands.

Girls, can we get shoes on, please!

We get her ready for school.

There you go.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

We go to the same primary school and we're in the same class.

I sit next to Heidi.

Felicia sits next to Jack and Alexandra sits next to Logan.

Alexandra's assistant is Mrs Eddy.

What number shall I put down now.

One?

-Just one? I need a higher number than one.

-Two?

Mrs Eddy helps Alexandra to spell her words

and she helps with her maths.

-How many am I taking away?

-Two.

-Two.

My name's Logan, and I sit next to Alexandra.

26. Where's 26?

26.

I'm not very good at adding up, and Alexandra helps me.

Can you show Logan? Try and help Logan.

-26!

-26, Logan. A two and a six.

I like playing with Alexandra and working with Alexandra.

Together we do gymnastics, swimming and brownies.

That's it, good girl.

Jump, that's it, and jump. Jump. Jump. Jump.

-Fiona's coming.

-Ahh!

All the way down, good girl. Thank you. Feet on the end.

Then we do a big jump.

And we're done.

Alexandra likes CBeebies.

-COMPUTER:

-'Banana.'

Banana.

She doesn't like much noise, so she does the quietest things.

We've all been going swimming since we were one.

She has a teacher that helps her to learn how to swim.

I think she's starting to get the hang of it.

# Round and round... #

Because Alex has Down's syndrome, Alex might do

some groups in different days and we might not be doing

the same as each other.

One, two, three...

-Do you think you could do that? Can you do the same?

-Yes.

-One, two, three. Go on, then.

-One, two, three.

Alexandra's education group helps with her spelling, her reading

and her writing.

-Which one says Ellie?

-That one.

-Ellie. That's right.

So that's "Who?" Put it on the "Who?"

Good girl. Who. And what's she doing?

-Ellie is lying down.

-Ellie is lying down.

Right, which one says "lying down"?

Good girl. Shall we see if we can read the sentence?

Ellie is lying down.

-Good girl.

-Under the table.

-Well done!

Ellie is lying down under the table.

It's good being a triplet because when there's three it is more fun.

THEY GIGGLE

ALEX LAUGHS

You get to do activities together

and you've always got your sisters around whenever you need them.

You've got to treat her kind and you've got to treat her nicely

because she doesn't exactly know what things mean.

She has lots of friends and I just want them

to be kind to Alexandra and give her a nice life.

THEY SCREAM AND LAUGH

My name's Alisha. I'm nine years old and I have asthma.

Asthma's a condition that triggers difficult breathing and wheezing.

I can't play outside in cold weather

because the cold normally affects my asthma.

I have to take my blue inhaler whenever I get wheezy.

My normal medicine, which is my inhaler, stops my coughing

for a little while and opens up my chest so I can breathe more.

When I have asthma attack,

it feels like your chest has just closed up and you can't breathe.

If I have an asthma attack, most of the time I go to the hospital.

They treat me by putting oxygen and a nebuliser on me

so I get more breath.

It makes me feel really upset when I can't play outside

because it just reminds me that if I was OK

and I didn't have asthma, I could have played outside.

I would say that I could do PE most of the time

but every few weeks, I don't play it because of my asthma.

I play korfball in school, and go to tournaments sometimes.

Korfball sometimes makes me cough because I'm running about

and you have to try and run fast

to get to where the ball is going to be thrown.

It sometimes trigger my asthma but I try and fight it.

I'm different to the people who don't have asthma

because you have to watch what you play,

whereas other people don't have to.

I can't do running every single day.

I can only do it three plays in a week.

I like knitting because I'm with my friend

and it's not, like, running about and affecting my asthma.

Most of my friends like to play lying dog

and then I can't play with them.

My friends do sometimes play with me but it does also make me feel upset

because they give up their games

to play with me and I can't play with them.

Alisha can't run as fast

but it doesn't make a lot of difference to our friendship.

'On Friday playtimes, I do librarian.'

Librarian means that you tidy up the library

and make sure it looks nice for visitors to come and see.

Because it has got a barcode and it has got a sticker...

The good thing about librarian is that I'm not always outside

on the playground so I have to be reminded

that I'm taking people away from playing their games

that I can't play, and that I can't play them.

I do miss school a lot because of my asthma.

Sometimes I could have had an asthma attack

or I could be very unwell because of my asthma.

There have been some girls that have been mean to me about asthma because

sometimes I miss out on school and then they think that maybe

I've chickened out on something,

or they've excluded me because I missed out on their club,

and they thought that I was doing it on purpose.

That makes me feel really upset

because they don't understand that I'm not doing it on purpose.

It's asthma and it's not my fault.

People should take asthma seriously because it is a very bad thing

and first it might not seem like it because you can just start wheezing,

but then you can have an asthma attack and end up in hospital

and then the last thing, that is the worst thing, is that they could die.

So it is very serious.

'My advice to the people who have friends that are asthmatic

'or people in their class'

that have asthma is if you get angry with them because they missed

a day of school and then that's your partner or someone,

don't get angry with them, because it's asthma

'and you can't see it but it does affect them.'

My best friends help me by asking the teacher

if I can go with them in partners if I've missed out on that day,

and they will tell me everything that we've missed, and help me.

'My friends are very understanding because they know'

that my asthma is very bad.

'instead of running, they come and play with me'

like hand games or slow games that I don't have to run about much.

And that does really help me.

My name is Robbie. I'm 11 years old and I live in Edinburgh.

Some people might have really bad epilepsy

where they have big seizures,

but I just have absences, which is just like

my eyelids fluttering and I just stop what I'm doing for 10 seconds.

Of my friends, the people who have seen me have an absence,

would be Cameron, because I spend a lot of time with them.

It's almost like he goes to sleep

and he just, for a couple of seconds - maybe about ten seconds,

he'll just sort of go to sleep and just sort of sit there.

You're talking to him and he won't have a clue you're talking to him.

When he wakes up, he doesn't really know where he is, and he sometimes

feels a bit dizzy and doesn't feel too well.

He has a bit of a sore head for a wee while

and then he just gets better pretty quickly.

I've had an absence at skiing.

He was just going up the tow, just over there, and I think he just

went into it and he fell off the tow and didn't really know where he was,

and kind of just got a bit dizzy and stuff like that.

And then, in the British Championships training run,

I had an absence just when I was about to turn,

so I just carried on going straight,

and when I woke up from there I just stopped,

but I didn't know where I was, and people were shouting,

"Go on, go on!" I was just like, "What?"

It might not be as safe as if I didn't have epilepsy,

but I just think if I want to do skiing

then I should be allowed to do it.

I also like rugby, mountain biking and judo.

Doing rugby and judo, sometimes they can be quite dangerous sports

to have epilepsy with.

We practice strangles, hold-downs, hip throws and just normal throws.

There's something called an arm lock, where you get somebody's arm

in a certain position and if you carry on moving it,

you could break their arm.

So if I had an absence when that was happening,

I could break my arm, because I wouldn't be able to tap

and tell them to stop.

But it's sort of a risk which I will have to take.

I enjoy quite a lot at playtimes.

I get to just be with my friends and we just do what we want.

All of my friends know about my epilepsy

because I thought, "It's nothing to be embarrassed about."

I felt that my friends should know just in case I had an absence

and they thought maybe I was ignoring them or something.

I don't think epilepsy really does anything

to anyone's friendship with Robbie but it's just when he has an absence

everyone just gets a bit worried.

It is not really something to be scared of

when you see somebody having an absence,

because it's basically just them getting on with their normal life,

I guess.

We're just carry on what we're doing afterwards.

When he has an absence, you've just got to be a bit more supportive

because he doesn't really know where he is

and he's a little bit dizzy and sometimes gets headaches,

so you need to support him and say, "Come on, Robbie. It's OK."

What stops me having absences would be my medication.

What makes me have absences is being tired.

I have to take my medicine for two years

and then I'll slowly stop taking it

and then if I do grow out of it then it would be good

but if I don't I'll just have to carry on taking it.

Well, I just swallowed my tablets, and it hurts my throat.

I've got to take two in the morning and two in the evening.

It is not very nice, having to take them all the time.

I'm always the last at the table because I'm a slow eater,

and then I've got to take tablets.

'But then again, it does do its job.'

The bad thing would be having to take medication all the time.

And the good thing would be getting a free bus pass

and getting to meet other people with epilepsy

and sharing experiences and just having fun.

I go to Epilepsy Scotland, which is a group of a lot of people

who have epilepsy.

Even some of the helpers have epilepsy.

We do bowling, laser quest, go to the cinema,

just go out on general trips out.

The main point is to bring together other people with epilepsy,

so then we can sort of talk about it, and when I was away on a trip,

I saw everybody else taking their medication

and I just thought, "Oh, I'm just one of them.

"It's basically the same."

Having epilepsy doesn't really stop me doing anything,

because I just think I'm the same as anybody else.

I don't really see his epilepsy that much.

I only really see it when he has an absence.

-He's just like any other friend.

-We don't really care.

-Yeah.

Epilepsy doesn't make me that different,

because I'm just the same as everybody else.

I'm just a normal person.

I'm Sophie and I'm nine years old.

When I found out I had dyslexia, I felt sad

and a little bit disappointed,

because my mum said that I could get rid of it, but I couldn't.

I could only wear it off a little bit.

When I read, I sometimes miss out a line

or I read a line again and again.

It's hard when I can't read but I want to read.

"At midnight, Mr Flinch clambered on...

-"Clambered."

-"Climbed."

"Climbed on his... Onto his roof

"and gulp...

"Gu-l-ped. Gulped."

-"Gulped." Clever girl.

-"Gulped, and all the money was gone."

'I mix up my letters a lot.'

My Ps and my 9s are getting better

but my Bs and my Ds are not. They're still bad.

I'm good at ICT.

I like doing literacy but I can't do it well.

I have different spellings than everyone else because I'm dyslexic

'and I can't help it.'

"When lizard got close to the strange house..."

People look at my spellings and say, "Those are your spellings?

"They look really babyish."

'You're not thick.'

It's just something that you can't do. You do it in a different way.

I've got to see or feel the letter, and then I'll know it.

I've got B for beach and I've got sandpaper for "beach",

so it feels like beach.

And then I've got D for "dots" and it's all got dots on it.

And then my P is the colour pink. P for "pink."

But if it's a plain letter,

I won't know which one is which. I'll just guess.

Sometimes I cry about my dyslexia,

but I don't let other people know that I do that.

They might think, "Oh, well, she's crying over dyslexia - big deal(!)"

To me it's a big deal because I have it, and sometimes it affects me,

but not all the time.

'Dyslexia does not stop me from doing anything,'

like ice-skating or athletics, because I push myself to do it

so I learn new things.

All of my friends have been nice about dyslexia

and they think it doesn't change me anyway.

They don't really notice that I've got it.

If you've just met Sophie here, you wouldn't know she's dyslexic,

because she was really good at the word game.

She's really good at matching all the letters and words up.

I don't think Sophie's dyslexia affects her

in doing her sports and stuff like that.

Help a child with dyslexia by supporting them,

helping them with their writing, talking about things,

like, "Are you all right?

"Do you feel sad or anything?" About their feelings.

Treat them the way they want to be treated.

Don't be mean to them because if they can't spell a teeny-weeny word

just help them on it, because they don't know how.

They'll understand it and you'll be helping them.

When I sew with my gran, it's really fun,

because I do different things every week - cushions, clothes,

presents for my mum and my dad for Christmas.

My gran, when she was younger, she missed out a lot of her learning.

She missed out, like me, on my phonics and stuff.

When I'm sad sometimes,

she says, "Don't worry - we're together in this."

I feel different when I read, because I'm on lower stages,

but I'm good at art and I like doing fashion design books.

I like designing clothes.

I want to be a fashion designer when I'm older. I like drawing patterns.

I don't think dyslexia would affect my fashion at all.

I feel confident about having dyslexia

because my friends help me and they support me

and they help me through my life sometimes.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd