Cathy Magee, Chief Executive of Dyslexia Scotland Thursday 1 September @ 18.00 @ Westlands

Report 1 September 2022

President Craig welcomed four visitors to the meeting. All had attended the Awareness meeting which had been held the previous Saturday and were along to find out more about the work of Rotary.

Our guest speaker was Cathy Magee, Chief Executive of Dyslexia Scotland who gave a very interesting talk on the work of her organization. Unfortunately, there was an issue with the power supply to the room and the presentation Cathy had put together could not be displayed, however Cathy did a sterling job without the visual aids.

Dyslexia affects 1 in 10 of the population and is a lifelong and hereditary condition. It is typically thought of as being an issue with reading, writing and spelling but is much more complex and can include difficulties with short term memory, processing of language based information, concentration and other factors. Cathy stressed that dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence and there were many positives for people with dyslexia, including a determination to succeed.

Cathy cited some statistics around dyslexia; some 20% of UK entrepreneurs, 25% of agricultural students, 28% of extended learning support students and 60% of the prison population are dyslexic.

From their base in Stirling, Dyslexia Scotland have 18 branch offices and operate with a small team of 7 full time staff and 200 volunteers. Their mission is to inspire and enable all people with dyslexia to realise their potential. They run a national helpline which takes around 2000 calls per year, of which 60% are enquiries about assessment for dyslexia.

More information can be found on their website: https://dyslexiascotland.org.uk/

Cathy fielded several interesting questions from the floor and was given a well deserved vote of thanks by John Kilby.