DEBBIE WILLIAMS's Podcast
DEBBIE WILLIAMS's Podcast
Life in a Jar
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This week we welcome Stephen Sutton who is an advocate for dyslexia, having written a book, Life in a Jar. He shares his story of living through an education system that didn’t support his learning, from being unable to read and write to having a successful nursing career and being an author.
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debbiewilliamspodcast.com
Having written a book life in a job, the current story of living through an education system that didn't support his learning, from being unable to read and write to having a successful nursing career and being an author. We learned that our ordinary experiences can lead to something extraordinary. Please welcome Stephen Sutton.
SPEAKER_02Hello, Steve, and welcome to the podcast. Hello. Steve, your book, Life in a Jar, how did you choose the title of your book?
SPEAKER_00I was milling through some ideas and I came up with Life in a Jar. I actually looked at this jar and thought, imagine being in that and not being able to contact the outside world. You need to think, you think you're restricted in that jar for some reason, or you're there for a type of security away from the world, you know, formal protection.
SPEAKER_02So growing up with dyslexia, let's talk about your childhood. Because I'm sure when you were a child, it felt like you were living in a jar. So can you explain to us what it felt like growing up with dyslexia as a child?
SPEAKER_00Well, as a child, dyslexia wasn't known as the word. But I did know I was having difficulties in concentrating at school, to stare out the window, or do anything but to get myself away from that subject of what they were teaching, because I just couldn't concentrate from more than about 10-15 minutes. I felt vulnerable. I felt from the start, from four years old, that teachers were picking on me, and they couldn't understand why I wasn't picking things up. So it was like a vicious circle. I was sent into a remedial class across from the school, and it was being in that hut and segregated from the other children that made me feel that really awful because you know, why should I feel like this? Why should I be ostracized in this way?
SPEAKER_02During that time you met your best friend?
SPEAKER_00Yes, Richard.
SPEAKER_02And also you had an English teacher who had a profound influence on you as well.
SPEAKER_00That was later on, that was in their high school. They used to take me out of class to have special reading lessons and that sort of thing. But the English teacher, I found it fascinating because she used to teach me poetry. I had a keen interest in poetry. She used to read different poems to us and tell us all about them and what it was all about. And I found that really good.
SPEAKER_02And after school, you were desperate to find a career in nursing. So what happened there?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, when I left school, I went to college and I was thinking that college was going to be a lot different to school. But initially, going to college was a matter of uh it was a pre-nursing course. And I thought that I'd be learning different things about nursing. Instead, I was just doing the same thing with maths, English, different lessons where I was back at square one again. I I couldn't concentrate, uh trouble focusing on subjects. So I just felt it was a waste of time. So I left college and then now to get a job. So I started a job in the printing battery. But I always wanted to go to nurse, and it was always my desire to go into nurse.
SPEAKER_02When were you diagnosed with dyslexia?
SPEAKER_00In university at the age of 40.
SPEAKER_02And how did that come about?
SPEAKER_00I'd gone through all the training when I was working at the hospital as a really nurse, and they'd persuaded me to go on some courses to get into nursing. So I did that, I had some courses to get into nursing and got qualified for it. Went to university and the head department said, I'm gonna send you for a test on dyslexia. I would think you might be dyslexic. I was tested, statemented, and they gave me all the feedback and everything, which I took back to the senior, the head of the department and nursing, and she said, I think you ought to think about what your career you want to do. She said, I think nursing would be probably difficult for you being dyslexic. So I went out, I did a lot of research into dyslexic nurses and went back with the feedback showing that dyslexic nurses are more careful practitioners and um they're more thorough and dedicated to what they do. So she let me carry on the course. And I qualified as a nurse.
SPEAKER_02I think that's absolutely amazing, and you've proven that you can achieve anything when you really want something.
SPEAKER_00It's uh all about self-determination. When I was at school, I could either just pack in and said, okay, I'll just play up like the other kids, do nothing and just get any job, or I can concentrate and teach myself to read and write. And it was my own determination that got me through.
SPEAKER_02In your book, you also feature stories of other people who have dyslexia. Why aren't it important for you to include other people's experiences in the book as well?
SPEAKER_00Yes, I met a few people that had remarkable stories and they were very inspiring. I thought, well, I've made it so far, but when I read some of them stories, it was during the time that I was still doing things myself. And I thought, what a remarkable thing. Some of these people come from such a bad background, they've struggled and struggled to get through from all walks of life, you know, some celebrities. I thought if they can do it, I can do it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think that's amazing, and also it's very inspirational for other people to realize that they're not alone in terms of experience with lecture. And you also write poetry as well.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Suddenly writing poetry in the 80s. I came out with a few poems. I I couldn't believe how easy I found it. So I like poems that rhyme and that sort of thing. But equally, I I like the idea of people using their life in poetry so you can see how people have gone through life. Highlighted different things that mean such a lot to them, and they write about people surviving and that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_02I really love your poem Action Hero.
SPEAKER_00Oh yes. Action Hero was about me when I was seven or eight. I used to watch things like Batman and different action heroes, and I thought, if only I was bigger, because I was a very skinny child. And uh I thought, if only I was different, well if I was more like an action hero.
SPEAKER_02I am going to share with everybody your poem, Action Hero.
SPEAKER_00Thank you.
SPEAKER_02I want to be an action hero so I can stop kids bullying me. Brave like an action hero and walk around totally free. In my dreams I am an action hero, fighting my way through school, walking around like an action hero instead of somebody's fault. I want to be an action hero playing in the schoolyard, fighting off all the bullies, making out to be hard. My life in school at present is being pushed against a wall, but my life as an action hero, I have the power to conquer all. I think that's such a brilliant, powerful poem, and you have other poems in the book which are just as equally delightful to read. What is next for you in terms of your future endeavours?
SPEAKER_00Well, I retired as a nurse uh two years ago, and I started writing, so I I do write uh novels now, and I always include aspects of my past in these novels, even though they're the fiction, and it it brings out a piece of me each time I write something.
SPEAKER_02How does it feel to know that you went through so many years of not being able to read and write to actually turn your experience totally round to now writing books and novels?
SPEAKER_00It was a gradual process. Uh at the start, as I say, I had to get the confidence up, I had to get the feel that I want to fight, I want to get somewhere. Uh so it was initially my idea, my goal to do that.
SPEAKER_02Stephen, what advice would you give to someone who, whether they're an adult or a child and they've just discovered that they have dyslexia, what advice would you provide to that person?
SPEAKER_00I advise them first of all to get tested as soon as they can. Obviously they can't be tested to a certain age, but prior to that you can study your child and look at the different things that that you need to know about dyslexia, like the poor concentration and the jumbling of words and missing out words and this sort of thing in sentences, like the link words and and the you can tend to lose them, or you can double up, you end up saying them twice to compensate. So it's knowing exactly the symptoms of dyslexia and what to look out for. If you can do that, then you've got a chance of observing the child up to the time that they can be tested and then get them tested as quick as possible.
SPEAKER_02Steve, I would like to thank you for your time and thank you for being a guest on this podcast.
SPEAKER_00Okay, thank you.
SPEAKER_01Life in a jar is available in all good bookshops. If you have any comments about this episode, then please visit Debbie Williamspodcast.com.