Kara Tointon: 'Dont Call me Stupid'

Karas programme was so enlightening, informative, helpful and heart warming.
I watched as a partner of someone who is dyslexic and a parent of an 8yr old that also has numerous symptoms.
It helped me understand more about dyslexia and ask question to my child I wouldn't have thought of asking. I've since learnt loads, like the fact that all her letters and words appear 'squished up' as she describes it. I went out and booked an opticians appointment who after the exam asked if I'd had her checked for visual dyslexia. Here's where you have to go it alone......The Institute of Optometry never called back, the opticians dont check for it either. I. needed to phone the optometry dept at the hospital to find out if they did the test...then get my gp to refer her for The Assessment for Coloured Overlays...finally she gets an appointment!
She tested that she does have visual dyslexia and can read better with a yellow filter. Our optomitrist had a spare to give us and now my daughter is well away. She can now see spaces between letters and words and her reading is now more fluent....thanks to karas programme!

Hello,

What an amazing insightful programme that smashes all of our perceptions about dyslexia! Well done to all involved, so so important for so many people! I have a background in Secondary English Teaching and also feel that a DVD would be really useful for use in schools.



I am posting to congratualate but also to say that I wear coloured glasses myself and found that the testing and precription of glasses through Irlen Centres much more sophisticated than that offered by Optomotrists. I can highly recommend visiting www.Irleneast.com or email Info@Irleneast.com as a starting point for information and a self test.



I am currently hoping to obtain funding for my daughter's colour tinting as she also wears coloured lenses in her glasses and went from a non reader to reading the first three Harry Potter books at the age of 6/7 years old. Personally I can read double speed with mine and often think of how much time I could have saved when marking etc. in my work as a teacher.



Glasses do not have to be as dark in colour as those shown on the programme and can be worn all the time. The list of benefits is endless. I only wish Irlen Testing could be available through the NHS as I had great difficulties finding out where to go. I have had to pay for my lenses and my daughter's lenses to be tinted and significant cost to our family. Optomotrists charge a similar amount hey are restricted in the way they test.

I completely understand what you're saying and I am coping very well with my GCSEs and are getting A's and B's in all but one of my subjects but I honestly thought that I was fine until I saw this and it opened my eyes. I thought when I was watching this that what Kara went through was exactly what I went through and it was scary. I must admit that compared to Kara my case would be described as 'mild' because I can read any book that I pick up and I spell fairly well, but my school life was spent getting told to 'concentrate' and that I was talking too much. I hated school and I couldn't read until I was 8 years old.
I also felt a little alienated watching the show, I became overwhemled at points during the show, I got an awful feeling of being different to everyone else when I was watching it. It made me feel different in a bad way. I know that not the aim of the show hat's just how it made me feel compared to all of my friends.

Is the main idea behind the voice over is to talk about Dyslexics like we have a terminal illness? I know I was part of the Generation that was experimented on with Ritalin and as a kid I was put in the class with kids that started fires and ate glue (sadly that's true) but I did get help from the fund and now I own my own company in Educational Publishing (Yes I know the irony, I do photo research and licensing) and use Text talk to have my emails read out to me, and I have voice recorders, and turn my computer to blue fonts and darker screen brightness. But I do not see this as something that "held me back" Yea I was told I would fail hat only made me fight harder to prove them wrong. This doc. is just making me mad because it plays out as pity not advocacy. Grr

Adlam & Coomber Optometrists in St Neots, Cambridgeshire offers both coloured overlay assessments and colorimetry to determine coloured lenses.
www.adlamandcoomber.co.uk

In the above program, Kara was seen being prescribed coloured reading lenses for her Dyslexia. How do i get these please as my optition does not offer this service?

Hi my name is Lucy Ibbotson i loved kara's programme and it has helped me so much as i could relate to most things that Kara does. I always knew i struggled all through school and was always way behind but now its something i can no longer avoid as i am training to be a mental health nurse and i just cannot revise at all its impossible to retain the information so im failing alot. I recently enquired at uni about this and they said i could see a psychologist to see if i am dyslexic which im positive i am o my shock he said i wasnt!! i feel let down as i paid 60 pound for the test and he got it wrong. Now knowone believes i am dyslexic and i find that so upsetting and frustrating as i have all the traits someone with dyslexia has! i desperatly need help but dont know where to get it and i really need them glasses Kara has but i learn much better when all the writting is in red. please can anyone help?