Summers in the Suffolk countryside are quite something, are they not? When I am here over the summer, with parliament in recess, there is nothing I find quite so peaceful as sitting in my back garden, surrounded by fields, getting stuck into a good book.
This has been made even more peaceful of late, ever since the four dogs belonging to the Ukrainian family who is living with me have decided I am friend not foe and have stopped barking everything time they see me. Silence and the sound of birds are my friends again.
It hasn't been a pastime that I always found so enjoyable, or so easy for that matter. When I was younger my reading was quite badly affected by my Dyslexia and since I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 18, in my first year at university, my relationship with reading got off to a rocky start.
I spent my school years finding reading difficult. I avoided essay-based subjects like the plague throughout my teenage years, instead focusing on Maths-based subjects. Hence my diagnosis was a lightbulb moment. Rather than thinking I just wasn’t very good at reading, I finally understood why.
Yet I still kept my dyslexia private for 20 years out of fear this would hold me back in my career.
When I became a cabinet minister, I told my Private Secretary I needed a one-page briefing note on the top of any papers I would have to read so I could decide whether to dedicate enough time to read it in full, or whether to delegate to another Minister.
When he asked me why, I told him ‘I’ll let you into a secret, but I am dyslexic’. I was surprised when he said to me, ‘Matt. I’ve got dyslexia too and you have to speak out about it, children need to know you can make it to the top table as a dyslexic.’
To be frank with you, I was very worried about speaking out, but in hindsight, this was not necessary. The outpouring of compassion and support was overwhelming. It was then that I decided that one of my overarching ambitions in politics would be to help every dyslexic child unleash their potential.
In the last year, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit schools in West Suffolk and across the UK to learn more about SEND provisions in the country. I have spoken to the pupils and staff at many West Suffolk schools in recent months about what more we can do and what’s working in practice. With every conversation, I am gaining a better understanding of the brilliant provision which currently exists in West Suffolk, but also the areas of support we need to improve.
While teachers work so hard to support children with SEND like dyslexia, I have come to realise that we do not have the correct provisions to help children with neurodivergent conditions unleash their full potential.
Conditions like dyslexia should not be seen as disabilities, but ‘diversities’.
Yes - dyslexia causes challenges, not only with reading but with other areas such as memory and telling the time. But it also brings huge opportunities. You may not know that dyslexia also brings enhanced creativity, higher levels of lateral thinking and better communication skills. With over half of jobs expected to be done by computers by 2030, these skills are the skills of the future, which dyslexics have in abundance.
This is why I’ve been campaigning for universal screening and teacher training for dyslexia in primary schools. Unless we have early identification and better teacher training, we are failing to help every child unleash their potential.
This is not only a moral argument but an economic one, too.
Because while 1 in 10 people have dyslexia, 4 in 10 of all successful entrepreneurs have dyslexia. We sadly see all too often that if we fail to act, the results can be disastrous. It is deeply saddening that over half of prisoners have dyslexia. This is a quiet scandal.
So, on the 16th September, I will be introducing the second reading of my Dyslexia Screening and Teacher Training Bill to Parliament so we can resolve these injustices and help the next generation make the most of their talents.
I urge the new Education Secretary to back this bill so we can deliver on our promises to the British public.
In 2019, we correctly analysed that aspiration was across the country and across communities, but opportunity unfortunately was not.
Backing this bill will help to spread opportunity to dyslexic people who have been failed for far too long.
Because at the very least, children in West Suffolk have the right to know the blissful joy of sitting in the beautiful Suffolk countryside and absorbing a good book.
