Monday, 4 December 2023

Book Interduction

 My name Sara Jane Gorman I was born with Autism, Dyslexia, 

Dyspraxia, Epilepsy, Anxiety and Depression. 


This book is based on my website I wrote back in 2007, just after my Gran  died, with the support of my Mother and Sister. This was when I was working for Royal Wolverhampton Men-cap that was at the Science park, helps me out looking out for others similar if not the same as myself. In my website I may have written about the struggles my family have had fighting for support for me. 

For eg; the way Dyspraxia has affected me all through my life. 

Most difficulties I have overcome since childhood.  I was very slow in school work but caught with achieving a fair amount of qualifications in college  with support. 

I had tried work experiences over my early adulthood years and had been taken off. It has only been the last sixteen years my skills have been discovered. 

I was bullied in school, even in special schools.

I was twenty before I learned how to tie my shoes laces. My Aunt’s son my cousin Luke showed me when he was ten years old, I felt such a fool.

I used to be a visiting Lecturer in Learning Disability and Mental health, first for the Royal Wolverhampton Men - cap, then for the University Of Wolverhampton, also an Advocate and Befriender firstly for Royal Wolverhampton Men-cap, then One Voice Advocacy service, then Beacon Befriending service.


I have raised awareness to student professionals, such as learning disability nurses, social workers,  paramedics, occupational therapists and more.


Therefore, I am writing this book not only to educate students professionals but to help those  who are interested or and involved in the field of learning disability, mental health and more. 

Whether you a parent, family member, carer, partner, friend, nurse, doctor, teacher, tutor, carer advisor, and more at all levels and abilities.


 Making information accessible for special needs and disability.

For ten years I had been working for 

the University Of Wolverhampton 

 it was great to raise learning 

  disability and mental health awareness

 to students professionals such as the Learning

 Disability nurses, social workers, paramedics, 

occupational therapists etc. As a Visiting Lecturer

Living conditions were hard for everyone 

in those times but disabled people struggle

 to look after themselves where they can be

treated like babies and children or 

neglected.  Most disabled people feel live is not worth living because it can seem we don’t always get support when we need it, sometimes it happens when we don’t need it. 


Ever since I was twenty three years old, I always wanted to be a writer.


Therefore, I am writing this book not only to educate students professionals but to help those  who are interested or and involved in the field of learning disability, mental health and more. 

Whether you a parent, family member, carer, partner, friend, nurse, doctor, teacher, tutor, carer advisor, and more at all levels and abilities.


I guess there maybe a lot of people who may it as it was abuse in today’s world. I will honest to say I don’t think in the way I see it now in the she must have saw if. I guess her intentions were punish me to remember next time to miss the lines when I was told to, not abuse me. However’ I do agree, there are worse things I could very well have done to deserve the punishment I had,  not that I was a perfect child because no one is.


 I do not blame her because I think she was following the system at the time, which in most thing weren’t necessary unfair but there were worse things to be punished for, which back then minor and major things no one got away with on the whole.


Before I change the subject, I maybe wrong this but maybe the easiest way to tell the difference between Dyslexia and Dyspraxia, is the motor skills problems being Dyspraxia and the reading and writing problem but not necessarily,  you would think it would be the case but not sure it is as simple as that Sorry this is confusing isn’t it? 


However would adds up to this Dyspraxia can cause the problem with gripping, incudes gripping pens and pencils for example. When I was in school I did not know had Dyspraxia neither did anyone else. However’ everyone knew me or most people and myself knew what was then clumsy, that i broke things etc. 


Back relations from others was like punishment, which like to me at the time, but it was very understandable in one way. When I used to write and I even the same today example, without meaning to I press to hard on the paper. Teachers always wondered I guess why I was sharpening pencils at the desk every five minutes lol, as easily broke them without meaning to. 


Just May you have worked the same and different between the two learning difficulties that sound the same but different, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia, maybe I have explained some not, look and see if a link written by someone else helps. https://www.readandspell.com/difference-between-dyslexia-and-dyspraxia 


The differences  between dyscalculia and dysgraphia, is there anything the same one another? 


Dyscalculia is a mathematical learning difficulty similar to Dyslexia but causes a lot more Anxiety, which I face myself. where for me I cannot really work out maths in my head. 

I have use my fingers, calculator, cubes when I was a child etc, then most of my maths were wrong answers. But Again back then  I didn’t know what the problem was neither did others who knew me but what we did know, we didn’t understand why I couldn’t learn like other people.

 I know I wasn’t the only one struggling with this but I didn’t realize that at the time, I thought I was different to everyone and without trying to play on sympathy and attention, I felt as life wasn’t living at times but these as I am learning what my problems are, I am learning to accept the support I need, I don’t feel like the stupid one anymore. 

I have learned over the years now I just slower than other people and I am not alone as I thought I was. 

https://www.understood.org/en/articles/math-anxiety-vs-dyscalculia-compare-the-signs?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=dyscalculia&utm_campaign=EN_Dyscalculia_EJ&gbraid=0AAAAAD-LTGLOEEBhbF4sxAEGqjym2Go9Z&gclid=CjwKCAjwjOunBhB4EiwA94JWsCK93GIOnTEd8xrdcFX3vU8cD3a502_F2X9uK6dqR0SdDL6QHn1FPRoCaF0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Though out  my childhood, 

I was on medication as a baby and

 child for Epilepsy, which 

was called back then called phenobarbital. 

It made me very hyperactive and moody, 

feeling sleepy and awake,

 high as a kite at the wrong times.

 I couldn’t focus on my schoolwork, 

I had no direction  or road safety

 awareness back then,

 I was a danger zone to others and myself.


 Naturally back then everyone including 

myself who knew me thought this was 

just me anyway. When l was twelve to thirteen, 

my seizures what we would say in today’s

 terms back then they were called fits we’re getting less.

 My took me to the doctors to see whether or not I could stop taking the medication and why. 

I was allowed to stop taking them but


 as a short time went on, 

I started to learn and be aware

 of the world around whereas 

when I was on the medication, it was like I was in a dream world. 


Making information accessible for special needs and disability.


 Making information accessible for people with disabilities and special needs.

First of all, what is special needs? What is a learning disability? 

How are they the same, similar or and different? 

There are a number of types of special needs that cause learning difficulties and disabilities, which may or may not link together. Such as autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, ADHD, Tourette’s syndrome, and more. 

Support.

Accessible information websites and apps.

Easy read

Large print 

Verbally phone, video call face to face etc.


 Language of autism 

Sensory difficulties, differences and sensitively. 

Change of routine, routine.

Consistency.

Obsessive interest, deep in a certain knowledge, topic etc. 

speaking, little or no speech.

Communication.









Employment and education.


In my life and I believe I am not alone, 

I found most employers do 

not understand learning disability,

 mental illness or  and other problems. 

Not everyone takes notice of the disability 

discrimination act in the UK,

 not sure about other countries. 

Again better was now but we still have a long way to go, still life goes on.


We are still health and safety hazard to lot of employers, 

not that I am saying that is wrong to protect our safety 

but there still should be ways of us having a career

 like other people, with right tools and support of 

course that cost money that UK government just hasn’t got, 

without  making the country worse off, 

I would interested how this works for other countries, 

surely we are not alone.


 We need the right support to keep healthy 

and safe to work in our limits of our disabilities, 

mental illness and other conditions, problems and more.

Employers, trainers and the government  etc ; 

need learning disability and mental health 


On the  other hand I was put in some fields not for me,

 even then I weren’t in the right fields and places.

My Mother lives in New York and they go by 

what people are capable of and what they

 take interest in and they can learn and 

train for.





Interducing the purpose 

of this writing.


story is to introduce 

as much of life as person  

past and present as I 

am as possible,

 my learning disability,

 mental illness and

 my career,

 which is mostly based on

 my life experience. 

Also, to try help, students,

 workers and

  or more who involved in the 

field

 and people who face disabilities,

for who face 

them themselves, and 

people who them,

 teach them support 

them care for them etc.



No one can be forced to be 

interested in

 something if they are not but 

do get me

 wrong no one can be liked 

from everyone,

 I understand that but when 

it comes to

 learning disability etc,

 there is a lot of 

misunderstanding and

 unawareness.

 I think learning 

disability,

 mental 

health and all problems 

awareness 

needs to be raised, 

meaning for example; 

conditions, illnesses, 

diseases and more, 

which should be 

raised in schools,

 colleges, universities, 

workplaces and more. 

It would interesting to what is like in

 other countries 

as far.

 A lot of long stay 

hospitals, 

resident homes

 etc closed  

roughly from 

2007 to 2010

 in the UK.







You may learn.


“ what is the difference, the same, similar between mental health and illness”?

“ What is the difference, the same, similar between learning disability and difficulty”?

“What is the difference, the same, similar between anger and anxiety”?

“ what is the difference, the same, similar between Autism and Anxiety”?

“ What is the differences, the same, similarities between ADHD, Autism and Anxiety”?

“What is the difference, the same, similar between Schizoaffective and Bipolar”? 

“What is the difference, the same, similar between Dyslexia and Dyspraxia”?


https://www.mencap.org.uk/learning-disability-explained/research-and-statistics/health/mental-health









The difference between and  if not the same.


I bet wonder what I am talking about, well writing about when I call the title difference between, I bet you wonder what I mean. That is very understandable you may be thinking. What does she mean by The difference and the same.


Well you may have noticed I have written about some disabilities, difficulties, conditions etc, pretty similar if not the same to one another so this is what I am going to cover in this chapter.


Let me start with the differences and same between and in Dyslexia and Dyspraxia. 

Research says that Dyslexia used to be a learning difficulty that causes people to struggle reading ,writing, spelling but that will always be the case I guess nothing had changed there because I think I have that all my life and I sure I not alone. However’ as I said earlier that does not mean the person cannot read at all, it is just difficulties along the way. Even those who can’t read and write thinks as much as those can read and write, they have knowledge and things to say and stories to tell. We not should not judge a book by its cover.

To be truthful I am uncertain whether or not I have Dyslexia as well as Dyspraxia even I was Diagnosed twice for Dyslexia, maybe three times but never for Dyspraxia, even those I have struggled with taking in what I have read, struggling with reading certain words and spelling certain words; motor skills meaning physical skills so I guess I do have both but whether or professionals etc see it that way I don’t know.

 

By own experience I cannot help but sum up what it maybe like for others as well. Not sure whether is possible to have Dyslexia and Dyspraxia or you can just have one or the other. I guess so because I think I have always had both. You may think if I have been diagnosed for Dyslexia three times and it came up that I am, that I must and yes I believe I must be. The reason why I said I am uncertain is because Dyslexia and Dyspraxia are so similar as far as reading and writing is concerned. If you have got both it can be hard to tell which reading, writing etc, which is dyslexia which is dyspraxia.


What I forgot to write about in the last chapter is memory, here’s an example. 


Going back to forty odd years ago when I was in school, when I was only say seven and eight, I have forgotten that day. I was in handwriting lessons. The teacher told us to miss a line between the date and title, then miss a line the title before we carried on writing.Naughty me forget all that as far as the teacher was concerned.  All because of that as she was looking at my work, she slapped the ruler across the back of my legs.

 This was in a special school 

Going by that experience I do not have any hard feelings for what she did, that was the generation at the time. Despite of that going by today’s standards, she should not been allowed to what she did but maybe she did have she did because she had to at the time because no one really understood disabilities, difficulties etc but then again that could have been anyone who forgotten to do as she said, it so happened I was the child who forgot. 

The idea behind the 

mental illnesses and more.


I have written this piece 

of work for

 those interested in the 

field of learning 

disability, mental health 

and other

 problems, to help those with disabilities, mental health, other and those who are in their lives. 
















awareness training.  


Not everyone can work IT, the internet 

etc but not everyone can manage factory work either .

 In my youth for example the government 

would put you just anywhere with or any, 

very little support to get us doing something, 

I no problem doing what I could do or learn to do,

 which was not a lot to start with. 

Six weeks training on YTS for example 

wasn’t enough time for me to learn a job, 

where they ended up getting rid of me,

 cause they just did not have the patience. 

I guess when I think about it now some reasons

 in some things I tried, which weren’t to be, 

was the field I was in and others were the people.

 At the time, because 

I was very young, I just got frustrated where 

everything was trying was not a success but

 I could not see the wood through the trees.

 I tried elderly people’s homes, Day centers, 

supermarkets,  a shop a hospice,

 riding stable’s with other animals as well

 as horses and ponies, the library which

 like the work and the people, 

which was a living in job.

 I did and passed my 

stable management 

exams, I tried to pick 

on what I did not do 

good at in schools English, 

maths etc. 



























However’ things did improve for me as time went 

like working Men-cap I enjoyed, raising awareness

 of disability and mental health, Advocate, 

speaking up for disability and mental health. 

This gave me experience of working in Advocacy 

groups. I learned how present information in power point,

 passed my ITQ level in Microsoft Office 2007,

 in power point and word processing, 

ITQ Level two internet and email.

It taught me to give talks to student professors 

such as learning disability, mental health nurses, 

social workers, paramedics and more as Visiting Lecturer. 

I have also been a private Advocacy for what was 

One Voice, Wolverhampton. 

Interdiction to Advocacy skills GATACS2014

(Generic Advocacy  

Training and Consultancy Services) 

qualification.

Suggesting options to people with 

disabilities on matters that bother 

then or need help with. Example; benefits, 

getting a disability bus pass etc.

Volunteer trainee Teaching Assistant

 Penn Hall special day school.

Malt-ins Day Centre Wolverhampton  


for Elderly and Disabled people. 

Work, making hot and cold drinks.


Key skills PowerPoint, chairing minutes of meetings,

 supporting disabled people to chair meetings, 

communication, time management and IT skills.


Highest English qualification, 

English Function skills Level one.

Interduction to Mentoring skills, 

Level one and two Mentoring.

 


The government spends money on the wrong things.

 The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. 

The benefits system has always been a mess, 

there a lot people on benefits

 who should not be as well those who are 

on them for good reasons. Most of one’s who 

should not could work but do not 

want to yet the ones who are on them 

for good reasons want to work.

If you are involved learning disability 

and mental health, whether you are 

someone who faces disability, mental illness or 

and other problems, illnesses conditions etc or

 and you are a parent, partner, family member, 

friends, support worker, carer, nurse, school staff, children, teenagers, young adults ; etc who support and

doctor, paramedic, teacher,  tutor, lecturer, 

employer office, etc, 

my email is sarajgorman@gmail.com 

if you wish to get touch, on anything you 

may have read what I have written or and 

maybe you have in my lectures at 

the University Of Wolverhampton or involved in work 

I have done for Men-cap or anywhere else in the

 disability and health field etc.

I lecture things, like accessible information, 

easy read we need to avoid too much jargon etc,

 you may need thing like Brail for the 

blind sign language courses to help you support .


The could be more. 

You need to balance what they person might

 have done already, what they want to, 

what they can do and even what they want to

 learn to do. 

Consider health and safe as well 

qualifications they have and

 what they need in what they want to do.

Careers for disabilities. Eg; creative jobs,

  such as writers, artists, poets band more; mentoring,

 coaching, counseling, Advocacy, , 

office, Administrative etc is likely to be for people with physical conditions, disabilities etc. 

Those who haven’t got physical disabilities, 

conditions etc, maybe shop work, cleaning, building, 

gardening etc.

https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/career-and-job-support-for-people-with-a-disability




























Learning disability and mental health history.


I have raised awareness to student professionals, such as learning disability nurses, social workers,  paramedics, occupational therapists and more.

Therefore, I am writing this book not only to educate students professionals but to help those  who are interested or and involved in the field of learning disability, mental health and more. 

Whether you a parent, family member, carer, partner, friend, nurse, doctor, teacher, tutor, carer advisor, and more at all levels and abilities.

In past to other people, 

people with disabilities seemed different to them.

 They were labeled, treated like babies and 

children even when they were adults. 

People used words like mentally handicapped 

instead of disabled, such other words as sub 

normal, mental, backward, eternal, 

a menace to society or and a burden to society.


Over centuries, years, decades etc, 

there has never been a balance between 

support and independence, 

mostly it had been all or nothing. 

Most people have been neglected or 

support tends happen when it is too late

 they do not need it or someone is around all the time but again needed when someone is not there.

People  were in institutions had no or very little contact 

with the outside world. This had a very big affect on

 people’s lives. I guess a lot people would have 

suffered with  Anxiety and Depression. 

People with disabilities  were misunderstood 

very much a lot for those who they are not.and idiocy, liege normally misunderstood, 

seen etc as drunk in the eyes and mind of society.


In the middle age, it is believed that 

mental illness was used in religion. 

Negative attitudes were around the

 18th century onwards in American, 

leading sigma towards those with

 mental illnesses.

as others thought they were in sane or mad. 


Even today there is a lack of awareness from 

society about disability, mental health and

 other problems. Society did not have confidence

 in people. We were treated unequally and we

 felt as if we were not part of society. 

Today society is starting to learn about 

learning disability and mental health. 

Most disabled people in those times 

begged for food and money off the streets.


In Victorian times in the 1800s the 19th 

century were thought about as cripple, 

handicap, freaks, etc. 


They were in industrial ares, with say widows,

 orphans, alcoholics.

 Other people with disabilities were put in 

poorhouses or almshouses.


In 19th  century, the treatment for mental 

health was cure, incerlating and shocking.

 Some asylums were poor cared for in

 institutions with a lack of compassion. 

Disabled people were treated in the 

abbey a type of church and hospitals, 

they were made to say prayers and

 other religious things.

people who faced Mania, dementia, 

melancholy, relapsing mania, hysterical, 


Warehouses we’re responsible for disabled people too. 

I guess the way society was back then 

it would have caused those facing disabilities, 

mental illness and other problems a lot of 

misunderstandings with others. Where society 

back then didn’t have confidence in those 

who were slow to work, react, response, etc. 


https://www.open.ac.uk/health-and-social-care/research/shld/timeline-learning-disability-history








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