You might remember my blog post about my son cutting his mowhawk for charity. He raised £400 for Dyslexia Action.

The biker and the drummer...

The drummer and the Dragon....

The dancer and the drummer.....

Last night we were both in London – at the Institute of Engineering and Technology for the launch event of It’s ME – Jak is a star on their website here.

We had a great day – St Pauls Cathedral, The Millennium Bridge, The Tate Modern and the London Eye all featured in a rush around the ‘smoke’. We even managed a quick trip to the Apple Store!

But at 6.30pm we headed north of the river to Savoy Place, where Dyslexia Action President, Charley Boorman and ex-Scotland rugby international player, Kenny Logan, hosted the official launch event for the It’s ME! Appeal. Theo Paphitis, entrepreneur and investor on Dragons Den, also made an appearance to share his experiences.

The three of them spoke about their dyslexia particularly in their early years. I thought the comment that Theo made was telling – until he made his first million people called him ‘thick’, but afterwards, they called him ‘dyslexic’!

Each were really approachable and friendly. I think they were very inspiring . Especially to a young audience – and their real role is to raise awareness. Kenny Logan spoke about how he used to cover up the fact that he couldn’t read. He felt ill at school everyday!

There was a great poet called Justin Coe who spoke eloquently – from a book he had contributed to (you can get it here on Amazon). It was tough act in front of 150 people and his ‘rap’ was very funny. I didn’t envy him addressing a room of people – let alone having dyslexia.

I blogged last year about an article written by Peter Hitchens in the mail on Sunday – where he suggested that dyslexia doesn’t exist. How wrong he was and is. Clueless.

The main sponsor of the evening spoke about his struggle with dyslexia and explained how he coped. He had strategies. He had to fight and find ‘work arounds’. He was determined to show people that they were wrong about their preconceptions about him.

He spoke about how he learned to buck the trend – because conventional wisdom and methods didn’t work for him. He had learned about leadership and how to lead people, embracing diversity because he understood that everyone was different.

Dyslexia does exist. In an estimated 6m people in the UK. But Dyslexia Action are trying to raise awareness to help people. The slogan suggests that we should stop a hidden disability becoming a hidden cause.