Introduction

Hello, I'm Maggie and I am a teenager living with Dyscalculia, or 'maths dyslexia'. I have created this blog to share my experience of the condition and to help people's awareness and understanding.

Living with dyscalculia can be very difficult, frustrating and upsetting. I have always had problems with maths, for as long as I can remember, however this was always somewhat 'masked' by my intelligence and abilities in other subjects, particularly those such as English and French. The fact that the condition is widely unknown also contributes to this, even though studies show it is as common as dyslexia.

I am now finishing my second to last year at secondary school, meaning I am in the middle of doing GCSE maths. Because of my abilities in other subjects, the mask struck again, meaning I was put in a class in which we are all expected to get As and A*s in our exams. My target however, is a B. The fact that everyone in my class, in my eyes, seems miles ahead of me in their mathematical ability, it puts a lot of pressure on me. I don't like people seeing the bad grades that I get on all the tests, especially when they all expect me to be good because of how well I have done in other subjects.

The fact is, I can often do the work in class, albeit at a slower pace and with a lot more concentration than most, but once I have learnt it, I will forget it again in a matter of days, hours or even minutes.

The worst thing for me about having dyscalculia is that it makes me feel stupid. When someone asks me to do a simple sum and I will take forever to answer, or I have to ask someone else which way is left or how much change I am due in a shop. When I have to ask people to take me somewhere because I can't read a map.

When someone asks the time but the long hand has passed the half hour mark and I can't tell them straight away.

I know I'm not stupid. I know that I can do well in other subjects, that everyone has something they're not as good at. Yet dyscalculia takes it to a new level. It makes everyday situations hard, which can leave me feeling like I'll never be able to be independent. It often makes me cry. The amount of times I have had to hold back tears in my maths class is unbelievable.

And the worst thing? No one knows. The condition is so unknown that no one can even begin to understand what it's like, and most people don't even know I have it. I have been told by teachers to just "work harder" and "revise". Well of course I have done that! I'm not failing at maths on purpose! It is the one subject I try desperately to stay completely focused in, as hard as that may be.

However, this post has become very long, so I shall leave you there. If you had never heard of dyscalculia before, I hope this helped your understanding. If you have, or have experience with dyscalculia, then thank you for visiting my blog and please leave a comment, I will always reply. I will continue to blog about my experiences and things that help me to cope with mathematical situations, including map-reading and differentiating between left and right.