Hello, my name is Dawn Flockton.
I am from Newcastle upon Tyne, and I am a Newcastle United fan. I have a season ticket with my mam.

I want to share my schooling experiences:

When I was three, I was painting at nursery and my dress got covered in paint.
The next day, my mam asked the nursery teacher, “Does Dawn need to bring one of daddy’s shirts?”
The teacher said, “We have aprons up there.” My mam is five foot seven and couldn’t even reach them.

She said, “Could you not just say to Dawn, come on let’s put an apron on?”
The teacher said, “I can’t do everything for all of the children.”

When I was five, all of the children were coming out of school with reading books.
My mam asked me, “Have you not got a reading book?”
I said “No, the teacher didn’t give me one.”
My mam went to the teacher and asked, and the teacher said, “That’s right, Dawn can’t read.”
My mam said, “If you give her a reading book, we can sit and read with her.”
The teacher told her, “If you want a book, go to the library.”

So my mam went to Woolworths and bought lots of Ladybird books like Peter and Jane.

One Friday, we were told to bring a toy into school. I asked my mam, “What will I take into school?”
She said, “Take your book in and read to the teacher.”
When I came out of school, my mam asked me if I had read to the teacher. I said “Yes.”

My mam went to the teacher again and asked, and the teacher said, “Yes, Dawn can read now she replied “No thanks to this school!”

My desk was always in a corridor, away from the other children.
I had sight and hearing problems, but the teacher said I was distracting the other children.
My mam said, “I don’t think so.”

My mam and dad were called into school for a meeting.
The school said what they wanted to say about me.
Then my dad said, “Are you finished? I would like to say my part now. If I had another child tomorrow, they would not come to this school. Dawn has had a bad start to her schooling.”

When I was ten and a half, I was sent to a special school.

No one has ever really seen me!

I have learned so much since leaving school.
Inclusion North did see me and my skills and knowledge.
They gave me a job and helped me build my confidence.

I am proud to have worked with Inclusion North for five and a half years, as a Leadership Coach on Take the Lead.
Take the Lead is a programme run by Inclusion North. It supports people with a learning disability and autistic people to build their skills, speak up for themselves, and take on leadership roles.

I add this to my list of many achievements

• I passed my driving test in 2009
• I swim as part of the Special Olympics and have won lots of medals
• Set up a social group called Women Zone in the Northeast and got funding for this
• Part of producing the Stop People Dying Too Young Campaign and report
• I have lead training in universities for social work students
• I Co-chair meeting of LeDer, A national programme to help everyone learn Learning from Lives and Deaths of people with a learning disability and autistic people
• I have also performed live on stage in musicals and Pantomimes

Having a learning disability has not stopped me doing anything.

I wish those people could see me now!

Thank you for reading.