She Swam Alone. Now She's Fighting For Others.

I was lucky enough to hear Dame Sophie Pascoe speak at a Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce event last night, and I woke up this morning still thinking about it. There was a moment where the whole room went quiet, properly quiet, because she wasn't delivering a speech at us. She was talking to us, and everyone in there felt it.

Sophie spent years as a Paralympic swimmer, training largely on her own, following the black line up and down a pool lane. These days she's stepped back from competing, and her focus has shifted to something bigger, advocating for pay parity and equal rights and opportunities for amputees, alongside being a proud mother.

What struck me most was how she talks about her own story. She doesn't frame being an amputee as something she had to overcome. She frames it as part of what gives her the platform and the voice to push for change now. The narrative flipped, from limitation to strength, and that flip is doing real work in the world.

I'll be honest, I found it moving. There were a few of us in that room quietly reaching for something to wipe our eyes with.

I think about that flip constantly in my own work, just in a different context.

So many of the people I work with come to me carrying a story that sounds like, "I can't read, I'm dumb, there's something wrong with me." Years of school or life telling them, in a hundred small ways, that the way their mind works is the problem.

The work isn't just teaching someone to read differently. It's helping them flip that story, from "I can't read, I'm dumb and stupid" to "I can read, I can learn, and I'm not." Same as Sophie, the shift usually isn't in what actually changed about them. It's in who finally helped them see it differently.

If you, or your child, are carrying a story that isn't true, I'd love to talk about what it might take to help flip it. You're welcome to book a free online chat with me here.

Thank you for being part of this community. It means a lot to have you reading along each week.

PS, I've got a spare copy of The Gift of Dyslexia to give away, and I'd love to give it to someone who'd really appreciate it. To go in the draw, hit reply and tell me one word or one subject that has never stuck, for you or for your child, no matter how many times you've gone over it. I look forward to reading your replies.