Rachel Yankey is one of the most decorated football players in English woman’s history.
Yankey won the Champions League with Arsenal in 2007, as part of the team who secured the quadruple. This Champions League win is still the only Champions League title in the UK.
At the end of her GCSE's, Yankey did not pass any of her subjects. Shortly before sitting the exams, Rachel was diagnosed with dyslexia. Yankey had been aware of her struggles for a long time, but as there was no diagnosis which for a long time this made her struggle even more as she was not given any support by staff members.
Dyslexia is not only one of the most well-known neuro divergent conditions, but also one of the most common.
It’s thought that 20% of the world’s population has dyslexia and it represents 80%–90% of all those with learning disabilities. 1 in every 10 people suffer from dyslexia in the UK. But what people do not know is that as well as the common symptoms that come with dyslexia, like finding it hard to read, dyslexia affects so much more than meets the eye.
Dyslexia can affect speech, hand and eye coordination and movement.
Individuals who suffer from dyslexia may find it hard to follow directions i.e. “pass to the left/ right.”
In a study published it was found that people who have dyslexia are more likely to have concussion injuries.
In a dyslexic brain, there is more activity in the frontal lobe and less in the occipital areas. The occipital lobe helps with the ability to access whole words and read at the correct level , fluently, and automatically. So it can be a big disadvantage for players who suffer from dyslexia, but it can depend on the severity of the dyslexia and how much it affects the brain. It can also effect a persons short term memory which could affect drills or remembering what a manager has asked of you IE where to play and who to mark.
As Rachel Yankey got diagnosed with dyslexia as she became older , there is a possibility that her dyslexia could of got worse due to not getting treated.
At school, Rachel Yankey really struggled she said she felt a lot “slower” and struggled with reading and writing. She described that she felt her handwriting was very “scruffy” and she used to make it harder for people to read so that people wouldn’t see that she was in fact struggling, but she said that if there was an answer to be given she would have stood up in the front of the class and said it, she didn’t want to write it down or read it aloud, a lot of schools make the students read aloud which can put a lot of anxiety onto dyslexic students , as the words that a dyslexic student is saying could be in the wrong order, which would give other classmates a reason to make fun of the dyslexic student. Rachel described that when she got diagnosed, she was embarrassed, she said in secondary school she had the reading age of someone who was in primary school. After leaving school Yankey signed for Arsenal but struggle to make enough money, this is made harder by not having any other qualifications that could’ve helped her have a stable income. After a few years. It was announced that there was going to be a professional league in England and Fulham FCs owner decided he wanted to make a team and thats what he did. Rachel Yankey became the first professional women’s footballer in England, but unfortunately Fulham men got relegated meaning that the woman’s team had to get cut, it went from a professional team to a semi professional team, and after the next season, Rachel left.
How has dyslexia affected Rachel Yankey?
Rachel Yankey described that in certain football meetings, they used to want players to stand up and read different inspiring paragraphs, which was met by Yankey thinking , “ I hope they don’t choose me” she revealed that she didn’t know if all her teammates knew about her dyslexia, she wasn’t trying to hide it but it’s not something she wanted to broadcast . In her Coaching tv show she found the script accessible and she felt she wasn’t going to be judged by asking for help.
Rachel is an ambassador for dyslexia, she wants to raise awareness for others and make other people feel more confident about their dyslexia and that they are able to ask for help, she said she used to purposely get in trouble to avoid reading, She said that if she used to do that, then she will not be the only one an aim to help and empower children who suffer from dyslexia.
There are a lot of websites that give information about dyslexia. One of these is the British dyslexia association. This website provides a lot of information on dyslexia, like the different levels of severity, how to spot the signs of dyslexia and things to consider like family history, educational history, general health, vision, hearing, speech and language. The website provides. crucial information for people like how dyslexia is diagnosed so that it takes anxiety out of the situation and people know what to expect when they are getting tested for dyslexia. The website provides information for disability student allowance where students will get extra money to make sure that they are given the best start for university. One thing that makes the website accessible is that it has a text to speech option so that people who struggle reading are able to listen instead which dyslexic people may find very beneficial as it stops them from missing out on important words or sentences.
In conclusion , dyslexia can be a barrier but if the correct measures are put in place by teachers or parents to help the child , it will benefit with child’s life massively, and as Rachel Yankey said, the more we talk as a society about dyslexia , the less children are going to then be afraid to speak up and admit that they are struggling.
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