[Music] six months ago I started my own sperm bank how about I can see what happened ladies and gentlemen let's have a chat to you about dyslexia anyone be interested in having a dyslexic baby world's first dyslexic sperm bank open today hello good morning what's what you in today just a bit intrigued actually tell me what do you know about dyslexia I don't know is that jumbled up with writing you know disability you'll kind of siphoned off and put in there especially boom a lot of people think that people with dyslexia are stupid I've heard that word used a lot given the choice yeah would you like your child to have dyslexia no I wouldn't kill it okay and there's certain things I just only 3% of people see dyslexia as anything other than a disadvantage but look at the people around this room Steve Jobs co-founder of Apple inventor of the iPhone who's more of an icon for genius than Albert Einstein we've got a whole catalogue here full of people who are or were dyslexic like Thomas Edison Henry Ford Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone dyslexics have a difference in their brains that makes them literally see the world a bit differently did you know that 40% of self-made millionaires are dyslexic the value of these individuals and their contribution to all areas is just really good and all of these dynamic achievers need to be given up as positive examples it does not mean to be a variable gene if you were thinking about how most people see dyslexia what what words do you think people would use to describe them got a disadvantage there not quite an ayat really wasn't it and very funny in places as well that social research film was done in conjunction with some extremely hard-hitting research by YouGov that looked at the public perception or misconception around dyslexia only 3% of people see dyslexia as an advantage or anything other than a disadvantage yet we've seen from that film so many incredible people dyslexic people have gone on to do incredible things that research was also done in conjunction with the launch of my new charity made by dyslexia the charity is run by successful dyslexics and will building a community from around the world of dyslexics to come together to actually help to change the perception of dyslexia but also to help people to really understand dyslexia for what it is which is a different way of thinking not a disability and not a disadvantage dyslexia is caused by a different wiring in the brain and that wiring enables people with dyslexia to think creatively and laterally and differently in the real world that's a huge advantage but in the education system it is a disadvantage unless those children are picked up early given the right support and we focus on their strengths our mission is to try and come together as a world and to help to value the huge potential or and the huge value that dyslexic people have in the world now 10% of people are dyslexic but I would imagine in a town like Brighton it'll be a lot more than that because there's so much creativity and and different thinkers around but hopefully my presentation today will help you to realize why dyslexia is important to all of our lives so let me tell you a little bit about me this is my big brother and me as kids don't you love the old family photographs my brother and I both dyslexic we were hugely hugely lucky because we were sent to one of the first schools in the world that actually understood dyslexia as a different way of thinking and also supported the difficulties that you had during learning all of my family are dyslexic but its genetic so that's not really surprising my father was a botanist and he invented the grow bag most of my aunts and uncles went on to careers that really dyslexic thinking really supports that they were entrepreneurs and they went into caring professions and have all achieved amazing things I have to dyslexic sons one is a poet and the other is a recording artist so they've both followed their passion and talents into the creative fields and I even married a dyslexic so obviously like attracts like I'd like to just tell you the story of my school because I think it's it's a really interesting story and it kind of sums a lot of things up my school was started in the 1930s by an absolutely inspirational and very forward-thinking educationalists called boss mayor boss was tutoring the Indian princes over in India and it got to this stage where the Indian royal family really wanted the boys to come over to the UK to England and benefit from the British private education system so boss came over with the boys and he did the rounds of all the top schools like Eton and Harrow and everywhere he went one of the sons was one of the boys was being turned down because he just couldn't pass the entrance exam so boss was fascinated by this because he knew this lad was just as clever as any of the other boys but couldn't understand why he couldn't learn so he set about doing some research into word blindness or dyslexia as it was just starting to be called back in the 1930s and Ross went over to America with a team of teachers to Columbia University where he met professors autumn and Gillingham who were the first people to come up with an intervention program for dyslexic children he got a team of teachers trained in this methodology and then he came back to the UK and he set up Millfield school boss also went around to all the top private schools that had turned this lad away and basically said to them send me your duffer's I want all the kids you can't educate and I'm gonna turn them around he also went to the parents and said right I can turn your children around but you have to pay me four times the going rate that you'll pay to eat in the Harrow because with those with with that money he gave away three scholarships to children who had the same difficulties but couldn't afford to pay the fees so Millfield school was built on three principles it was built on bosses passion for dyslexia and the fact that dyslexic children and people had so much to offer the world that they needed to be educated properly he was passionate about different intelligences and the fact that he felt the education system was so narrow wasn't nurturing and supporting the creativity in the innovation and all the brains that we know can help to help the world and he was also passionate about sport he actually believed that those three things went hand in hand now Millfield is now 75 nearly 80 years old and the alumni is absolutely extraordinary I was very very lucky because as part of the research I've been doing to understand dyslexic thinking skills and the whole talents and abilities Millfield opened up their alumni books and allowed me to write all the old boys and all the old girls to actually ask them what their experiences were for Millfield and what they've gone on to do I have to be honest I was completely blown away by what came back there president children there were Prime Minister's children there were children from acting dynasties who had all gone on to achieve extraordinary things in their own right but there were also people who had come in on scholarship who are completely self-made who had gone on to do incredible things like one of the leading lights in fusion power in the USA or somebody who'd gone on to create incredible medical breakthroughs all of these people had one thing in common the education system had called them duffer's until they got to mill field they focused on their strengths and they got the support that they needed so you can see why I'm really passionate about helping the world to understand this is something that we really need to nurture because our teachers are still not being trained in dyslexia and there are still lots of dyslexic children who are going through life and people thinking that they're just stupid when they're clearly not now this is my son Ted who's actually no 24c doesn't really like me sharing this photograph with you but I love this picture because for me this picture tells us everything that is right with our children and everything that is wrong with our education system you see Ted here was he hadn't quite started school he was nearly 5 years old and if you look into his eyes you see what you see in any five year olds eyes you see imagination creativity hope inspiration different way of doing things just this amazing excitement for life you see superheroes at that age Ted thought he could do absolutely anything but what happens then is we send them to school and our school system is so obsessed with conformity and measurement that all of the creativity that these children arrive with is just educated out of them Ken Robinson talks in his very famous TED talk about some research into creative thinking and lateral thinking and when children start you stall or elementary-school 97% of them are genius level lateral thinkers by the time they start secondary jazz by the time they leave primary school or elementary school that's down to just 43% so all of that creativity has been squeezed out of these children now for dyslexic kids dyslexic people we're hardwork hardwired for that so the chances are that still going to carry on through our education and certainly when we get out into the real world we're going to tap into that to do the extraordinary things that you've seen but if you're not dyslexic this is a really big problem because there's a plasticity in the brain it's just like a muscle if you don't use it it withers away and it's very very hard to get it back so we're letting this creativity wither away and all these amazing children so it's an important issue that we really need to address just bear with me for a moment if you let's all look around the room and have a think about something most of you will have a phone in your pocket meant many of you will have an iPhone as you just saw from the film Steve Jobs the inventor or creator of Apple was made by dyslexia so Johnny who dessert does all the amazing designs for the iPhone and some of you may well have come by car or certainly may well have a car at home Henry Ford who created the first car assembly line was made by dyslexia and the light bulbs that are shining down on us here Thomas Edison created the light bulb he was made by dyslexia so and and the other thing is that a GCHQ the British intelligence agency who actually keep our country safe from terrorists actually actively employ dyslexic people because of their different way of thinking in their different way of being able to solve things and create patterns so not only as dyslexic thinking created much of the modern world but it's also keeping us safe so just imagine if we were nurturing this type of intelligence just imagine what that could be doing in our future as we enter an age which is so exciting but so in uncertain as we enter the age of the fourth Industrial Revolution as it's now being called we're robots and artificial intelligence is going to take over a lot of what we do as jobs we have absolutely no idea what the job market is going to look like in one year five years or ten years what we do know and what experts are agreed on is that the type of intelligences that we need are the type of intelligences that dyslexics have the innovation the creativity the thinking out of the box so my big thought here is that why don't we instead of actually taking these brilliant dyslexic minds and squashing them into an education system that doesn't fit and cause them disabled or disadvantaged why don't we open up the education system why don't we teach all children the creativity and the innovation so they can actually learn to think like a dyslexic and that will help to make our future world [Applause]