As a published author with a degree in English, 33-year-old Tom Williams has achieved more than many people will in a lifetime. What makes those achievements more impressive is that he's dyslexic. At school Tom, who has worked as a literary agent and now has a full-time job with a digital publishing company, would often find keeping up in lessons so tiring that he would fall asleep. "I found it quite frustrating that everybody else had neat handwriting and could spell and I just couldn't do what they could," says Tom, who has written a respected biography of crime writer Raymond Chandler. It wasn't until the age of 17 that he was given a test for dyslexia that showed why he'd struggled for so long. He was always studying for A-levels including English. "My teacher didn't think I'd get the grades I was capable of," he says. "So she pushed for me to be tested and I'm grateful that she did." Until his diagnosis Tom had been ranked somewhere in the middle of his classes at school. He couldn't understand why assignments would come back covered in red ink. However, after Tom's diagnosis, when his condition began to be taken properly into account, he found himself at the top of the class. To study English well, he wrote down new words as he came across them and tried to find somewhere quiet and well lit to read and write. He says people were often surprised that someone with dyslexia wanted to pursue a degree in English. Similarly, when he went to study at University College London, the tutors were initially taken aback at his degree choice. Not everyone understands dyslexia so well. "If teachers aren't trained to recognize signs of dyslexia, they'll think children are less able," he says. To make sure that doesn't happen and to encourage a deeper understanding of the condition among those affected by it, Tom becomes a supporter of the charity Dyslexia Action. Dyslexia Action is intended to     .
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