About this Short Film
The film “Step Into My Footprints- Dyslexia” invites viewers to experience one man's perspective of living with dyslexia. Through a simple reading exercise, audiences are encouraged to read a series of words before hearing them spoken by a man with dyslexia, offering a glimpse into some of the challenges that can accompany reading. The film then explores his personal journey, sharing how he manages stress by spending time feeding ducks at a local river and how he has built a successful life with a career as a tradesman, a home and a car. Rather than focusing on limitations, the film celebrates resilience, practical coping strategies and the importance of recognising ability beyond disability. It encourages young people living with dyslexia to believe that they can achieve meaningful, independent and fulfilling lives.
Film Details
Film Transcript
And so we... and so we reached the old—I can't even get that thing together. "Ei"—next letter, next. What's the next word? I'll try again. E I E E I E I. I can't do it. It's "eight." My brain's not getting it together. I can see all the letters but I can't get the letters to come together to make the word. I can read the letters individually, so it's E I G H T, but I can't get the letters to come together at all. It doesn't want to bring them together in the brain. The brain's not computing how it comes together. It doesn't want to make the sound. I can see that it's the word "eight" now, but to try and bring the letters together, it doesn't want to come together.
E N O U G H. So the GH sound is pronounced like F. Had you ever heard of how the GH sounds can sometimes sound like an F? I haven't ever been able to understand how the letters come together to make the different sounds in English literature.
So what would you say to a school child that was suffering from dyslexia themselves?
There are still a lot of different opportunities out there to get yourself into a trade. As I'm a qualified trade worker myself, I do have a proper job as anyone else would. I still own my own house. I still have my own car. I even have my own income and am quite self-dependent on just about everything, really. Having dyslexia can be quite stressful. There are different ways that different people cope with stress. For myself, I find it quite calming to walk down to the local river and feed the ducks.
Filmmaker
Natalie Loxton is the filmmaker behind this entry. See every Focus on Ability entry from Natalie Loxton.
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