Every year, we run our Mark it Read campaign during October for Dyslexia Awareness Month. Throughout the month, the Dyslexia Canada team, volunteers, and community members work hard to raise awareness of dyslexia by lighting up buildings and moments across the nation, requesting proclamations from towns, cities, and provinces, and wearing red at school or workplaces.
Earlier this year, we welcomed our young ambassadors to the Dyslexia Canada team. They joined Mark it Read in a variety of ways and in this blog post, we share how our young ambassadors raised awareness of dyslexia and inspired others to speak up and out about the learning difference.
Maggie Berk
Maggie is a student at Cape Breton University (CBU). Maggie requested CBU to light their sign up red. On the night of the lighting, Maggie visited the sign and shared a photo on social media in support of dyslexia awareness.
Maggie shared other images on social media too, proudly sharing the new Mark it Read shirt as well as marking the first day of Mark it Read 2021 - the 4th annual national awareness-raising campaign!
CBU got further involved in Mark it Read by posting some of our informational posters on social media. They also handed out Mark it Read bookmarks at their library and shared an educational video featuring our board member, Sandra Jack-Malik.
Henry Bates
In the lead-up to October, Henry talked to his classmates and teacher about organizing a red shirt day at school. This sparked lots of inspiration amongst the students. Below is a message from Henry’s teacher, Natalie.
“The students talked a lot with Henry, watched videos, and did some research online to better understand dyslexia as many had not heard of it before. Your campaign, It’s Hard to Read, was really eye-opening for the students. From there, they decided that before they could plan the red shirt day at school, they wanted to educate the other classes about dyslexia. Due to COVID-19 procedures, they couldn’t go into different classrooms and so they created a website to share the information. They created videos explaining what dyslexia is, they made google slides, they created a video game where students learnt about dyslexia and they also put links to your website.
Following this, they made a catchphrase and they used this catchphrase ‘Rouge pour la dyslexie’ to create awareness posters that they put up around the school. They also made bracelets for every student in the school as they wanted to ensure that all the students could participate, even the ones that didn’t have a red item of clothing.
The class let the community know that for every red shirt worn, a dollar would be donated by Henry’s family. The event was an incredible success. The discussions that were heard throughout the school were very positive and it was a very engaging and eye-opening experience for the students.”
Outside of School, Henry recorded a podcast with Dyslexia Canada and helped us create a video for social media encouraging members of the public to visit www.markitread.org.
Eva
October was a very busy month for Eva! She worked hard to raise awareness for the Mark it Read campaign. Eva and her mom worked together to send messages asking for support to the school district, local towns and cities, fire departments, police stations, libraries, city markets, and more. Eva also worked with her resource teacher at school and came up with a team of kids with dyslexia and they worked on activities for the school. They had a red shirt day, they had videos played in classrooms about dyslexia, and they had their pictures posted around the school with words that read “I have dyslexia and I am proud.”
During October, Eva went to the town halls of Quispamsis and Rothesay New Brunswick and met with each Mayor. They talked about dyslexia and had photos taken that were shared on social media. Eva also visited the fire station and the fire fighters lit up a truck in red for Mark it Read and shared the lighting on social media.
Eva and her mom shared a lot on social media throughout October. Eva made a video encouraging people to visit the Mark it Read webpage and told everyone she was speaking out about her dyslexia. She also recorded a podcast with Dyslexia Canada, she was interviewed by the local newspaper and she did a virtual visit with a grade 4 class answering all of their questions about dyslexia.
Eva told her mom she feels like kids are looking up to her and she is helping them to advocate for themselves. She has learned so much about herself, and how important it is to speak out about issues that are important by having the opportunity to be a young ambassador for Dyslexia Canada.
We’d like to thank our young ambassadors for their hard work and dedication not only to Mark it Read but to Dyslexia Canada’s mission, ensuring every child in Canada has equitable access to education.