A woman with dyslexia who has gone on to become an award-winning writer and host her own poetry shows is hoping her story will inspire others like her.

Sam Rapp, from Halling – who performs under the name The Dyslexic Poet – speaks openly about her struggles with dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia in a bid to encourage others living with the same conditions to follow their dreams.

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty which leads to problems with reading, writing and spelling; dyspraxia is a co-ordination disorder which affects movement and co-ordination and dyscalculia is difficulty understanding numbers.

Sam described secondary school as a nightmare where her "peers didn't bully me – the system bullied me".

She was put in classes with children with behaviour problems as she struggled with reading, writing and understanding maths.

One of the things Sam had to do was read and spell in front of her class, and she dreaded it.

She said: "I felt the world was looking at me, and I was this tiny ant. I could read and write at my own pace and use a finger to read a book and follow the lines, but I felt completely demeaned in class."

At 15, Sam was told that she could not enter any exams because of her dyslexia.

She said: "I thought I was stupid because if that is what you're told for so long, you start to believe it."

Outside school, things weren't much easier. Her parents divorced, she left school with no qualifications, was left unemployed and had no money.

At 18, she became homeless and did not have much hope for the future.

After countless job rejections and interviews telling her she wouldn’t "amount to much", her self-esteem was extremely low.

But the Medway resident's luck started to change when a writer's group approached her at the kitchen she worked in at the time, asking her to perform her poetry at the Brighton Festival.

Intrigued by the flow of poems, she had joined a writing workshop, and they had heard a piece she'd penned called People.

When people clapped when she performed for the first time, she was shocked.

Sam said: “This was the first time I had confidence because before, my self-esteem was so low that I had a mental breakdown."

Since then, she has gone on to write, perform and do public speaking nationally and internationally.

“Everyone should be treated equally”

Sam finds it helpful to have an orange overlay on screens when she reads as sometimes the words move about, and she gets certain letters like P and B the wrong way round.

When writing poems to publishers, she said they initially have a lot of spelling mistakes and the order is all wrong.

She said: "Now, before I submit my work I say that I have dyslexia and to please forgive me for the order of the poem."

She has won awards for her poetry and plays published in her debut book “Rant: Dyslexic Me" in 2018.

The poems she performs aim to highlight and challenge the perceptions about hidden disabilities.

She has also been chairman of the Dyslexia House Association in Medway but is stepping down after three years.

Her success also led her to perform her show, “The Amazing Dyslexic Poetry Show”, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Sam hopes people will spot the signs of dyslexia instead of judging others.

She said: "Someone may struggle to read and make spelling mistakes or may be interested in working visually."

She said she also found it interesting – when working with children via a literacy charity which went into schools, and another role with Chatham library – how sometimes parents struggle to see the signs.

Sam recalls someone saying they punished their child because they thought they weren't doing well in school. When the parent attended a dyslexia conference, she realised her child had dyslexia.

Sam continues to be an advocate for people with disabilities.

She said: “I am an advocate because I look at all disabilities, whether it is dyslexia, non-visible disabilities or physical disabilities.

“Everyone should be treated equally.”

That advocacy has seen her become an ambassador for Medway Disability Action which supports those with disabilities. She does presentations for them and reads poetry to raise awareness on dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and more.

Sam was recently guest speaker at a virtual Let's Get Chatty event – a community-based get-together for people to support each other – talking about her struggles with dyslexia and reading her poetry.

She said: "It doesn't matter what you bring to the table, this world is for everyone to be in."