A Government minister has revealed that she has been diagnosed with dyslexia.
In the Commons on Monday, Cabinet Office minister Penny Mordaunt explained she was told she had severe dyslexia last summer.
In 2018, Health Secretary Matt Hancock spoke about his own dyslexia diagnosis, explaining that he did not realise he was dyslexic until attending Oxford University.
During a general debate on Covid-19, Ms Mordaunt told MPs of her diagnosis in response to concerns about those with learning disability unable to access school raised by Conservative MP Tom Hunt (Ipswich).
He said: “One plea, one specific point, would be when we are thinking about the catch-up strategy, that there is particular attention paid to those with special educational needs.
“Yes, those who have been ineligible to come in and have an EHC (education, health and care) plan, but also those who don’t, those who maybe have dyslexia and dyspraxia, and who have actually been severely negatively impacted by closure of schools.
“No one child’s experience has been the same, some have actually done okay through home learning, but some have struggled immensely and some of those children have had dyslexia and some of them have had dyspraxia.”
Responding in the debate, Ms Mordaunt said: “(Mr Hunt) pointed to the plight of people with a learning disability who are having to not be in a school setting, I have huge sympathy with this.
“This summer, at the age of 47, I was diagnosed with very serve dyslexia and I know that distance learning, working from home, can really exacerbate those difficulties.”
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