Degree gained against all the odds (From Barry And District News)

Degree gained against all the odds

A BARRY man has overcome dyslexia to achieve a university degree in psychology.

Darren Jones, 34, of Heritage Drive, was this week awarded a 2:1 bachelor of science degree in psychology from the University of Glamorgan and is now on his way to becoming a criminal psychologist.

Darren left St Cadoc's Comprehensive School at the age of 16 without any formal qualifications.

Darren said: "I was what was known as an Easter leaver. I did not sit exams because I felt at the time as though they were beyond me.

"I had given up. I felt cast aside but deep down I knew I wasn't stupid. I ended up going into catering but I was always fascinated by psychology. It just seemed as thought there were too many obstacles in the way to even consider working in the field.

"I'm sure like me lots of people take the easy option and end up doing jobs which don't fulfil them."

Darren signed up for an access course at Barry College as a mature student to gain entry to university.

The course took two years to complete part-time.

Darren said: "I didn't realise I was dyslexic until I was at Barry College. I would like to say thank you to the staff members in the English and access departments for the support they gave me in coping with it.

"Once I was aware what the problem was I could develop my own strategies to deal with the dyslexia.

"I would give myself extra time to go over material slowly and used specialist software to help with spelling. I think an important thing is not being afraid to ask for help."

Up to 10 percent of the UK population have dyslexia, with around 2 million people in the UK severely affected. Famous people with dyslexia include Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and actor Tom Cruise.

Sufferers of dyslexia are people of normal intelligence who have significant and persistent problems with reading, writing, spelling and sometimes mathematics.