This Morning’s Holly Willoughby praised for ‘powerful’ comments on dyslexia as it’s ‘still often misunderstood’

Holly Willoughby has been praised for her ‘powerful’ comments about her experience with dyslexia on This Morning.

The presenter and her co-star Phillip Schofield welcomed student William Carter onto the show, who couldn’t read or write by the age of 13 and was diagnosed with severe dyslexia by a specialist.

She spoke about her own ‘turning point’ with dyslexia, revealing that all it took was to find one person who could help her ‘access the tools she needed’.

The British Dyslexia Association has since spoken out on the ‘powerful’ segment, pointing out that many viewers will relate to Holly’s experience.

Nick Posford, CEO, British Dyslexia Association told Metro.co.uk: ‘It’s really helpful when well-known people talk honestly about their experience of dyslexia. It helps others who may be struggling, and shows them things can get better.

‘Many people with dyslexia will relate to Holly Willoughby’s powerful comments about the difficulties she faced and the emotions she felt. One in 10 people are dyslexic, but far too many young people leave school without a formal diagnosis which can impact their future.

‘As it was for Holly, often the turning point is having a diagnostic assessment for dyslexia where someone’s particular strengths and weaknesses can be identified, and they can then get appropriate support.

‘Dyslexia is still often misunderstood and the positives to thinking differently are overlooked.

‘Holly’s personal experience and William’s inspirational story will help increase understanding of dyslexia and that with the right support, the strengths and talents of dyslexic people can really shine.

‘It is essential that every dyslexic child and adult should have access to support.’

Holly, 40, said on the show: ‘Dyslexia is such a broad spectrum, people have so many different forms of it.’

She added: ‘I’m dyslexic also and I had to find my own tool kit and for me it was finding somebody that understood this who could teach me how to access those tools because at school it wasn’t really that well known then.

‘But when I went to college, there was one lady in particular I remember and she gave me so much advice and for me that was my turning point.’

It’s not the first time the presenter has spoken out about being dyslexic, with her previously explaining that it can affect her presenting on the morning show.

She told Red magazine: ‘I’ve struggled with dyslexia since I was young and it used to hold me back. At school, reading out loud absolutely terrified me because I’d get all the words wrong and I was convinced everybody thought I was stupid.

‘It still happens now – most of the mistakes I make on This Morning are because of it, but it doesn’t do what it did to me back then because I don’t let it have power.

‘I now know that it’s all about how you package it in your head.’

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