Marcus Farr, aged 36, had severe dyslexia throughout his childhood. He was removed from mainstream education and forced to believe that he was mentally retarded and he lost all belief in himself.
Marcus had always been verbally intelligent but everything went wrong when he tried to put things down on paper. Although he had help throughout his schooling, his reading, spelling and writing abilities were terrible. At the age of eleven Marcus was moved from Primary School to a 'special school' which was in fact more for children with Down's syndrome and global development delay! This was terribly difficult to take as he was treated as 'stupid' and he not only started believing but began to act it too.
Marcus lost all his friends and became terribly unhappy in fact he totally 'gave up'. He was so embarrassed at his academic underachievement that he used to 'pretend' to read a book and would do anything to get out of doing work. His behaviour deteriorated and he became frustrated, angry and rebellious which resulted in totally inappropriate behaviour which ended up with him getting into trouble.
Marcus left school at sixteen, with very few friends; he spent the next seven years unemployed. His self esteem was at rock bottom, still trying to hide his dyslexia, he was so scared of being 'found out' that this put him off even trying to look for a job. He desperately wanted to be 'normal' but could never bring himself to admit to anyone else that he had dyslexia and it was ruining his life. He even got to the point of feeling suicidal.
The broadcast of Tonight with Trevor McDonald: Dyslexia: the Miracle Cure in 2002 made Marcus realise that he wasn’t alone; he felt exactly the same as Susie Dore!
Marcus believes that "Dore has changed my life 100 per cent"; when he began the programme he was amazed that 'everything was becoming easier.'
His confidence and his self esteem just grew and grew. For the first time in his life he "felt he wasn’t stupid and that in fact he was actually quite clever!" He started applying for jobs and for the first time in his life he felt confident enough to admit that he was dyslexic!
Marcus’s proud mother said, "Since the Dore programme you wouldn’t guess that he was dyslexic. He is now a confident, independent and happy young man whose communication and attitude is brilliant, added to which he has energy for life that’s what I’d always wished for him."
Marcus has now been married for six months and his wife (who interestingly is a special needs teacher herself) is expecting their first child in August. Marcus said, "If she had met me before I had done the Dore Programme she would have hated the kind of person I was!"