The story of Laura
I was born on 1st september 1991 with polydactyl – extra flappy finger on left hand and extra crossed over toe on right foot, both cut off at birth. I was larger as a kid and was bullied aged 6 by my teachers daughter for who I was and the way I looked. At school and as a kid I struggled making friends, slow processing, poor at english and couldn’t write a sentence until year 7, fell off back of stage in year 4 and in secondary school fell down the stairs countless amounts of times. Maths saved me as it was something logical and made sense to me. I enjoyed helping my friends with homework and explaining things. For 27 years of my life I thought I was weird and different and in January 2018 I was diagnosed with bbs1 and I finally understood who I am. I have retinitis pigmentosa, rod degeneration, struggle with trusting people and for a long amount of my life judged for who I am. I have been through many struggles and challenges in life, been through a few mental breakdowns, been thrown under a bus in a previous job. I have been teaching maths in secondary school since 2016 and my current school I joined in 2020 is where I am happiest, have learnt the most, can be myself and my department and school want to learn from me and help where they can. I never want my disability or rare condition to define me or anyone to be my carer. Every day is a challenge and I just want to help, encourage the next generation and everyday is a new learning day.