Raise the Volume: Dyslexia Journey, and Why Inclusive Learning Matters

A story about dyslexia, lived experience, and why learning needs to work for every brain.

This week is Dyslexia Awareness Week 2025, and the theme “Raise the Volume” is all about turning up the voices of people with dyslexia. The ones who’ve lived it, who know what it feels like, and who want things to be a little bit easier for the next generation.

At Neve Learning, inclusion isn’t something we pull out once a year for awareness weeks. It’s built into everything we do. Many of our team have lived experience of neurodiversity, including Kezia, who found out she has dyslexia at college. As part of her role driving Neve Learning’s marketing and communications, she ensures our mission of accessibility and inclusion is reflected in everything we put out.

Her dyslexia journey, alongside that of our CEO David Prentner-Smith, sums up what this week is really about: raising the volume on real experiences and using them to make lasting change.

“When I found the tools that worked for me, that’s what made the difference.”

Like so many people with dyslexia, Kezia’s school years were a bit of a mixed bag.

“I never saw myself as someone who might have dyslexia. At school, I could read well and I’d learned to work around the bits I found tricky. If I jumbled up letters, I’d go back and fix them before anyone noticed. But when I was assessed at college, it made sense. I understood why some things had always felt harder. With the right tools, things started to feel easier.”

That moment of realising it wasn’t about ability, it was about support, changed everything.

“When I got to university, tools like Grammarly and dictation software made studying so much easier. I wasn’t struggling anymore, I was just learning in my own way.”

Now, working at Neve Learning, those same kinds of tools help her do her job every day.

“AI helps me get what’s in my head onto the page. It’s not cheating, it’s just making things accessible. Why make life harder when the tools are there to help?”

Dyslexia doesn’t hold you back. Inaccessible systems do.

Kezia’s story is exactly why Neve Learning was created.

Our CEO, David Prentner-Smith, has talked a lot about growing up with dyslexia and how traditional learning environments never really worked for him either.

“Learning in school always felt like pushing uphill,” David said. “I’d put in more effort than anyone, only to fall short by the system’s standards. I thought I wasn’t smart, but I was just learning differently; no one ever said that.”

That experience, having to work twice as hard to fit into a system that wasn’t built for you, is what inspired Neve Learning in the first place.

Instead of asking learners to adapt to the platform, the platform adapts to the learner.

Learning that fits, not forces.

Neve Learning is built to work for all kinds of minds. Maybe that means joining a live session and following along with slides on your own device so you don’t lose your place, or listening to audio instead of reading, or dipping into bite-sized lessons when you need to focus in short bursts.

It’s flexible, personal, and made for real people, not imaginary “average” learners.

“It's so nice working for a company that’s doing something real for inclusion,” Kezia said. “Platforms like Neve Learning prove we don’t have to struggle anymore. It makes such a difference when something has been built from the ground up to include everyone.”

Raising the volume together

This Dyslexia Awareness Week, we’re raising the volume on voices that show what happens when people are given the right tools, understanding, and confidence to thrive.

Inclusive learning isn’t about giving people extra help. It’s about building spaces that work for everyone from the start.

Dyslexia doesn’t limit potential. Inaccessible systems do. This week, and every week, we’re raising the volume to change that.