A few things happened back in 2010 that sent my family down the path that it’s been on for the past six years. First, after hitting a wall with the school system in West Virginia, I wrote the governor’s office and his office intervened on my dyslexic son’s behalf. Second, while I was on my writing campaign to try to find help for my son, I received a response back from U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller’s Office, which helped me to understand that in order to change things for dyslexic students in West Virginia, I had to contact the state legislature.
2010:
2011:
I started writing every member of The WV House and Senate, a few called, some replied to my emails but most just ignored me. I tried to keep in contact with the representatives who called after receiving my communication, while trying to gain more access to the ones who responded only via email. It’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure a house representative by the name of Miller shared with me that he was passionate about helping children with autism and didn’t see any reason why dyslexia couldn’t be added to the interim study meetings they have. I wasn’t even quite sure how the state legislature operated so I emailed him again to see how the meetings went and he responded with an attached copy of House Concurrent Resolution No.66 which included dyslexia.
I started writing every member of The WV House and Senate, a few called, some replied to my emails but most just ignored me. I tried to keep in contact with the representatives who called after receiving my communication, while trying to gain more access to the ones who responded only via email. It’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure a house representative by the name of Miller shared with me that he was passionate about helping children with autism and didn’t see any reason why dyslexia couldn’t be added to the interim study meetings they have. I wasn’t even quite sure how the state legislature operated so I emailed him again to see how the meetings went and he responded with an attached copy of House Concurrent Resolution No.66 which included dyslexia.
2012:
I didn't know what, if anything was happening so I decided to research how the state legislature worked. I started my writing campaign again and our WV Senate Representative Unger responded with interest, that’s when he became a hero for my family and for all dyslexic children in West Virginia like Payne. Through many phone calls and emails he decided to introduce: WV Senate Bill 662, it was late in the session but at least it would start the conversation.
I didn't know what, if anything was happening so I decided to research how the state legislature worked. I started my writing campaign again and our WV Senate Representative Unger responded with interest, that’s when he became a hero for my family and for all dyslexic children in West Virginia like Payne. Through many phone calls and emails he decided to introduce: WV Senate Bill 662, it was late in the session but at least it would start the conversation.
From what I understood the bill wasn’t well received so an intern who had done the research for the bill wrote, “Reasons Why the WV Legislature Needs to Study Dyslexia Services” and shared the report with the representatives. WV Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 66 was then introduced.
We then learned how to request a state proclamation which would help to raise awareness:
2013:
We continued to maintain contact with Senator Unger by sharing our son’s experiences and he introduced Senate Bill No. 111.
I started writing the WV House again because we needed to look for someone on that side of the legislature and House Delegate Kump introduced: House Concurrent Resolution No. 119.
We contacted Governor Tomblin’s Office about another Dyslexia Awareness Month Proclamation:
We talked to the local newspaper.
Next, we went to Washington D.C. to visit Congresswoman Capito to see if she would join the U.S. Bipartisan Dyslexia Caucus which was started in 2012 because we weren’t having any luck with phone calls and emails. She listened to our story and our son’s experiences and decided to join, becoming West Virginia’s first congressional member on the caucus. By the way, don’t judge the hair, we were running across D.C. to make the meeting on time because we found ourselves lost.
In the summer of 2013 we finally met with Senator Unger and he got to meet and speak with Payne. He agreed to our request of introducing three smaller bills instead of one big dyslexia bill which would be introduced in 2014. I'll post the bill pictures in the 2014 section.
Also, in the summer of 2013, Representative Jason Barrett was our new house representative and he responded favorably to my email about helping dyslexic students like our son and agreed to meet and talk. We met at another representative’s law office which was the district next to ours, Delegate Skinner. Representative Barrett introduced House Bill 4608 during the 2014 session which was signed into law. I’ll post a picture of that in the 2014 section.
Due to a job opportunity we moved to North Carolina in the fall but since we moved before October, we decided to contact North Carolina Governor McCrory’s Office to see if his office would also proclaim October, “Dyslexia Awareness Month.” They agreed.
We thought we’d give the mayor’s office a call to see if they would follow Governor McCrory and approve a dyslexia proclamation because after all you never know until you ask.
We talked to the local paper.
2014:
Our meeting with NC Representatives Lambeth and Conrad was at the beginning of the year to share our story because the misunderstanding of dyslexia doesn’t stop at the state line. Legislation would be introduced but not until 2015 due to NC's long and short legislative cycles. Meanwhile, we waited with great hope, to see if all the work we did while living in West Virginia for our son and children like him would be followed through. Senator Unger introduced: Senate Bill No. 410, SB No. 412 and SB 413.
Meeting with Reps. Lambeth and Conrad:
WV Senate Bill No. 410, WV SB No. 412 and WV SB 413:
WV House Delegate Barrett introduced HB 4608 which made its way through the legislature and was signed into law by Governor Tomblin.
In the summer we met with U.S. Senator Burr's Office to talk about dyslexia and the need for more awareness.
That summer, Neil and I also trained to become Volunteer IEP Partners for North Carolina’s Exceptional Children’s Assistance Center, to help support parents just like us with their children’s IEP Meetings.
In the fall, I trained with ReadWS to become an Augustine Literacy Project Tutor. I get to go right into the public school system to work with children who struggle with reading, just like my son. I’m very proud to be a part of this program.
These are all the wonder tutors I trained with:
Contacted the Governor’s Office again for a proclamation:
Called the mayor’s office again:
Since we live right on the city line we decided to call just to see if we could keep spreading awareness:
2015:
North Carolina House Bill No. 420 was introduced. As soon as it was introduced, I wrote all house members and asked other parents to do the same to request that they support the bill and it ended up with about 25 cosponsors. I thought that was great for the first time around. Our district had appointed a new senator, Senator Paul Lowe Jr. so we contacted him to see if he would help dyslexic students and he agreed and introduced Senate Bill No. 439. The bills didn’t move in the legislature but at least started the conversation about dyslexia.
We talked to the paper about the bills.
Proclamations.
We talked to the local paper about dyslexia awareness.
This has been our journey so far. We’re not a political family so we will talk to anyone that will take the time to listen. If you had a chance to read my last blog in which I interviewed my dyslexic son, One Student. One Voice, you will understand why we have done all the work listed above. It’s not because we were bored and had nothing else to do, it’s because we want to change the story for the students who follow our son.
This is important, tiring and frustrating work and it’s worth more than a paycheck.
That's our story. What's yours?
That's our story. What's yours?