So many years wasted, but now a teacher had recognized that there was a need for intervention. It was this recognition that led me to begin grade 9...at High School. It was a terrible school, and I was frustrated all the time. I simply could not do the work, and eventually gave up trying. Instead, I became involved in a very questionable social life that led me into a maze of deeper and deeper trouble. My mother attempted to tutor me at home, which helped me a little bit, but not enough that I would ever get a job.

There were meetings with my teachers and guidance councilor, but they only repeated the same old worn out explanation: "She could do the work if only she cared enough to try!" I did try...! tried very hard! But no matter how hard I tried, I just could not achieve anything.

Finally,my parents said that it wasn't fair to me to prolong this exercise in futility and they allowed me to leave school.

It took us three years of phone calls, meetings, evaluations, medical testing and a lot of heartache and tears before we finally found The Adult Learning Centre-Literacy Council York South. And now, for the very first time in my life, I feel like I am learning something. It is still difficult for me, but I am trying hard, and this time I know that I will be able to accomplish a happy and rewarding future for myself.

In 1999, the adult literacy council published an earlier version of "My Story" in their book, In Our Voices, and when I read it today, I can hardly believe that it was written by me. The spelling is dreadful, the punctuation almost non-existent; How far I have come in those five short years!

Now I am 24 years old, and I think that the greatest obstacle I have overcome is knowing...and accepting...my limitations and learning to live my life both around them, and in spite of them.