Success story: Shannon, adult learner

“I struggled early on in life. Being born premature at 27 weeks just weighing 530grams and then dropping to 480grams. I had suffered a brain haemorrhage.

I was the 5th smallest baby born in Queensland, Australia at the time that did not have physical or substantial intellectual disabilities. I do however have a learning disability which made it hard for me at school. I struggled a lot with learning throughout my life and eventually put my learning on the back burner. It became too hard, I just couldn’t understand some of the basic maths and English. I only knew little maths and some English, I had a teacher call me dumb and said I wasn’t a pleasure to work with or help. Any confidence I had was gone. I became withdrawn from school and thought I must just be dumb.

Later on in life I came to the conclusion that I would just have to continue as I had been.

I started volunteering at the Clarence Plains Child and Family Centre which is where I heard about the 26Ten program. I have been asked to become a community champion leader for the program. I decided to give learning another go and signed up. Through the program I’ve gained more skills and more confidence with my maths and English. I’ve also learnt that with the right support it’s possible to learn again.”