John Brennan: How one good teacher recognised my dyslexia and changed my life

I see my shortcomings in the field of literacy as an opportunity to explore these alternative ways of communicating — but I would still love to have a chat with Bill Gates about ways of improving his spell-check program!

Hotelier John Brennan has published a memoir — ‘My Name is Jhon: An Atypical Story of Success’. Picture: Barry Murphy Photography

The assistance my mother had been praying for came in the form of a new schoolteacher from West Cork.

Looking back now, I realise he and I were a bit alike — for a country boy coming to teach in such a suburban school, he, too, was a fish out of water. And perhaps that is what connected us. Whatever it was, after a couple of weeks of gentle coaxing, all of which failed, he looked me in the eye, pulled on the bit of a beard he had, and something clicked.