Hugh Wallace: My dyslexia diagnosis gave me the confidence to say I’m gay

What a Difference a Day Makes: Architect and TV personality Hugh Wallace tells Helen O’Callaghan about the transformative effect on him of being diagnosed with dyslexia at 18 – and about the far-reaching impact on his career and self-esteem.

Hugh Wallace outside one of the original buildings at Sandford Park Secondary School where ha went to school. Photograph Moya Nolan

There were 23 boys in my class at Sandford Park School, Ranelagh, and I used to come 21st in everything.

I had huge spelling issues. For me, these things weren’t words or letters — they were shapes. I’d have to write a sentence I’d written wrong 100 times, which really didn’t do anything for me.