Future pharmacist leaves dyslexia battles behind
‘‘I ACTUALLY can’t believe this is happening. It’s my dream.’’
After overcoming the challenges of dyslexia, Rebecca Mercer is about to graduate from the University of Otago with a bachelor of pharmacy degree and is preparing to start her dream job at the Bay of Plenty District Health Board in Tauranga next year.
The 28yearold is ecstatic about her achievements because her path to success has been full of hurdles.
She found secondary school ‘‘extremely difficult’’, and after leaving school she ended up spending several years doing welding and fabrication work for the Christchurch rebuild.
But what she really wanted to do was work in the health sector.
So when she was 20, she sought help from a psychologist, who officially diagnosed her with dyslexia and organised adult learning support.
‘‘They provided reading and writing tuition and all this extra stuff, and it made all the difference.’’
From there, she went back to secondary school and got all the chemistry and physics qualifications she needed to get into health sciences at the University of Otago.
The support continued at university and since then, she has thrived in academia, gaining nothing but A grades.
She is due to graduate with a bachelor of pharmacy degree on December 12, and ‘‘the icing on the cake’’ is that she has been offered a hospital internship at the Bay of Plenty District Health Board.
‘‘It’s almost like I don’t have a disability now. I don’t feel hindered in any way.
‘‘Looking back, it’s incredible how far I’ve come.
‘‘When I was in high school, if you were to tell me that I was going to graduate as a health professional, I wouldn’t have believed you.
‘‘I actually can’t believe this is happening. It’s my dream.’’
Miss Mercer is one of 65,000 adults engaged in some form of learning every year — all of whom celebrated the Festival of
Adult Learning Ahurei Akonga 2020 this week.
At the Festival of Learning award ceremony in Dunedin on Thursday night, Miss Mercer was awarded the Outstanding Adult Learner Award for her successes.
For those just discovering they have a learning difficulty, her advice was:
‘‘Don’t stop trying. Don’t give up on yourself. There is help out there that will make a huge difference in your life.’’