In 1994 at the age of 39 I was diagnosed by the former director of the Dyslexia Institute, now Dyslexia Action with both atypical abilities and serious learning disabilities: a reading age of 13 years and spelling age of 8 years but with a supposed intellectual ability higher than 89% of my peers, the discrepancy between my apparent intellectual ability and literacy underlining the extent of my severe dyslexia.
After the diagnoses, everything suddenly made sense… It explained why, as an autistic child, I’d always been socially excluded and bullied! At school, some teachers abused me, others would thrash me to the point of drawing blood.
What was not diagnosed in 1994 was that I also had High-functioning autism (now referred to as ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
School Days.
My ASD and ADHD have been both a blessing and a curse, giving an intense focus for electronics and motorsport but also a compulsive additive nature that has very often been misunderstood by people.
I was educated at St Christopher’s School Hove and then as a boarder at Shoreham Grammar School. My school life was traumatic, being regularly beaten by teachers to the point of drawing blood and socially excluded and bullied by fellow pupils.
Special Interests
I left school at the age of 15 without formal qualifications but typical of an autistic kid, I was highly focused in specialist areas… things like electronics, motor racing and horses.
By age of 18 I had established my own electronics company. The Company rapidly expanded and by the age of 20, occupied a 5000 square foot factory in Portslade. By that point I was employing around 30 assembly workers, manufacturing smoke detection systems for the fire and security industry.
The Lynx Smoke detector
In 1979 I designed and began mass production of the first low cost, low emission, ionization smoke detector, the Lynx. But by that point I was getting bored with electronics and a few months later I walked away from my electronics Company to focus on another childhood dream… to become a racing driver!
Racing Career…. before the BJS!
John Bartlett 