Worthing building will be lit up in purple and yellow lights to raise awareness of hidden language disorder

Sophie Franks, 42, was diagnosed with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) at the age of three.

DLD is a hidden, but common, disability that affects one in 14 people, causing difficulties understanding and using language for no known reason.

"My parents noticed that I wasn’t talking or making any sounds,” Sophie, from Worthing, said.

"Mum and dad took me to the doctors. Back then, it wasn’t called or classed as anything. It was known as a language impairment."

Sophie was supported by a language unit at a school in Worthing before moving to a boarding school in Surrey, which supports pupils with DLD.

But, upon leaving education, she feels she was just expected ‘to get on with it’.

"No one really knows what it means,” she said.

"For me, I find it hard progressing what I say to people. If there is too much information and big words, I can’t process it all.

"I have classed my brain as a book shelf. If there’s lots of books on the shelf, it gets messy when I get too much information and the books start flying off.

"I forget what I’ve been told and I have to keep being told. It causes bad short term memory and I’m very forgetful.

"I find word-finding hard, like we all do sometimes. But for me, it’s everyday and all the time.”

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Sophie said keeping her mind occupied and making notes around the house on whiteboards is a good way of managing the condition.

Now, she is urging employers to make extra allowances for people with the disorder.

She added: “It's a hidden condition. People don’t realise DLD goes into adulthood.

"It can be really hard in the workplaces. People can class you as being lazy if you have forgotten what you’ve told to do.

“There needs to be reasonable adjustments in the workplace and for people to understand what DLD is.

“I have struggled so much in the past, in workplaces. People don’t understand.

“They just see you as a lazy employee.”

Sophie said her aim is now for the people around her to understand, to get used to it and ‘understand what it means’.

“I have to keep explaining myself every time,” she said. “DLD is very common but not many people know about it.

“Three children in every mainstream class has DLD. It’s often undiagnosed so I was just lucky that my parents knew I was struggling and got me the help that I needed.”

In a bid to raise awareness, Sophie shared her story on social media and put out an appeal for a local Worthing building to be lit up.

Sarah Green, who owns The Venue in Chapel Road, responded and offered to light up the building in purple and yellow lights, on Friday, October 21 – one week after DLD Awareness Day (October 14).

On the same night, The Venue will be hosting the Portrait Artist of the Year competition and Sophie and her family will be joining as special guests to explain all about DLD.

The 2022 DLD-day theme is Growing with DLD, highlighting that the condition is lifelong and permanent.

According to Raising Awareness of Developmental Language Disorder (RADLD), people ‘do not grow out of’ DLD but with individualised supports –including regular speech-language therapy and educational adjustments – ‘they can thrive’.

The RADLD coordinates international DLD-days and is advocating for increased recognition and support for people with DLD across their lifespan.

RADLD chairman Stephen Parsons said: “People with DLD are six times more likely to suffer from anxiety and three times more likely to have clinical depression.

"They are also at significant risk of struggling with reading, spelling and mathematics.

"Although DLD is a common condition affecting many areas of life, people with DLD are unlikely to receive access to services.”

To learn more about DLD, visit www.dldandme.org.

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