Software that respects privacy

My journey into programming started remarkably young. In 1995, at school, I wrote my first app — a 16-line QBASIC program on Windows 3.1 on my Compaq Contura Aero 4/33C laptop. That tiny program randomized lottery numbers, and it taught me something crucial: I could build things, even if my brain worked differently from others.

That Compaq Aero? I still have it today. It's not just a keepsake — it's a reminder of where it all started. Sometimes I power it on just to see that blinking cursor, and I'm right back there, figuring out that code actually makes sense once you stop fighting your own mind.

That early access to a laptop mattered more later. I attended a specialist dyslexic school that was among the first in the UK to let students use laptops in exams. This was groundbreaking at the time. Teachers understood something that research would later confirm: people with dyslexia often produce significantly better work when using technology, because laptops remove the barrier between what we know and what we can physically write down (assistive technology). When I could type instead of write, my grades changed. My confidence changed. Suddenly, what was in my head could actually get out of my head.

I'm dyslexic. Learning code has been difficult, just as learning another language would be. But I've never used that as an excuse, and I'm telling anyone reading this with learning difficulties: you can achieve anything. Let no one tell you otherwise.

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