The Japan Dyslexia Society, known as NPO EDGE, exists to promote understanding of dyslexia and to raise funds to help support patients. Recently EDGE organized in Tokyo a charity exhibition of the drawings, sculptures and silk-screen works of Mackenzie Thorpe, an English artist. The recognition of his work, he believes, is "a tribute to the creativity within us all." His art is a tool that he uses to encourage awareness in all children of their ability to fulfill their dreams. Thorpe, the kind of Yorkshireman often described as bluff and hearty, is dyslexic.
Although his grandfather, father and one brother were dyslexic, Thorpe says that in his childhood his affliction went unrecognized. "At school I was called lazy and stupid," he said. "Nobody understood me. And I didn't even know what it was they couldn't understand. When I was about 11, I saw 'Lust for Life,' the film about van Gogh. I really identified with him, especially in the scene where everyone was shouting at him, making fun of him. "
Art was his refuge. "I've always drawn," he said. "When I drew, I went into my own world. My father was a laborer with no trade nor qualifications. I was the oldest of seven children, living in a council house with no luxuries. I spent my time getting cigarette packets, unwrapping them, flattening them and drawing on them. I left school at 15. I couldn't get any qualifications because of my dyslexia. I did all sort of jobs. I worked on ships up and down the River Tees. I was often on the dole. It was a bad time for me, and I was really unhappy."