🎙️ Thick No More – Season 1 Finale with Katherine Perry
This week marks the end of Season 1 of Thick No More and it couldn’t be wrapped up by anyone more fitting than Katherine Perry. Katherine is a dynamic leader, strategist, and advocate whose personal story of growing up with dyslexia and dyscalculia has shaped a career dedicated to accessibility, inclusion, and challenging stigma.
She’s best known for her time as CEO of BATA (the British Assistive Technology Association), where she drove forward conversations about assistive technology, policy, and real-world change for learners and workers with diverse needs. But behind the leadership title is a deeply personal story of childhood struggles, red crosses on the page, messages of “not being good enough,” and the long journey from stigma to strength.
In this episode, Katherine and I go deep into:
✨ Early school years – the first moments she felt different in the classroom, the shame tied to red pens and marks, and how those experiences planted both coping strategies and scars.
✨ Diagnosis in the 90s – what it was like to be assessed for dyslexia and dyscalculia at a time when many teachers still denied these differences even existed, and how early interventions shaped her path.
✨ Home life and the word “thick” – the messages about intelligence and achievement she absorbed, the echoes of her father’s unrecognised dyslexia, and what she would gently say to parents today in similar situations.
✨ Breaking cycles of shame – we discuss the idea that “hurt people hurt people” and how unhealed experiences of dyslexic shame can ripple through generations unless we confront, heal, and reshape the narrative.
✨ Tools vs. culture – why assistive technology alone is never enough without cultural change in schools and workplaces. Katherine explains what it really takes to help people thrive: safety, kindness, and environments free from humiliation.
✨ Living with dyscalculia – often less understood than dyslexia, Katherine opens up about how it has affected her life and the strategies she’s developed to work around it.
✨ Redefining worth – why intelligence does not equal value, and what healthier measures of “success” could look like for both children and adults.
✨ Performance anxiety – the triggers Katherine has faced, how over-prepping can backfire, and what genuinely helps her when it’s time to step up and speak.
✨ A message to late or undiagnosed adults – for listeners still masking, copying, and quietly exhausted, Katherine offers one kind, practical step to take today.
And of course, we end with the question every guest answers: What does “Thick No More” mean to you? Katherine’s answer is powerful, challenging, and rooted in the belief that words like “thick” are not just outdated labels, but slurs that our community deserves to throw out once and for all.
This is not just a conversation about dyslexia or dyscalculia it’s about shame, resilience, community, and reclaiming identity. It’s about recognising that “worth ≠ grades,” and that no one should have to carry labels that diminish their potential.
As we close Season 1, I want to thank Katherine for her honesty, her courage, and her leadership. I also want to thank all of you the parents, educators, tech leaders, and countless listeners around the world who have joined this journey. Your messages, shares, and stories prove one thing: we are not alone.
Thick No More. No labels. No limits.
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Preregister at arenova.app before October 13th to enter the prize draw to win a mystery retro football shirt
(And if you’re posting on LinkedIn, it would be amazing if you could tag @arenova.app so people can find us easily )
Find Katherine Perry on Linkedin
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