Dream job: Bestwood Village man shares incredible journey from dyslexia to becoming a paramedic

Richard Henton, aged 43, of Bestwood Village, was illiterate when he left school and was told by teachers he was not clever enough to join the ambulance service.

However, over the course of 10 years, he taught himself to read by going to football matches and then buying a paper the next day and reading from the back, learning based on knowing what had happened in the match.

The hard work has paid off and Richard is now a registered paramedic with EMAS.

He said: “I still can’t quite believe I have ‘paramedic’ on my epaulettes.

“It’s been the hardest, but the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, and I’m so grateful to everyone who has supported me to get here.”

When he left school, Richard got a job in the laundry room at Nottingham City Hospital.

He said: “I realised I couldn’t read any of the hospital signs, so I didn’t know where any of the laundry needed to go.

“I tried to match the symbols of the words to work it out, but it took me twice as long to get my work done – I knew I had to teach myself to read.”

After 12 years in the laundry, kitchen and logistics departments in the hospital, Richard became a porter.

And now, after working his way up through the ranks at the hospital and EMAS, Richard is now proud to say his is a paramedic.

He said: “No-one at EMAS wants you to fail and the education team, my crewmates and my managers have been so supportive of me all the way.

“I used to hate being me, but today I’m a registered paramedic and I feel 10 feet tall.”

An EMAS spokesma said: “Our service is committed to ensuring that we pro-actively advance equalities by ensuring an inclusive and supportive workplace, where employees with a disability or health condition are able to be open about their disabilities or condition and are valued as an individual for their skills and contribution to the organisation.

Anyone interested in working for EMAS should see emas.nhs.uk/join-the-team/working-for-emas/vacancies