The author is an experienced senior school leader managing the special needs provision in a mainstream school in London UK. As a young boy with undiagnosed dyslexia, he had a troubled experience at school. The diagnosis finally came at 13 years old, not from the school but privately, as the pleas from his mother were constantly dismissed by headteachers. Struggling academically at school, he found he was good at art, so he left at 16 years old for art college and a long career in graphic design. He was convinced that any child of his would also have dyslexia, so at 30, he began to research dyslexia with the aim of home-educating them. However, none of his four children have any dyslexic traits. At 40, he changed careers and retrained as a teacher, with the sole purpose of affecting change in schools so those with dyslexia would not suffer as he did. Over the last five years, he has sought out experts as he has been astounded by the lack of support for students with ADHD in schools and the discriminatory behaviour policies that school use.

Researching and writing his 2023 book, Dyslexia, Neurodiversity, and Crime, he aimed to trace and confront the 'school-to-prison-pipeline'.