JK Rowling

by John Skivel

Dreamy, anxious, shy, withdrawn, no good at sports or metal work, bullied  at school. Sounds like the profile of a typical dyspraxic/ ND person. In fact it describes JK Rowling creator of the mega successful Harry Potter books.

My interest in the connection between JK and dyspraxia was first sparked by a thread on the Dyspraxia yahoo mailing list. Someone wondered if JK was dyspraxic because on TV interviews, JK’s posture and mannerisms seemed to resemble those of a  dyspraxic.

So I decided to do some research to see and look further into the connection. I would like to point out that everything in this article is public information, much of it has come from JK herself, so I am not intruding on anyone’s privacy. 

JK went to Tutshill  Primary School near the Forest of Dean. On her first day she did badly in an arithmetic test and was put in the ’dunces’ side of the class. She worked hard and graduated to the ‘bright’ side of the room.  Readers of the series will know that Harry has to undergo a sorting hat ordeal to decide which house to place him in.

The idea for that came from the test that JK had to endure.

She was considered clever at school ‘above average’ but hated the annual sports day and also the compulsory country dancing. She was a great reader and used to write stories which she would read to her friends.

She has often been compared to the character,Hermione, in the books.

JK herself says:

“Hermione was based almost entirely on myself at the age of 11. Like her I was obsessed with achieving academically but this masked a huge insecurity”. Like Hermione, JK was always the first to put her hand up to answer questions in class. ‘I did relax as I got older which was a good thing ,although I was and am still, a worrier’

There was one big difference between the two- Hermione, unlike JK, never failed a test at school. It is Harry Potter who projects the insecurities of JK. It’s Harry who has a hard time from Professor Snape, Harry who worries about exams and for who the sorting hat dithers about what house to put him in. So there is as much JK in Harry as there is in Hermione.

As a young teenager at Wyedean Comprehensive, JK encountered chemistry master John Nettleship, on whom she modelled Professor Snape. JK did not shine at chemistry and was often singled out by Nettleship for special questioning. It was something she had never forgotten and the scenes in the book where a squirming Harry is routinely humiliated by Professor Snape are based on her these experiences.

JK later said :

“I understand from a teachers point of view that its easy to be a bully but its also the worst shabbiest thing you can do”.

As well as bullying from teachers JK found herself on the receiving end of bullying from some fellow pupils. This can be seen in the books through the character of Draco Malfoy, the Hogwarts bully.

JK in describing her time at the school said:

“My least favourite subject was metalwork. I am not a practical person …it seemed to be all about hammering stuff until it broke. I did try but I just could not do it. I was terrible at woodwork too and dreadful at sports but I did like swimming”.

However, in English, JK,  shone with her creative writing. Her teacher did not know it but she already had secret plans to become a writer. In her last year at school she was made Head girl and did well in her A’ levels.

She went on to study modern languages at the University of Exeter where she regularly lost her handouts, was erratic in attending lectures, and  in her first year was late in registering for exams. She also ran up large fines for overdue library books.

She left with a respectable if average  2:2 degree. JK recalls that on leaving Exeter one lecturer described her as: “ sleepwalking around the place”.

A lecturer commented that JK worked better in subjects that demanded greater personal involvement from her which is probably why her best piece of work was a 3000 word dissertation in her final year. That is something I can relate to. With a dissertation you have control and can do things your way which  I find I like, and I think a lot of people with dyspraxia are the same.

Aspects of her time at Exeter can be found in her description of Hogwarts. For example lecturers were addressed as Mr or Professor, and there was also ‘the Great Hall’. JK liked the classical side of her studies and was gripped by the mythological stories, and again this can be seen in the books. Also ,of course, the book features the character of Neville who is always losing things and is a bit clumsy.

JK had a number of jobs on leaving university including a time at Amnesty International, but did not settle in any of them and eventually went to Portugal and its influence can be seen in some of the Potter books, for example Diagon Alley with cobbled alleys and charming shops.

She met her husband and had a daughter. However the relationship deteriorated and JK became a victim of domestic violence. She left her husband and returned to the UK to live in Edinburgh as a single Mother, living on benefits.

It was then that JK started to write her Harry Potter books. It’s well known that she wrote her first novel mainly in a coffee bar and many myths have sprung up about this period . For example it has been said that she wrote in coffee bars because her flat had no heating.

JK has denied this:

“I was in search of good coffee, not warmth”, she said in an interview on the Today programmeon Radio Four. So when you read press articles saying that she created this myth, please bear in mind she did not create it and has always refuted it.

Before the first Harry Potter book was published JK achieved a qualification to teach French to secondary pupils in Scotland and  obtained a  teaching post. She excelled on the teaching course and seemed to have found her niche. In a way it is ironic that she found a career that suited her just when she was, unknown to her, about to achieve success as a famous writer.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published by Bloomsbury on 26 June 1997 and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

One of JK’s favourite sayings is the Buddhist teaching that: “life is suffering,” which she interpreted as we have to suffer to grow. I think it true to say that she had her share of suffering but she did find eventual success and she was able to use the bad times in some of the  Harry Potter books! So I guess the moral is don’t give up but keep on striving.

So, is JK a neurodiverse person? Well you will have to make your own mind up - but I know what I think.