What a moving and relevant article about Katriona O’Sullivan (Raised by addicts, abused, neglected, broke: how Katriona O’Sullivan escaped her fate, 17 May). I was at school in the 1970s and a much-needed recipient of free school meals. Like Katriona, the teachers who “saw” me helped me to see past the shame I felt at being an outsider. I lived with an alcoholic mother and her abusive partner, and at the age of 12 I slept with my bedroom window unlocked so that I could jump from my first-floor room if needed, the insidious fear that her partner might rape me ever present. Shame kept me from ever telling anyone what was happening at home.
My mother kicked me out when I was 15, after her partner asked her to choose between us. I left school at 16, going straight into low-paid work. I took advantage of being able to retake my O-levels while claiming benefits and then did an access course that enabled me to complete a degree. I rewrote my story to a certain extent, but only because funding gave me that opportunity. The reference to there being a middle class “uniform” resonated; people assume so much because of how one dresses or speaks – they assume a set of shared values, and political and cultural beliefs. This is an important reminder and account of how wrong and outdated those assumptions are. I wish Katriona all the success and happiness she has fought for.
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• Gosh, how Katriona O’Sullivan speaks for me. I am well aware that my life was saved by two of my teachers, a collective effort by my school that got me to university, and a support network of institutions through which my fees and a small maintenance allowance were paid. The parents of two of my friends made it possible for me to survive my last three years at school with some sense of what it feels like to be connected to a family. I too went on to work in second-chance education, and to rant fairly often about the ill‑informed judgments of people who haven’t been there themselves.
I doubt many teachers these days leave the school gate with the energy to care in the way some of my teachers did for me.
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