SCHOOL was not always a happy place for Lauren Bradley …she was taunted and humiliated for having a learning disability.

When she made the transition to mainstream high school the busy corridors and huge class sizes overwhelmed the previously bubbly teenager and she became withdrawn.

Lauren, from Kirkintilloch, has now told how her life has turned around and how she is set to help others with similar problems.

She recalled: "High school was a bit different, and I realised I was different to other people.

"I didn't understand a lot of what I wanted to do and I had people who were behind me taking the mickey out of me.

"I got out of class 15 minutes early because I could not cope with the one-way system in school, so I got the mickey taken out of me because of that too. It made me feel embarrassed and I lost a lot of confidence."

Despite attempts by the school to help her, the measures often made her stand out from her peers and it was not long before bullying began.

Lauren, now 22, said she was frequently called stupid by classmates because she was sometimes slow to pick things up, and on one occasion was forced to stand for an hour in a French class attempting to read a sentence from the board.

She did not learn to read until she was 14 and found it impossible to understand the language.

As she stared at the jumble of letters and words in front of her, her classmates began to laugh and her confidence dropped even further.

Around Easter time, while shopping with her mother, Lauren collapsed and was rushed to the doctor.

Medics told her mum, Mandy, that Lauren was under extreme stress - so much so her body could not cope.

After her recovery, Lauren was given a place at a school that catered for people with disabilities.

Her mother said within four months of starting the new school she was "unrecognisable" from the quiet girl she had been before.

Eight years later, Lauren has now started an HNC in Social Care at college, studies in mainstream classes and has made dozens of close friends.

She wants to follow in her grandfather's footsteps and work with young offenders and young people with learning disabilities.

Lauren mother's is now a trustee with Enable Scotland, a national charity that help people with learning disabilities.

As reported in Wednesday's Evening Times, the charity has launched the #bethechange campaign in an attempt to stop vile language being used to bully people with learning disabilities.

hannah.rodger@ eveningtimes.co.uk.