As, like many of you, I watched the ‘Dyslexia Myth’ documentary on channel 4 last night and I became outraged. As a proud dyslexic, who has struggled for many years to overcome my disability, to educate people, and de-stigmatise the issue so that my friends didn’t think I was just crap at spelling or lazy, and that actually I had wiring in my brain that made it harder for me to work with pens and paper, and expression of thought in a written way, I feel completely betrayed by what Channel 4 has done - in so many ways.

This one hour documentary went round in circles drawing no real conclusions apart from “Dyslexia being a Myth”, the research seemed to concentrate wholly on a persons ability to read, and while this is a significant slice of the problems faced by Dyslexics it is no where near the be-all-and-end-all that the programme made out, it oversimplified the issue and actually had no point of view from a dyslexic learner.

I fear that this programme may have caused irreparable damage to dyslexics and their ability to access further and higher Education, as without the access support many receive at the moment they would never of even attempted Education – and that would have been a grave lose. I also fear that come ‘fresher’s week’ when University and College Student Support departments begin their annual drive to get students with concerns to get screened, that the people most at risk of having a learning disability, those who have picked up on a deficiency within their ability, but not sure if they should go and register because they have got this far and don’t want the stigma of having a piece of paper calling them a dyslexic or even more worryingly, those that don’t want to ‘look a fool’ in case they haven’t got a disability - not going and getting screened.

I am also concerned that in the corporate world where DDA legislation is coming into affect that this will now be used as evidence for not “reasonably adjusting” to dyslexic workers need. I have worked in jobs where I have had staff members behind my back contact my University Disability Support Department, as to whether I had a disability and what they were. A refusal to adhere to my access requirements (namely minutes on blue paper, size 14font documents 24hrs before the meeting, and a 17” screen monitor), oh and this by the way was my Union.

As a Member of the NEC, an Ex-Sabbatical Officer and most importantly a disabled student – I would urge you to closely monitor the provision and uptake of Dyslexia services within your University or College, and actively campaign against the stigma of Dyslexia.

Well readers I seem to be on a bit of an angry rant and for all intents and purposes it is. However I do see my dyslexia as a disability with benefits, and while I use to struggle with words on a page, I have learnt techniques to overcome this issue so I can study at degree level, even if my left and right directions are still a little dodgy. The benefits I have got from dyslexia are a larger right hemisphere, my creative side, usually in ‘normal’ people the left hemisphere is about 10% bigger than their right hand side in dyslexics you normally find that both sides of the brain are equal and my right hand hemisphere is between 7-10% bigger than the average ‘normal’ person giving me a whole range of skills including:

• People skills
• 3-D visual-spatial skills
• vivid imagination
• intuition
• creative, global thinking
• curiosity

So the question is – “Would I ever swap?” – and Never is my answer, my disabilities are part of me, they go to make up the bigger picture just like my sexuality, and the fact I love toasted cheese sandwiches. What I would swap is the bigotry and naivety of so many as to what Dyslexia and indeed any disability is. Dyslexics aren’t dyslexics because they want a free PC and mini disc player, we have to work harder to achieve, and we use these “freebies” as tools to aide our work, and not as shiny toys.

I have researched a fact sheet on Dyslexia and it can be found here

There are also some quotes from Celebrity Dyslexics here

Yours in (disabled) Pride

James-J Walsh
NUS LGBT Officer (Open Place)

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