Dyslexia is an interesting disorder because it doesn’t actually effect a person’s intelligence. It just changes how someone is able to relate to the visual input that comes from reading written words and then processing that into direct information that is understandable. Dyslexia is remarkably common: about 20% of the human race has some form of dyslexia that affects how they learn on a daily basis. That’s why knowing these interesting facts about this disability is so important.
1. People With Dyslexia Are Typically More Creative
Children that get placed into special education classes have an 85% chance of being there because of dyslexia. These classes are typically geared toward students that are struggling to keep up with the pace of their grade level for some reason, which is unfortunate because most children with dyslexia are more creative and more intelligent than the general population. If a kid is bored in their classes at school and they have dyslexia, it is likely because they aren’t being intellectually challenged.
2. It’s Like Being in the Right State of Mind
People who have dyslexia actually use their brains differently than people without this disorder. Dyslexia causes people to use their right side of the brain to process the language inputs that are being seen by their eyes. Those without dyslexia use three areas of the left side of their brain to process language instead.
3. There Could Be a Genetic Component to Dyslexia
Kids who have at least one parent that has dyslexia have a 50% chance of having the same issue. If both parents have dyslexia, it is almost statistically impossible for their children to not have dyslexia as well. The difference is that some forms of dyslexia are quite mild, while other forms are extremely severe. No matter how severe the dyslexia may be, those who have it spend 5x more energy to complete mental language understanding tasks compared to those who do not have it.
4. It’s Not a Disease
There may be no real cure for dyslexia, but it is isn’t a disease. It is simply a learning disability that makes it more difficult for children and adults to learn in the traditional, contemporary sense. Some of the setbacks seen in those with dyslexia may be countered by catering to their creative side because memory retention is better when those portions of the brain are recognized.
5. It’s Not Really a Backwards Thing
Dyslexia is often associated with the desire to read backwards or recognize letters backwards, but that isn’t the case. Letter reversal or reading from right to left instead of left to right [or in reverse in some languages] is usually caused by a directional deficit instead of dyslexia. Another issue is the fact that many people with this disorder have components of ADHD as well, which further adds to the difficulty of learning.
Being dyslexic might make life a little more difficult in the traditional learning sense, but that doesn’t have to hold people back With strengths in intelligence and creativity, it is very possible for someone with dyslexia to lead a long, fulfilling life that doesn’t require a single special education class.