Dyslexia Simulator

29 Apr 2016 at 17:35 // under Dyslexia javascript

Make it STOP

Last month, I came across (via twitter) a dyslexia-simulator. Before I go any further, I would like to make clear that I am talking from a personal perspective. I am aware that there are many different flavours of dyslexia and other people will have different experiences.

I found the simulator interesting and I think it is useful to explain dyslexia however I also think it needs a bit of further explanation.

For a start, the letters do not literally jump about and re-arrange themselves in front of my eyes. Instead, you get the frustrating feeling every time you start to read and get into a flow. Not every word, but occasionally you have to interrupt your flow to focus on one word to work out what it is.

This constant interruption makes reading a chore and increases the cost-benefit ratio of reading any text. As a result, if I didn't have to read, I often didn't.

This then creates a feedback loop because I wasn't reading, I wasn't improving so my frustration increased.

I have gotten better however the slap across the face every time I hit an unfamiliar word that is longer than about ten characters is still present.

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