What Reading Is Like for People With Dyslexia

You know the advice about how you have to put yourself in the other person’s shoes to understand their situation? We hear it all the time, and it’s good advice. But what about if it’s in your child’s shoes? And if your child has dyslexia? It can be hard to imagine yourself with a developmental reading disorder, especially in the small shoes of our keiki.

Victor Widell designed this website (https://www.upworthy.com/if-you-have-dyslexia-this-website-can-show-your-friends-what-reading-is-actually-like?c=huf1) for people like us, to help better understand what reading is like for people with dyslexia.

As you can see, the letters on the site for each word are scrambled. They move around erratically, because seeing words jumping around on a page is a very common dyslexia symptom.

I tried reading each sentence, and yes, it’s actually possible to make out the sentences after a while. But it takes a lot of focus and concentration. According to the Yale Center of Dyslexia and Creativity, about 20 percent of the total population is affected by dyslexia. 1 in 5 people actually live in dyslexia, and yet many people are undiagnosed and secretly battle this disorder without receiving the help that they need.

A note: It’s also important to know that dyslexia has different symptoms for different people. For example, we can’t just visit this website and assume reading is like this for all people with dyslexia. But it certainly helps us get a starting sense of what dyslexia could be like for our children, the challenges that they face, and how we might be able to show understanding and empathy for them.

You can take a look at the website here:

https://www.upworthy.com/if-you-have-dyslexia-this-website-can-show-your-friends-what-reading-is-actually-like?c=huf1