What is dyslexia?

The word 'dyslexia' has been coined from the Greek and literally means 'difficulty with words'. The old way of describing it was 'word blindness' - an inability to read letters and numbers in the right order - but that's far from the whole picture.

Dyslexic people can experience difficulties with organisation and short term memory.

In addition to problems with reading, spelling and writing, dyslexic people may:

confuse directions, muddling left and right or up and down
find it hard to remember a list, dates or times
have difficulties following a sequence days of the week or a map of the London Underground, a-b-c, 1-2-3.

Today dyslexia is viewed as a combination of abilities and difficulties.

Dyslexic people may have good problem-solving skills, enhanced creativity and excel in the arts, design, architecture and computing.

Every dyslexic person will have their own pattern of what they can do easily and what they find difficult. And, while dyslexia cannot be cured, individuals can be helped to overcome their problems while allowing their abilities to shine.

(Extracts from British Dyslexia Association Leaflet)

Follow this link to the BDA "What is Dyslexia?" page
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West Cumbria Dyslexia Association: Contact Doris Pearce 07863 329747

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