Discovering other people’s dyslexia stories through the written word
This is the 4th in a series of 9 blog posts by an adult member of Dyslexia Scotland that explore dyslexia stories or journeys.
In the previous blog post in this series, we looked at how we can discover other people’s dyslexia stories in person, and through video and audio. This blog post gives some ideas of where we can find dyslexia stories in the written word.
Here are 7 places where you can find people’s dyslexia stories in text. You can use a text reader with all of them e.g. Ivona MiniReader, which is free. To install it, go to: http://www.adapteddigitalexams.org.uk/Using-Digital-Papers/Reading-with-Text-to-Speech/Ivona-MiniReader
1. ‘Dyslexia and Us’ book http://www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk/sites/default/files/page_content/book_order_form.pdf
- ‘Dyslexia and Us’ is a collection of over 100 accounts of dyslexia by a wide variety of people
- It is produced by Dyslexia Scotland and Edinburgh City Libraries
- The stories are short – at most a few pages
2. Dyslexia Scotland blog https://alifelessordinaryds.wordpress.com
- E.g. ‘What will I do now? at https://alifelessordinaryds.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/what-will-i-do-now
3. Dyslexia Action’s ‘It’s Me’ http://www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk/its-me
- This page on the Dyslexia Action website shows dyslexia stories that people have submitted to it
- Some of the stories have images
- Click on the title of each story for the full story
4. Dyslexia Together’s ‘Other People’s Stories’ http://www.dyslexiatogether.org.uk/other-peoples-stories.html
- Dyslexia Together is a self-advocacy website
- The stories on this webpage are all exclusively text but they include links to websites and videos
- There are 9 stories to date. 7 are by adults and 2 by young adults
5. Klaire de Lys: ‘My Dyslexia Story’ http://www.klairedelys.com/2013/07/19/my-dyslexia-story
- Klaire de Lys’ dyslexia story in text (it is also available in video on the same webpage, below the text)
- Many other people have added their stories to this webpage below the video (scroll down to the comments)
6. RASP guest blog http://r-a-s-p.co.uk/guest-blog
- These posts are all dyslexia stories by writers and other creatives
7. Susan Barton dyslexia stories http://susanbartondyslexiastories.com
- These are emails that a variety of people have sent to a US dyslexia specialist, Susan Barton
- Susan has published them in order to help people grasp the impact of dyslexia across the life span
- The emails all have an audio toolbar at the top but of the several I tried, only one actually played audio
In the 1st 4 posts in this series of blog posts we have been exploring our 1st 2 key points of the series:
- What dyslexia stories are and how they can help people;
- Other people’s dyslexia stories
Now what about your own dyslexia story? How do you feel about telling it? How do you think telling it might help you and others? In the rest of the blog posts in this series we are going to think about our 3rd and final key point, namely your own dyslexia story. We will explore:
- Some ways in which telling your own story can help you and others;
- The question of sharing or not sharing your story; and
- Some ways in which you can tell your story
References
‘Dyslexia and Us’
- Kindle edition published by AUK Authors, 2013. ASIN: B00F4ZNPBC
- Paperback edition ISBN 978-1-906401-36-8
A life less ordinary 