• Question: Is dislexia real are are the people just dumb?

    Asked by taxidriver to Betul, Bridget, Ceri-Wyn, Laurel, Maria on 18 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Maria Pawlowska

      Maria Pawlowska answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Yes, dyslexia is a real condition whereby the brain can have trouble processing some of the optic signals (coming from the eyes). And it’s certainly not just dumb people – actually a lot of people with dyslexia are very intelligent (Disclaimer: I don’t have dyslexia:).

    • Photo: Laurel Fogarty

      Laurel Fogarty answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Yes Dyslexia is real. It is more difficult for some people to read and decode what is written than it is for others. I think it is very difficult for people with dyslexia because others sometimes assume that having trouble reading means you are dumb. This is not true at all. Some people even think that Dyslexia is a visual problem rather than an intellectual one. IQ and the presence or absence of dyslexia are not at all related.

    • Photo: Betul Arslan

      Betul Arslan answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      It is real. Most of the neurological diseases are, actually. A friend of mine had dislexia, she would not take written exams instead all her exams were oral and she did a pretty good job on that. Therefore I don’t think they are dumb, they’re challenged in reading. Most of us do not have such a challenge but we still prefer not to read, now, who is dumber? 🙂

    • Photo: Bridget Waller

      Bridget Waller answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Dyslexia isn’t very well understood, but clearly many people are affected by it. It may be due to something relatively simple such as how people attend to words on the page. We need more research to work out why people have it, and how to help them tackle it!

    • Photo: Ceri-Wyn Thomas

      Ceri-Wyn Thomas answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Dyslexia is a real condition which impairs people’s ability to process information as words sometimes. It’s got nothing to do with being dumb- some of the best engineers I know have dyslexia and they’re certainly not dumb! Having dyslexia can be a challenge when it comes to recognising word patterns etc but it doesn’t affect a person’s ability to think analytically like a scientist.

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