Q&A

Potential questions that I can ask about Dyslexia:

• What is Dyslexia by your definition?
• Can someone develop it later on in his/her course of life?
• Is there different degrees of Dyslexia, oppose to the different forms it manifest its self in?
• Do you reckon, to overcome Dyslexia, one must train as a child or as an adult?
• What can you tell me about:

1. The speed of processing and sequencing information?
2. Time consumption?
3. Adding and subtracting words?
4. Hard to focus?
5. Multi-tasking?
6. Numbers and letters?
7. Details?

Here are the minutes from a quick interview with Elaine Wallace* on the 12th of March 2010:

*Coordinator of the Dyslexic Department at Central Saint Martins Southampton Row.

... After a 5min talk, I had remembered that I can record the chat using my phone. The coordinator was talking a bit to fast for my likes, thus she noticed I was dyslexic in some form.

Is there a special program/steps for the dyslexic test?

'It takes about an hour and you ask all sorts of questions, they're to do with reading, writing... I often ask people: Ooh! Did you get lost in town on your way over here? And they say all the time. And so I ask: how do you work your way, 'coz you often can't read a map. So then I'll ask them for what they look out for then? Is it the name of the streets? Or do you look for another sort of visual landmark?

And they go from visual landmark to visual landmark,ooh! Mc Donald's is on that corner...

Yeah that reminds me of an exhibition I was looking into the other day, that happened a few years ago in the Serpentine Gallery. The exhibition was aimed at dyslexia and they had workshops where they would encourage subjects to draw their journey to the gallery, with points such as A to B... Interesting!

Back on track -

How would you define or recognize a dyslexic person from a first glance?

You can't recognize a dyslexic from just looking at him, there'll have to be an exchange of communication to notice dyslexic trademarks. So seeing somebody... No way will I know on spot...

I've read before that a dyslexic person could be a bit clumsy! Could you elaborate?

Yeah that is true, they might sometimes have something known as Clumsy Child Syndrome, and so sometimes they can't tie their shoelaces or catch a ball.

But that isn't with all dyslexic subject? No, no, some could be perfect in sync; you have to remember that there is different kinds of dyslexia.

Problem is now, some people think that dyslexics are those who can't read and write, and that isn't the case.

Some dyslexics read very well and there spelling is terrible and some vice versa.

Now that we are talking about different types of dyslexia, do you think there is different degrees of being dyslexic?

Yes, off course. You can have Mild Dyslexia, or you can have Very Sever Dyslexia.

And do you consider the Mild cases as disabled subjects?

Yes!

And why is that?

Because in a university and academic setting that mild disability will affect their way of learning. So you have to be able to support them

Even in a setting such as the University of the Arts of London?

Even more.

But don't they say that dyslexics usually use their left brain which is linked to the artistic tastes?

Well they are more into the image. And understanding the world holistically, but that degree as you might know it, requires more. It requires that you have to express yourself as an individual, express yourself as an artists, in speaking which many dyslexics have difficulties and in writing which many dyslexics can't do.

You'll get them again and again saying I can't get my work done!

Do you reckon there is a way to overcome dyslexia?

There's something we call strategies.