The Burden of Dyslexia

Chris Tregenza is a British man, a former "typical shy, teenage computer geek, " who reports his life was dramatically changed by the DDAT treatment.  Chris writes a blog, Myomancy  (the word refers to an ancient form of divination).

Chris debunks the idea that "dyslexia is a gift". 

Disclaimer: I've never felt dyslexia was a gift. School was hell and when I left school I struggled in the world of work. I couldn't draw or play musical instruments or study science no matter how hard I tried. My dyslexia held me back and since I've got rid of my dyslexia I can now draw, play instruments and spell complicated words. I'm not very good at any of them yet but I am getting better.

It turns out that the view that dyslexia is a "gift" is more common in the UK than here.  The Department of Education and Skills has a website, A Framework for Understanding Dyslexia.    In the section on Where There Are Areas of Disagreement,  the authors write:

 

The notion of a ‘gifted’ side to dyslexia is still controversial. There is a lot of research into the deficits or weaknesses of dyslexic people but relatively little into whether they have particular strengths. A lot of the research in this area is based on personal histories. It could be argued that this is a very positive approach, as it involves listening to the voices of those directly concerned. However, more empirical research or hard evidence may be needed to prove that there is a strong and consistent link between dyslexia and creative, visual thinking and to support the claim that dyslexic people operate in a ‘right-brained’ way.

It also appears that the UK approach does not particularly care about evidenced-based approaches, as it supports the Irlen and Tomatis  approaches.