Writing Dyslexic Characters

I've talked a little about dyslexia here on the blog before. For those of you who don't know, dyslexia runs in my family. I, along with a couple of my siblings, all have it, although my sister has it worst. So I feel like that semi-qualifies me to write a post about dyslexic characters. (Of course, we could have a whole discussion on inclusivity and it's pros and cons, but that's another post for another time.)

What You Should Know

First off, dyslexia is not one size fits all. It's different in every person. Which can make it difficult to talk about or write about with accuracy. However, everything I'll talk about in this post will be based around what I know and experience.

Dyslexia is a learning disorder, most commonly associated with reading trouble. But it can affect everything from direction skills to memory. The most common problems it causes is reading comprehension, memory retention, and writing.

Reading is often difficult for dyslexics, causing many of us to give up entirely. Often our brains don't interpret what we're seeing correctly, causing us to misread words, mix up sentences, and be unable to recognize words we've seen a hundred times. That's the most disconcerting one to me. We can also sometimes read a whole page or sentence over and over and still never understand what it's saying.

These reading comprehension issues translate over to our writing skills as well. Most dyslexics are not good spellers. We tend to write things phonetically, or not be able to spell basic words. Reading out loud is another big problem, especially since many of us are embarrassed by not being able to read like everyone else.

Some other things dyslexia can affect- ability to convey our thoughts out loud, getting easily distracted, unable to memorize facts or learn other languages, mispronouncing words, doing math, directions, and more.

Having dyslexia is all bad, though, just like anything. Many dyslexics are great with directions, or writing. It can give us great attention to detail, great intuition, or be able to remember faces. It all depends on the person.

But again, dyslexia is different for everyone. For myself, I struggle a lot with spelling, mixing up and misreading words, and things like left and right. I can literally look left, think left, and say right. But my younger sister has a lot more difficulties with reading, writing, and memory retention. Some people have it so bad they can never read beyond a certain level.

Public schooling can be a big issue. Because dyslexics have issues with late development and reading, they're often labelled dumb or slow. Public schooling also makes everyone learn at their own speed, when dyslexics often need more time than others. Which is why homeschooling is a perfect option, as it gives them the flexibility and personal attention they need.

Stereotypes

1. Dyslexics are dumb. This far from true. They may have difficulties, but many of them are smart in more creative ways. My sister has trouble reading, but she made a piano out of lego without any instructions.

2. Dyslexics are lazy. It might seem like that because they can't do basic reading, but believe me, they're trying as hard as they can. Some of them have to work twice as hard to reach the same level as their peers.

3. Dyslexia is a vision problem. It's actually a brain issue. Many of us have great vision (not me personally), but that doesn't stop our brains from mixing things up.

4. Dyslexia goes away. It doesn't. You're stuck with it for the rest of your life. But that's not a bad thing. There are lots of cool people out there with it who have had extremely successful careers. (Tom Cruise, Orlando Bloom, Agatha Christie!)

5. Dyslexia is just about mixing things up. Like I talk about above, dyslexia is far more than that. It's a processing disorder, affecting many parts of our lives. Some people with it might not mix things up at all.

Questions to Ask Your Character

1. When did they learn they had dyslexia?

2. Do either of their parents have it? (It's more common than you might think.)

3. How does dyslexia affect them on a day to day basis?

4. What areas to they struggle the most in?

5. What areas do they excel in?

6. How do they feel about their dyslexia? (Embarrassed, accepting, etc.)

7. If they're an adult, how does dyslexia affect their work?

8. On a scale of one to ten (one being barely noticeable, ten being hardly able to read), how bad is their dyslexia?

Have you ever written a dyslexic character? Who is your favorite character with dyslexia and why is it Percy Jackson? Tell me in the comments.

Suggested Posts:

A Writer's Guide to Characters with Glasses

A Writer's Guide to Homeschoolers