Is Dyslexia a Disability?

Is dyslexia a learning disability or part of the natural spectrum of human neurodiversity? People have strong opinions. Stay tuned as we dissect both sides.

Hey everyone, we're Nick and Sonja and this is Dyslexia Journey where we help you support the dyslexic kid in your life. So there are definitely strong opinions on both sides of whether or not dyslexia should be viewed as a disorder or dyslexic people should be viewed as just part of the spectrum of brain differences. And so today we wanted to talk about both sides. We're going to cover the yes side that it's a disability first and then the no side and really get down to sort of the different arguments for why each of those might be true.

Okay, so jumping in on the yes side that dyslexia is a disability, definitionally, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the CDC, the definition of a disability is any condition of the body or mind that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities and interact with the world around them. So I think it's pretty clear. So I think it's pretty clear if we go by kind of a literal reading of that definition that dyslexia is a disability.

It really fulfills both makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities, and it also makes it more difficult for people to interact with the world around them when it involves reading, which much of interaction in our world does involve reading. So I think, again, a strict reading of that definition from the CDC would definitely indicate that dyslexia is a disability. So along the same line, still in the argument where we're talking about definitions, the DSM, which is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, which is used in medicine, diagnoses it as a specific learning disability with impairment in reading.

So it's right there in the title as to what they define dyslexia as. Yes. And then I guess the final sort of definitional evidence that dyslexia is a disability is that it's included explicitly in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 in the United States as one of the enumerated protected disabilities. Yes. And just so you know, we at the end of talking about these pros and cons, we're going to we're going to talk a little bit about our own opinions about how to take these arguments and what we think about it.

But we're going to go through the arguments first. So the next sort of large category that we're going to cover as to why dyslexia should be considered a disability is just logically. So it does make reading and writing more difficult, which is comparable to how something like a physical disability might make walking more difficult. Right. And so so the sort of like surface level examination of this is that it just sort of makes intuitive sense that that to consider dyslexia a disability.

There's also sort of a practical argument in that recognizing dyslexia as a disability then allows both students and people in the workforce to to really obtain the necessary accommodations to help them succeed and thrive in those settings. Right. Yeah. So it's kind of a practical or like a necessity sort of an argument there. Right. And so it's it's not necessarily an ideal situation that we're in, but because schools and to a large extent workplaces are kind of do take almost a one size fits all approach where you kind of have to fit in.

It's almost like by necessity, like Sanya said, that in order to succeed with dyslexia, you have to sort of recognize it, acknowledge it as a disability and then use that kind of official acknowledgement to obtain the support that you need. And kind of a related point, final point here on the yes side is that often for people, it's actually very helpful to be diagnosed with dyslexia as a disability, not just because they'll get the practical help, but because, you know, if they haven't quite known what was going on, that can be very helpful to understand.

Oh, this is why this is why this was difficult for me. We hear a lot of those stories when we're doing our interviews on the flip side. And this is going to say segue us into the no side of the argument of whether it should be considered a disability is that you when that happens, when there's an understanding of what's going on, it could also be taken more as an identity. And in that case, you know, similar to the autistic rights movement, then that starts to be where the person might say, oh, but this is just a difference that I have. Why are you saying a disability, which sounds like it's a more negative thing.

So this is going to segue us into the no's here. Okay, so those are sort of the top arguments for considering dyslexia to be a learning disability. So now let's address some of the arguments against considering dyslexia a learning disability. So I think the first argument here is that we acknowledge that dyslexia is a brain difference. I think people generally agree on that. And we acknowledge that it does make certain things harder, like reading and writing.

Okay, okay. I think what the problem with labeling dyslexia as a disability in this regard is that it doesn't acknowledge that this brain difference also provides some benefits. And so we've talked a lot about those benefits in various episodes we've done. But just to cite a few examples, there's generally stronger visual spatial skills, stronger entrepreneurial skills, thinking outside the box, creative thinking, all those kinds of things that are associated with dyslexia, that labeling it as a disability just really ignores that. And so one argument here is that a true disability would only make things more difficult.

Whereas dyslexia has such a mixture of, quote, positive and negative effects that it's really misleading to label it as a disability. In fact, one of the arguments that you hear sort of in the community is that labeling it as a disability focuses on deficits rather than strengths. Yeah. So that's our first point on the no side that dyslexia is not, could be not considered a disability. We have five points here. So I'll go on to number two.

So dyslexia is part of the spectrum of neurodiversity. And so that means that it's part of normal human variation. And, you know, to use a, to use an example, someone who, for example, doesn't have good spatial skills, we wouldn't call something like that a disability. So why do we call this particular, where there's a particular challenge with a certain kind of skill, why do we call that a disability? so is it just that we're really pathologizing a natural difference?

Yeah. A natural variation. I think that's a really good point. Yeah. Natural variation. Yeah. okay. So the, the third argument, against treating dyslexia as a disability or, or, or acknowledging it or calling it a disability, is, kind of a more practical argument in that, when you call something a disability, it tends to stigmatize it. And so this is something that, dyslexic people have struggled against for a long time. And I think it's only relatively recently that, that it's become destigmatized enough that people are, are really able to embrace it as an identity.

and so the, I think the concern here is that if we continue to label it as a disability, it's, it's going to continue to be stigmatized and continue to lead to sort of lowered self esteem, which also could, also could lead people to be, kind of ironically less likely to seek a diagnosis, which means that they would be less likely to actually get the support they need in the school and work environments.

Yeah. And so, so number four, the number four reason we're going to give you here for why you might want to not consider dyslexia disability is also kind of on the practical side. So it manifests in different ways. There are definitely individual variations and how you see it and what, you know, what sort of like skillset people have and what they have more difficulty with, what they're better at. And so by labeling it as a single diagnosable disability, we're going to air in the direction of a one size fits all approach to those people.

And it would really be better to have an individualized approach, which thinking of it as this one kind of disorder is makes it very difficult to do. and, I just want to plug our upcoming interview with Ed top Tom, Ed Thompson of optimize, which really works with workplaces and, the differences, kind of learning differences and those kinds of things, that employees might have really encouraging companies. Both in their hiring process and their workplace environments and all of that to not only help those people be employees, but also to leverage their gifts.

And so he really emphasizes, and you'll hear much more about it in the interview, but he really emphasizes it as more of a difference in a spectrum and that it's actually helpful for everyone because this individualization then is used. And then it actually helps everyone rise up and it creates much, better performance. So, yeah, that's a great point. and a great interview to, to look forward to, to watching. okay. So the, the last, argument here against, calling dyslexia a learning disability, is kind of similar, to what Sonja just mentioned, but, but, sort of a different take on it.

it's that it leads us to think about dyslexia as an individual problem. as a, as, so, so this person is dyslexic. They have a learning disability. so it's sort of, not that it's their fault, but like, there's no sort of necessarily big responsibility as society to, to, kind of, help them or, or to, to like, really. really sort of integrate them. And, and whereas, if we, if we start to think about dyslexia more, again, to go back to one of our previous points along the kind of spectrum of normal human variation, human neurodiversity.

it, it, it leads us to more assess this from a systemic perspective where we are really thinking about how do our schools and our workplaces and our world, how do they make it, a good environment for all people, along the whole spectrum of neurodiversity. and, and so if we, if we start to think of dyslexia as, as less of a disability and more of a, along the normal spectrum, then it really forces us to think about, for example, in our schools, how do we make a school work for everyone?

Not just for the, the, kind of 20% of students who, who it, you know, works well for right now. how do we make it more of a, of an individually tailored, for everyone? for everyone. And so I think that's, kind of, kind of combined some of our previous arguments. but I think it's, it's a, maybe a compelling kind of way to shift our thinking around dyslexia as a disability. Okay. So we promised you that we would give a little bit of our thoughts on this at the end.

So here we go. And, just a heads up, I am definitely a both and kind of person. So you're probably going to not find me going on one side or the other really here, but I can definitely share some thoughts. Although, did you want to go first? no, go ahead. Okay. Yeah. I think it's that last point is really compelling to me. you know, just from a societal change and now this would be better for everyone kind of, you know, optimistic and idealistic sort of way.

So like, I think my, my sort of gut and like what I would really want is that, that it would be considered, it would be considered natural variation, that we would start to look at that more widely, that things would change. And schools would like even go really back to like, why do we even teach the subject and all these things that like often just things are done the way they've been done.

And it's, it's hard to make change like that, right. To really like think from more from the beginning or make these really, really bigger changes. So that's like what I think I want. However, of course I have the, the practical side of me too. And I, it's very difficult to make changes and it's like so helpful for, to have accommodations and to understand, you know, why, why something's more difficult. And so all of those like parts that are just so logical and practical for people right now who are dyslexic, I don't feel like I can, just throw out the window.

Like I think that so, so really I feel like maybe, maybe it's that we would want that. And can we, can we, while we still do it the way we've been doing it for the people who are, who are in the situation now, can we also have this change that's trying to be made at the same time? So it's kind of like, can we be doing all that knowing it's really this brain difference, and knowing the wider implications and things that could help while still kind of doing what we're already doing in order to help the individual people whose lives are happening right now.

Yeah, I think that's a really good synthesis. I, I think I, I mostly agree with that. I guess to, to emphasize one of the points is that, yeah, in an ideal world, we would kind of acknowledge and recognize everyone's differences. some people are stronger at, spatial skills. Some people are stronger at reading, et cetera. I guess I do want to though, acknowledge that I don't have dyslexia. Like I don't know what it's like, to, to struggle with reading and writing and spelling in that way. and so I don't want to, kind of not, not acknowledge, people's lived experiences who, who do have dyslexia and who do really benefit from the identification of having a learning disability. I think that like, there are definitely a lot of people out there who, who do embrace that and who do really benefit from it. and so, you know, is that a problem with our larger society and systems?

I mean, I would argue yes, but, I don't think that I can argue like, like Sandy was saying, like at this point where we are in our, in our educational system, in our workplaces, I don't think I can argue that it, it doesn't, that's a lot of negatives, but, I think it's hard to argue against treating dyslexia as a disability with, in this current system, in the way that, that, that, that identification does help a lot of people.

You know, and it's occurring to me as we're talking about this too, I think having a little bit of a historical perspective here, pretty recent historical perspective is important in that this, you know, the Americans with Disabilities Act. And I mean, all of that, like, was really not that long ago and was very hard won and hard fought. And so I think also it's important not to throw, throw this out, throw that out the window. I mean, even sometimes now, like, there's some non-awareness of it and people don't always get their accommodations.

So, so there's even work to be done within that framework still. And so I think that it's important not to throw that out, even as we try to think about even deeper changes we can make. And maybe, you know, maybe it'll start in a different area, like the workplace. I mean, sometimes workplace and workplace needs are what actually make the changes for education, right? Because people are thinking, what do people need to learn in order to get jobs later?

So, you know, like I said, with Ed Thompson and the optimize approach, maybe that is going to be where it starts, actually, first more than in the educational system, for example. Yeah, that's a really good point. And then I guess the point that I would sort of end with here is, is that I really do think the most compelling argument on the no side is, is that treating dyslexia only as a disability really doesn't acknowledge all the strengths that, that people are, are I would say just beginning to recognize. And, you know, we're really starting to learn from the, the sort of neuroscience side of things that the dyslexic brain really is different and really does kind of for a lot of benefits as well.

And so, you know, I just want to make sure that we're not forgetting about that, even if we continue to label dyslexia as a disability. Right. And so maybe a lot of what would be helpful, you know, of course, that word disability is still going to stay there, like I said, because it's in the law and things like that. And then in these definitions, but if we can always nuance it with that, if we can always make that really clear and that people would have the understanding that even while we're, we're, you know, saying that word, that really it is this brain difference, I think that that would go a long way.

So a lot of that is about just like educating the public and, and people, you know, dyslexic people themselves and making sure that people have that understanding, like more than maybe what the actual word is. All right. I guess we had a lot to say. We did. I didn't even know what I was going to say before we said it, but we had a lot to say. Yeah. I think that's a good, that's a good ending point.

Yeah. I think so too. So let us know what you think. Also, I'll put in a plug for, if you're listening to this in the podcast form, if you could give us a rating and a review, either on Apple podcasts or Spotify or your other podcast app of choice, it really helps with discovery, getting the word out. Yeah. We've been really excited at how much it's been growing. And so we just want to keep it going.

Thanks everyone.