Do we need to be more understanding of dyslexia?

The issue of dyslexia is in the headlines after Labour MP Peter Kyle told social media users who call him “thick” for his spelling errors that he is “living with acute dyslexia”.

In a widely shared Twitter thread, the MP for Hove and Portslade said that social media could be an “unforgiving place for people with unseen challenges”.

Kyle, who has a doctorate in community development from the University of Sussex, said that he is branded “thick” and regularly told he “can't be an MP if you can't even spell”.

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In the candid and vulnerable messages, he also said: “Every day I get picked up on something I write. Mostly it’s kindly or humorous which is appreciated. Sometimes it’s sneering or brutal.”

Turning to a recent example, he wrote: “I spelled ‘border’ ‘boarder’. Most people were forgiving, hundreds were not: ‘thick’ / ‘can’t be an MP if you can’t even spell’ / ‘stupid’ / ‘resign and let someone with a brain take over’ etc.”

Explaining what it is like to be dyslexic, he added: “Sometimes words are just shapes. However much I try to engage my brain, the connection just isn’t there. I can see the shape but it simply has no meaning.”

He has received praise from other MPs. The Health Secretary and Tory Matt Hancock tweeted: “Massive respect to @peterkyle for speaking out so openly about his dyslexia.”

Labour’s Stella Creasy wrote that the thread showed Kyle is “a man of courage and compassion”. Harriet Harman said: “Everyone needs to read this thread”.

His thread came after it was revealed that schools in England are failing to diagnose at least 80% of pupils who have dyslexia.

In response to that news, the British Dyslexia Association said diagnosis and support was the worst it had seen since government funding started in the 1980s.

Speaking to the BBC, Nicola Erswell said her 11-year-old son Jake was only diagnosed with dyslexia after his family paid £350 for an assessment.

She said: “Up to that point it was just very difficult. He wasn't getting very much input into school, they just thought he was a slow learner. Once we got the formal diagnosis, everything made sense.”

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