Imagine you’re sitting in English class, and you are asked to read the first chapter of the book “Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austen. You begin to read the first line: “It is a truth universally acknowledged…” But instead of seeing the stroke of each letter and the difference between symmetrical lines, all you see is the letters shifting from their proper place and the words shaking off the page. It almost feels like reading the same line like this:
That’s the normal experience of people who have dyslexia. Is the school system making that feeling worse?
Throughout our years of school, we have been conditioned to format all of our essays in Times New Roman, which is a serif font. According to an article from Forbrain, “Serifs are the small lines on the ends of letters in certain fonts. Fonts such as Times New Roman and Georgia are serif fonts. However, serif fonts are known to be more difficult to read if you are dyslexic. Instead, fonts that are sans Serif, without the little marks, are a much better choice.”.
However, issues arise when using serif fonts. To most readers, there is no difference in clarity between Times News Roman (hello) and Arial (hello), but to someone who has trouble reading, the ticks that appear at the end of the letter make it difficult to distinguish letters, making it harder to read overall.
Of course, there isn’t only one way someone can have trouble reading, and therefore, there is no one solution to make it easier for people to read, but MCPS may not be helping the problem by using a font that can enhance the features of letters that make it difficult for some to read. There is a typeface, created by a graphic designer from the Netherlands, Christian Boer, who has dyslexia, that addresses the issues that people with dyslexia face. An article on the font by BBC said that “unlike many traditional typefaces, the Dyslexie font is strongly asymmetric. Instead of keeping the letters a uniform size, some have longer “sticks” that help to make them stand out more in words. Similarly, letters that look alike, such as ‘v,’ ‘w’ and ‘y’ vary in their height when they are typed.”
The typeface was created to simulate someone’s handwriting, as the shape of the letters becomes clearer to the reader. In an article from the BBC, Boer said, “There is movement in it. The way we learn to write can often determine the shape of the letters, and so it might be why our brains find them easier to distinguish.”
Another issue that occurs isn’t with the essays that we write, but the slideshows we create and present. When people use dark backgrounds with colors, especially colors that are similar shades, it makes it harder for people, especially people with dyslexia or ADD to read it. According to an article from Forbrain, “It is generally recommended to avoid light text on dark backgrounds, or colors that are too similar such as dark blue on light blue, but this can vary by individual.”
While the font does make it easier to read, we lose the stylistic aspect we get from using Times New Roman, which is one of the reasons it has been used so long. According to the British Dyslexia Association, the best fonts to use, which are all widely available are, “sans serif fonts, such as Arial and Comic Sans, as letters can appear less crowded. Alternatives include Verdana, Tahoma, Century Gothic, Trebuchet, Calibri, Open Sans.”
