[dbbolton]

I am dyslexic, and just for some background info I have uncorrected 20/20 vision but my symptoms are exacerbated by comorbid ADHD. I'm sure everyone experiences it differently, but the image on the left is a pretty close approximation of what I often see when trying to read from a page:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Dyslexic...

Say I was reading the line "...as well as other perceptual tasks." I would insert words from inside the "circle" so it would appear to me like "23 other reading tasks" or something (often times it will make no sense, which is my cue that I need to re-read the whole thing).

Other times I might just read a word like "presidental", then look back at it and suddenly it says "prudential" as if it changed when I wasn't looking at it (and I'd swear I knew it said 'presidential' the first time).

Writing and typing are a whole other can of worms that I won't open here, but suffice it to say that I've never experienced the dancing letters like in the OP.

[oib]

Would it be fair to say that you see text fine and not like that link but you do experience it that way?

I've been thinking about this since I posted my comment. I feel like it may be a reasonable way to say/explain it: we don't see letters/words jump around, but we do experience them jumping around in a non-visual way.

Is that accurate, or do you really mean that you visually see that circle like in that link?

[dbbolton]

In short, yes, what you said is right. The picture is just a decent approximation.

My vision is fine, so the text I do "see" is perfectly clear. But it's almost like I'm not able to visually follow and parse the text into discrete lines. I just somehow "focus" on this ball in the middle of my field of view, and the text outside the ball is "distorted" because it's not getting the same amount of visual attention (but not because it's literally unfocused in the optic sense).

It's pretty hard to describe, the more I think about it. They aren't just ghosted letters, or blurry, or anything that could be easily replicated with an image editor. It's almost like they aren't words/letters at all, just junk.

So in that vein, I would say it is how I experience it. I imagine that if you could somehow record the input to my visual cortex it wouldn't look anything like the simulation in the image (although it would in fact be upside-down with two big holes in the middle).

[deelowe]

uhh... I'm sitting here wondering if I'm mildly dyslexic. I often swap letters around when typing, read words that aren't there, leave words out, etc... I've always had this problem and just assumed I didn't proof-read well enough.

Is there a test for mild dyslexia? How would one know for sure? Should I care? I doesn't bother me much other than people thinking I have terrible grammar and reading comprehension skills.

[ntpeters]

I'm also interested if there is some sort of test. I find myself doing many of these things when I read long passages.

One other thing that is very common for me, but I'm not sure if it is related to dyslexia or not, is that I will frequently either forget the next word I was about to say or say the wrong word without noticing. An example of the latter would be if I am filling the dishwasher I'll say that I finished the laundry, or I'll refer to shaving in the morning as mowing. These happen to me on an almost daily basis.

[cistern]

This frequently happens to me. A few times a conversation if I'm not focusing solely on the conversation. It's interesting that the words switched are often related: in your example, mowing is another form of cutting protruding fibers aka shaving.

[dbbolton]

I've seen a handful of psychiatrists and psychologists who were mostly interested in figuring out if I had true ADHD, a true reading disability, some combination of the two, etc.

I was told that there is no diagnostic test for dyslexia. All they can do is survey your symptoms and test your reading speed and comprehension (in addition to executive function, working memory, and verbal IQ for cross-reference).

So if you have those symptoms, you probably are dyslexic. There's no real point in seeking a formal diagnosis unless you feel that it would benefit you to have it documented (e.g. if you're a student and need extra time to finish exams or so).

[oib]

I had myself be tested by a psychologist when I was around 8 I think, and again when I was 20.

Should you care?

I'm not sure, you can look into tools that are recommended for dyslexic people (a spellings corrector is probably the single biggest thing), but you can try those without actually knowing if you are...

If you are a student then your school may provide special facilities for you. Other then that I can't think of a reason to care, besides satisfying a curiosity.

[ssharp]

I do many of these things as well. I've always been curious if it's some mild form of dyslexia or ADHD. It bothers me but I don't think it's been an obstacle.

[deelowe]

yeah, that's where I am. It comes up in emails a lot. I find myself saying "I read that 3 times and it made sense when I sent it." Other than that, I can live with it.

[iBzOtaku]

> suffice it to say that I've never experienced the dancing letters like in the OP

There's an Indian movie "Taare Zameen Par" (Like Stars on Earth) [1] about a young boy with Dyslexia. He faces the exact problem of "dancing letters" like OP. Maybe Dyslexia has variations?

[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0986264/

[LoSboccacc]

does things like the open dyslexic[1] font actually help?

1: opendyslexic.org

[oblique63]

I bought a kobo ereader over a kindle not too long ago, precisely because it supported this font. I tend to prefer Comic Sans[0] over it a bit though, and use Pointfree[1] on all my code editors. None of those make reading completely smooth experience of course, but they do provide a noticeable improvement over traditional serif text.

I'd say having a large line spacing, an unjustified text layout, and a darker/lower-contrast[2], all help more than the font choice itself, but any tiny optimization is helpful.

[0] as a former graphic designer, it actually took me a while to get comfortable with the idea that I found Comic Sans useful for anything, lol

[1] http://www.dafont.com/pointfree.font

[2] https://www.w3.org/WAI/RD/2012/text-customization/r11

[xenonite]

I am amazed about this unexpected compliment to the Comic Sans MS designers. I always thought that this font is, conversely, harder to read than serif fonts. Seemingly this is not always the case in practice.

[dbbolton]

Not me personally. I actually feel that unambiguous, clear monospace fonts (DejaVu, Fantasque) are easier to read in general, but I can't speak for others.

[mgrennan]

Yes they do if your dyslexia is also mixed with dysgraphia. Personally I find the very helpful.

[adam12]

The image on the left is pretty much what I see if I was reading "other perceptual tasks".

I just figured that was normal. I have always been a very slow reader though.