Introduction

Under the UK Disability Discrimination legislation, HEIs and their staff have a legal duty not to discriminate against individuals on the grounds of disability and to make 'reasonable adjustments' to facilitate access to education, employment and services.

Dyslexia is a recgnised disability and the purpose of this leaflet is to provide brief guidance to staff on how they can play their part in enabling students with dyslexia to demonstrate their true potential.

Indicators of dyslexia

Although dyslexia affects individuals in subtly different ways, common indicators of dyslexia are as follows:

• Significant discrepancy between written and verbal performance.
• Mis-spelling in hand-written work; erratic spelling.
• Difficulty in getting ideas down on paper.
• Problems in writing with sentence structure, organisation of information, grammar and punctuation (not due to lack of experience).
• Problems with ordering ideas or facts sequentially.
• Slow speed of reading and/or writing.
• Difficulties with short-term memory which can cause problems with accuarate note-taking.
• Need to re-read frequently.

Making 'reasonable adjustments'

You can help dyslexic students towards equality of access to their courses by making the following adjustments:

• Produce handouts on tinted paper.  People with dyslexia sometimes experience visual disturbance and they may find that white paper can cause glare and/or that black print on this background dances or blurs.  A pale buff shade seems to be helpful to most people.
• Provide handouts/lecture notes before lectures and/or post them on the Intranet.
• Use a sans serif font such as Arial in at least a 12 pt for clarity.
• Welcome their use of a Dictaphone to record lectures/seminars.
• Ensure all guidelines for assignments are unambiguously written and clearly presented.
• In long reading lists direct students to core texts and chapters.  Help them to access alternative forms of information if available, eg audio cassette or DVD.

Click here for a printable guide to providing materials in alternative formats.

What other help is available?

Home students who have been formally assessed as having dyslexia are able to apply to their funding body for Disabled Students' Allowances to meet the cost of support required to help them access the course on a comparable level with their peers.  Subject to an assessment of need, DSAs can meet the additional costs incurred as a result of their specific learning difficulty.  DSAs can also meet the cost of one-to-one sessions with a specialist Dyslexia Tutor, which aim to help students become more effective learners by improving their skills and confidence.

What can you do

If you think that a student you teach may be dyslexic, please encourage them to arrange an appointment with one of the Dyslexia Tutors in the Dean of Students' Office to discuss their difficulties.  In the meantime, a useful website on this subject can be found at www.jarmin.com/demos/course/dyslexia/index.html

For further information or advice please contact one of the Dyslexia Tutors in the Dean of Students' Office: Calvin Hoy or Simon Andrews.