Dyslexia-friendly fonts: Using Open Dyslexic to increase exhibit access

Abstract

In two recent exhibits at Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, Texas A&M University, we made the decision to try to increase the level of access to both the objects and their explanatory texts, for patrons who suffer from dyslexia. One of our then-student workers, herself dyslexic, proposed to library administration that our exhibits would be more welcoming if we had a way to provide for dyslexics and ease their exhibit experience. We agreed that this was an excellent idea and, in fact, kicked ourselves for not having thought of it earlier. We present this small summary of our experience in order that other institutions might see it as a useful case study for adapting their own exhibits or public programming to meet the needs of dyslexic patrons and visitors.

Informing the Design of an Accessible Arabic Typeface: A Visual Analysis to Identify Letterform Features of Dyslexia-Friendly Typefaces

“…Individuals with dyslexia experience visual distortions in the first stage of the reading cycle; therefore, it is imperative to underscore that dyslexia-friendly typefaces are designed as an assistive tool to help alleviate the visual distortions and eventually reduce the visual and cognitive load in a dyslexic reading experience [26]. The special letterform features of dyslexia-friendly Latin typefaces arguably create an enhanced reading experience for individuals with dyslexia, as confirmed by several academic studies [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]; the studies examined the legibility of the dyslexia-friendly typefaces via gross measures such as overall reading rate, word accuracy, and other methods such as eye movement measures. Although most studies agree on the positive impact dyslexia-friendly typefaces have on reading performance, several argue that a specified typeface designed for dyslexia has no impact and it is merely the typographic settings of text spacing that determine whether the typeface is dyslexia-friendly or not [39][40][41][42].…”

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“…OpenDyslexic is an open source font created to increase the readability of texts for individuals with dyslexia (Laddusaw and Brett, 2019). The OpenDyslexic font is designed to assist with the most common reading difficulties in dyslexics.…”

“…In the OpenDyslexic font, this problem was tried to be solved by giving fullness in different directions to make the letters distinguishable from each other (see Figures 1 and 2). According to Laddusaw and Brett (2019), the design of letters with fullness in different directions and their unique shapes help prevent the mind of the dyslexic reader from moving and turning the letters. The OpenDyslexic font has been widely used on many platforms such as Wikipedia, Amazon Kindle Paperwhite and Koboe Reader, since it is open source after its design (Laddusaw and Brett, 2019).…”

The Effect of OpenDyslexic Font on Fluent Reading and Reading Comprehension Skills of Students with Dyslexia

“…The first of these is the confusion of letters that are similar to each other, as in the example of 'b' and 'd'. In the OpenDyslexic font, this problem was tried to be solved by giving fullness in different directions to make the letters distinguishable from each other (see Figures 1 and 2). According to Laddusaw and Brett (2019), the design of letters with fullness in different directions and their unique shapes help prevent the mind of the dyslexic reader from moving and turning the letters. The OpenDyslexic font has been widely used on many platforms such as Wikipedia, Amazon Kindle Paperwhite and Koboe Reader, since it is open source after its design (Laddusaw and Brett, 2019).…”