‘Sit in the corner and don’t eat the crayons’: postgraduates with dyslexia and the dominant ‘lexic’ discourse

Abstract

The lack of cultural diversity in higher education is recognised by policy objectives and a current focus on the development of widening participation for a range of students, including those with disabilities. Amongst this group are those with dyslexia who might previously have been disenfranchised from formal education and under-represented within it. This paper explores the personal narratives and learner histories of six postgraduates and academics with dyslexia from their earliest memories of learning to their present experiences. It examines how literacy, as a dominant form of discourse, has defined concepts of academic ability resulting in the early exclusion of these learners from formal education. It is argued that this dominant discourse can be challenged by non-authorised, informal learning resulting in stories of resistance.

“If they can't tell the difference between duphalac and digoxin you've got patient safety issues“. Nurse Lecturers' constructions of students' dyslexic identities in nurse education

“…Lecturer H -If the students got the requirements and the significant points required to come in but they had a scribe to write for them you know how realistic is that for them because obviously as a registered nurse there going to have to make decisions and there issues about patient confidentially they're not going to be able to have an assistant with them. Lecturer I -....well if they can't read or write properly this is just broadly speaking then should they be dealing with sick people because perhaps they can't do a lot… dyslexia as fixed, construed as a constant phenomenon (Collinson and Penketh, 2010;Hughes and Paterson, 1997). Difficulties experienced because of dyslexia persist over time (Lawrence, 2009) however, appropriate interventions including accommodations and support from disability services can help ameliorate such difficulties (AHEAD, 2009).…”

Participation and experiences of students with dyslexia in higher education: a literature review with an Australian focus

“…Various authors have reported that people with dyslexia bring a range of valuable attributes, skills and aptitudes to higher education (Collinson & Penketh, 2010;Fink, 1998;Gilroy & Miles, 1996;Hutcheon & Wolbring, 2012;Jordan, 1989;Kirby, Silvestri, Allingham, Parrila, & La Fave, 2008;Lock & Layton, 2001;Madriaga, 2007). These include creativity, high-level reasoning and critical thinking skills, excellent problemsolving skills, deep approaches to learning, lateral thinking, tenacity and determination.…”

“…A number of international studies have explored the experiences of students with dyslexia in higher education (Collinson & Penketh, 2010;Griffin & Pollak, 2009;Madriaga, 2007;Mortimore & Crozier, 2006;Oga & Haron, 2012). However, only one Australian study on this topic (Tanner, 2009) has been published.…”

“…The authors recommended introducing awareness training for university lecturers and better systems for liaison between university departments. Collinson and Penketh (2010) conducted in-depth learner history interviews with six postgraduate students and academics with dyslexia in UK universities. It is not stated how the participants were recruited, but the authors indicated that all but one of the participants were members of an advocacy group.…”

Virtual Environment for Diagnosing Dyslexic Children' Visual Spatial Potential

“…Such a lack of dedicated applications is regrettable, given that many researchers agree that dyslexic individuals have unique visual-spatial (VS) skill that needs to be recognized so that they can lead a better life [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Furthermore, a group of researchers has highlighted that the process of diagnosing dyslexic children' potentials or skills in their early childhood is important to ensure their innate talents can identified and nurtured, which can then be tailored to appropriate courses or programs to help maximize their learning [11,19,[20][21][22].…”