Dyslexia a learning disability? No: it’s an asset.

These might sound like consoling words for children who find school difficult, but that would be seriously to underestimate the advantages of dyslexic thinking.

“Dyslexia was a blessing in disguise for myself and I think that dyslexia is a blessing in disguise for all dyslexics even if they don’t realise it when they may be struggling at school,” is how the billionaire Sir Richard Branson puts it. He says he wouldn’t have created the Virgin empire had he not been dyslexic.

He's not alone. The academic literature on dyslexia challenges old-fashioned but widely-held ideas. Traditionally, and quite wrongly, it’s been seen solely as a “disability”.

The idea of the “dyslexic advantage” is a complete one-eighty on that idea. It doesn’t deny the challenges, but highlights the huge benefits. This more accurate framing of dyslexia should inform the way everyone thinks about it, from teachers to parents to employers to dyslexic people themselves.

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Unfortunately, lots of dyslexic people struggle to see their brain wiring as an asset because they haven’t been properly supported to manage it and express their true capabilities.

Dyslexia is a learning difference that arises from the way a person’s brain works. It’s associated with difficulties reading and spelling, but also with creativity and a better than average capacity in areas like lateral thinking, critical thinking and analysis, problem solving and visualising. These are........

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