Dyslexia, diversity, inclusion, neuro diversity and vivaladifference



Picture above logos for Dyslexia Pathways CIC, Unique Dyslexic and Social Enterprise Scotland

 
Hi de hi blog readers. I hope you are all well and the world is being good to you.

Just a couple of little blogger hints from me here. I add captions to my photos for people who use text to speech screen readers to make my blog more accessible.

I only wish I could add a screen reader such as browse aloud but so far I have not found a screen reader widget or app that will work in blogger.

I also try and use a dyslexia friendly font. I used Verdana size 12 or 14 together with different background colours to again make my blog more accessible.

Here is a funny dyslexia short story lol I have been calling verdana veranda for ages and wondering why I was getting quizzical looks from people when I talked about fonts. lol.

I only wish I had the time and space to make more audio or visual blogs but they take me such a long time to produce. Its not really a techy issue its remembering a script lol. I think I will make a visual blog next week. 

Being dyslexia friendly can cost next to nothing and has many benefits

There are some easy things dyslexics like myself, people, parents and organisations can do to support people who are dyslexic that cost nothing or very little to  implement.

I personally find staring at a white computer screen and black text quite a strain on the eyes as well as difficult to read. So the hints below are good for all not just for dyslexics.

This includes finding a background colour which is dyslexia friendly. This is a bit trial and error because every dyslexic's dyslexia is unique to the individual so solutions are unique to the individual.

Personally I like the background colour to my blog page but I also like pastel colours like beige, blue or yellow.

Different colour printing paper is also helpful also not only for employees but for customers, clients and trainees.

Changing the font size is also a fabtastic strategy. Personally I like comic sans best but that has gone out of fashion so to speak so now I use verdana but ariel and century gothic are dyslexia friendly fonts. But its finding the font and solutions that work for you that are best and these can be found by trial end error.

Its good for dyslexic employees, good for dyslexic customers, good for business and good for inclusion and a companies reputation. A win win all round and it cost nothing or very little to implement.

I have recently, after much struggle, managed to persuade my bank to send my bank statements, emails and letters in a dyslexia friendly format. I also requested the financial ombudsmen to do the same and they agreed to do so.  



Dyslexia friendly fonts


Lots of ups and downs

The past few months have been eventful but difficult. I am not running dyslexia awareness training and that's going ok. We have run two out of four dyslexia awareness training sessions in Fife and had nothing but positive feedback. I would like to run others in Edinburgh and Dundee but we just do not have to funding to promote this properly or run them.

I am going to be focussing on promoting other dyslexia support services. I have got a one year license to use Quickscan for dyslexia screening and Studyscan for dyslexia assessments. It cost £350 for a year and this came out of the Foundation Scotland budget. So we are going to try low as possible costs screening and assessments.  

If I could find suitable funding I would provide this for free but alas could not find any. As a social enterprise we have to make money just like any other business and any profits we make, when we make them, has to be put back into the business to run our projects. But I also have to live, to pay bills etc. If I don't make money for myself and for Dyslexia Pathways CIC then Dyslexia Pathways CIC closes down simple as that I am afraid.

At Dyslexia Pathways CIC, the CIC stands for Community Interest Company, we believe social enterprise and the social model of dyslexia offers and innovating way forward for all dyslexics.

Our year long Unique Dyslexic Get Creative project was all done by 15 volunteers, including myself. I do a lot of work on our social media, web site, work on committees to promote our social model of dyslexia vision at the Scottish parliament all on a voluntary basis.

I volunteer on the Goodison Group and Futures Forum and a couple other committees at the Scottish Government. We cannot even claim travel costs which in my view means you only get people going to these committees who can afford to go. Not very inclusive I think. 

We have our online shop selling dyslexia positive tee shirt and hoodies. The main problem here is we have no marketing budget at all. We need a better cheaper way to bring them to market.

We are slowly slowly moving forward with our dyslexia / neuro difference hub. I have a couple people who are interested in getting involved but realistically we need 6 to 8 people to really push on with the project.

So if there is anyone out there with experience of starting up a project,, of writing funding bids and looking for funding, has experience of social media, running web sites etc please give us a holler 01592 756 187. We are based in Fife by the way.

If anyone would like to volunteer a little of their time to spread the word about our dyslexia online shop and our donate social crowd funding campaign that would help.

So things are moving along but we need, I need things to be happening now lol.

Anyways that's enough for this blog

Peace love and groovyness to all in the dyslexic and other neuro difference communities and all those who support and love them.

PS below is an idea for dyslexia friendly colours to try our for yourselves.



Which is your dyslexia friendly colour?