Dafydd Henke-Reed, Principal Accessibility and Usability Consultant with AbilityNet shares his expert advice about dyslexia and technology. Dafydd champions how much technology has enabled him with his dyslexia. Mixing personal stories and professional experiences, this talk goes beyond spellcheckers and explore the benefit technology can have on people with dyslexia. It also examines digital barriers to avoid, alongside good practice for enabling dyslexic users online.

1. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
How technology can help
people with dyslexia
Dafydd Henke-Reed, AbilityNet
Twitter: @o_dafydd

2. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
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• Shownotes, a transcript and recording:
www.abilitynet.org.uk/dyslexia-webinar
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Welcome

3. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
Hello
Dafydd (Welsh for David)
Senior accessibility consultant.
Complain about websites. “Your code is bad
and you should feel bad” – me, apparently.
Dyslexic.
3

4. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
Here Be Dragons
These are all personal and
idiosyncratic experiences.
This is what dyslexia is
like for me. Just me.
Don't base your output
on anecdotal information.

5. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
What Dyslexia Isn’t
It isn't like tripping on acid. Unlike "This is what reading
is like if you have dyslexia", CNN.

6. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
What Dyslexia Is…
• Super broad. Also knows as…
• Affects reading and spelling.
• Difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory
and processing speed.
• Co-occurring difficulties like motor co-ordination,
mental calculation, and concentration.
Identifying and Teaching Children and Young People with Dyslexia and
Literacy Difficulties’, via About the British Dyslexia Association

7. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
…For Me
Brain struggles with information that eyes
send. Happens with input and output.
Neurological processing.
Limited short-term memory and digit span.
Not "word blindness". Words don't dance.

8. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
25% Extra Time!
Helps. But...
Responsible for self-correcting.
It's not fun (25% more exam time …).
Others think you lessened their achievement. Promotes imposter
syndrome, "Am I only here because I got extra time...?".

9. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
Technology!
Writing Support:
Auto-correct
Global Auto-Correct
Grammarly
Autocomplete
...

10. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
Gee, Thanks Technology!
Speech to text:
Dragon Naturally Speaking
Siri / Alexa
Office Dictate
Mac OS / iOS Dictation
...

11. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
Gee, Thanks Technology!
Text to speech:
Read&Write,
ClaroRead,
Office Speak,
Mac OS / iOS Speech,
...

12. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
Communication Shift
Modern Methods:
• Icons (emojis, reactions, stickers)
• Animation (GIFs)
• Video (Skype, FaceTime)
• Audio (Discord)
• Pictures (SnapChat)

13. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
Communication Shift
Messenger:
• Audio Call
• Video Call
• Picture
• Video Clip
• Audio Clip
• Voice
• Location
• Stickers
• GIFs
• Emojis

14. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
Copy Challenges
Unstructured text (e.g. no headings, lists, etc.)
Images of text.
Homonyms ("fair was fair") and homophones ("pair of pears").
Abstract or overly verbose language.
No alternatives to text for input and output.

15. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
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16. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
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17. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
What Can You Do?
Be succinct. Be simple.
Section content.
Use semantics (e.g. headings, lists, etc.)
Provide alternatives (e.g. icons, graphs, videos, etc.)

18. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
What Can You Do?
Provide alternatives (e.g. post code or drop a pin on a map)
Support multiple forms of authentication (e.g. touch ID).
Avoid custom keyboards and support autofill (e.g.
autocomplete="username", username: UITextContentType).
Recruit user testers outside of core target audience.

19. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
Thank You
😊Dafydd Henke-Reed
@o_dafydd
Dafydd.henke-reed@abilitynet.org.uk

20. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
• @Mark
Thank you
Training: 10% discount code for webinar attendees: Dyslexia10
Book now: www.abilitynet.org.uk/training
Training courses coming up in October include:
• How to create accessible documents and presentations
• Creating accessible graphics and social content
• Accessibility for developers: Structure and semantics
• Accessibility for developers: ARIA and the Accessibility Tree

21. How technology can help people with dyslexia September 2020
• @Mark
Thank you
• AbilityNet newsletter: abilitynet.org.uk/newsletter
• Accessibility services: abilitynet.org.uk/accessibility-services
• Next webinars: abilitynet.org.uk/webinars
6 October: Accessibility Insights with Bryn Anderson from Sainsbury’s
20 October: How to do accessible social media