This blog post explores how basketball’s appeal and meaning have evolved over time, and the life lessons this sport imparts.
Online, when netizens disagree, they often accuse each other of being “dyslexic.” However, people without dyslexia often lack a concrete understanding of the condition. There’s also a common misconception that “having dyslexia” means having low intelligence. Such social prejudice can deeply hurt children with dyslexia and lead to low self-esteem. Yet Albert Einstein is known to have had dyslexia, and many rumors about dyslexia are untrue. So what exactly is dyslexia, and what causes it?
The process of learning language is very different from the process of learning letters. The brain naturally acquires language using the fundamental code of sound, but letters are an unfamiliar code to the brain, requiring a decoding process. This process occurs in the brain’s posterior reading system, and there is a difference between someone learning letters for the first time and a skilled reader. Beginners distinguish letters one by one and connect them to sounds, while skilled readers recognize text in word units based on stored words, enabling much faster reading.
For individuals with congenital dyslexia, the ‘inferior frontal gyrus’ activates instead of the posterior reading system. This region controls pronunciation by regulating mouth shape, tongue position, and vocal cord use. While the posterior reading system distinguishes phonemes to read letters, the inferior frontal gyrus fails to distinguish phonemes and perceives letters as whole symbols. For example, a person with dyslexia perceives the word ‘apple’ as a single symbol rather than phonemes, making unfamiliar or misspelled words difficult to read. Actual dyslexia tests sometimes assess the ability to read unfamiliar phoneme combinations.
While acquired dyslexia exists alongside congenital dyslexia, it is rare. Acquired dyslexia can be broadly divided into peripheral dyslexia and central dyslexia. Peripheral dyslexia includes neglect dyslexia, ambiguous dyslexia, and single-letter reading dyslexia. Central dyslexia includes surface dyslexia, deep dyslexia, and meaningless reading dyslexia.
Among peripheral dyslexias, neglect dyslexia occurs in individuals with lesions in the right parietal lobe. They ignore one side of their visual field, misreading the beginning or end of words. Ambiguity dyslexia causes difficulty when letter spacing is narrow; when reading languages like English where phonemes are arranged side-by-side, they may merge two words together. Individuals with letter-by-letter dyslexia remain at a beginner level, unable to recognize words based on prior knowledge, making speed reading difficult.
Among central dyslexias, surface dyslexia often co-occurs with aphasia or alexia. Those with surface dyslexia read regular phonetic words well but struggle with words containing irregular phonemes. Deep dyslexia occurs with severe left-brain damage and is characterized by saying a word unrelated to the meaning after reading it. Reading dyslexia without comprehension refers to cases where one can read letters but fails to grasp their meaning.
While some types of dyslexia may be difficult to cure, it can sometimes be overcome through repeated learning starting at the phoneme level. Having dyslexia does not equate to low intelligence. In fact, playwright Wendy Wasserstein won a Pulitzer Prize despite dyslexia, and Thomas Edison and Pablo Picasso also had dyslexia. Andy Warhol, Leonardo da Vinci, and Auguste Rodin also struggled with dyslexia, yet they still achieved creative and innovative accomplishments. People with dyslexia often develop unique ways of recognizing and remembering letters, which can lead to creative thinking different from that of the general population. Some also suggest their visual abilities are superior to those of the average person.
It is estimated that about 10% of the global population experiences dyslexia, with 30% of them exhibiting symptoms severe enough to require treatment. Dyslexia is a problem more common and accessible than one might think, yet societal understanding of it remains insufficient. Our society needs to correctly understand dyslexia and correct misconceptions about it. This will help create an environment where people with dyslexia can openly discuss their symptoms and receive appropriate support.
