OpenStreetMap for the dyslexic
osm4dys.org
osm4dys.org
Switching that font to lowercase doesn't help much (didn't see the link at the top of the page initially, not until I went back to the page in fact). That font feels like my monitor is badly in need of calibration. I get that they're adding a horizontal rule to aid readers to follow each line, but it just looks weird! Maybe things would be different if I grew up with it. Plus I've put in tonnes of time and effort reading 'normal' fonts.
Pro tips:
-Line spacing greatly helps things (things get cryptic when it's removed).
-Small fonts make things harder to read (right now my browser is at 150%, have a 43" monitor so why not). I generally increase the font 20% (even when I have no eyesight problems).
-Contrast! Bright coloured/ contrasted backgrounds (such as black on red) make make things much harder to reader to read (I left that typo in, brain was still thinking about harder and read (er... did it again here) at the same time)). Feels as though there's too much info coming in simultaneously. Similar with black on white, but not as bad. That could just be an ADD/ ASD thing (there's a surprising amount of crossover) as I literally hate the white from some LED bulbs (10k+) - it's piercing.
-Avoid overly long paragraphs (tend to get a little lost in the wall of text).
Dyslexia is a funny thing, it affects people in different ways to different degrees (a friend of mine is a bank manager, yet he can barely write a text message). It's taken me a while to develop strategies, such as: I read any any [duplicate word] text I write at least three times, yet I still have errors. Often sound words in my head as I write, and some words I constantly get wrong. Such as 'field', have to remember it as 'fI-elD' (hard i at the start) - Kind of ironic as the secondary school I went to had field in its name (luckily it was embossed on my jumper:D) and now I constantly work with databases. At school my literacy was appalling, at college it was embarrassing (with tutor corrections on every line), wasn't on uni/ after that I started to get a handle on things. In my thirties I still feel I'm improving, people often judge intelligence in people's ability to write. I'm sure some of my teachers would bet good money that I'd never be able to touch-type (although I'd be lost without spellcheck).
If anyone knows a text reader that isn't a pain in the a (able to read a paragraph or article, and not follow my cursor as I change applications). I'm all ears! ;)
Do you mean a text to speech reader, or a reading tool that helps with dyslexia more generally?
I'm not that bothered about speech to text, as products I've tried in the past often end up more cumbersome than the problem they solve. I might try again as the has been an explosion in machine learning recently, so maybe technology has advanced to be more natural & accurate.
1: http://www.beelinereader.com/individual
You can read Kindle books using our iPad app and browser extensions (via the Kindle Cloud Reader). Both tools also work for news articles or arbitrary websites.
I was identified as being "dyslexic" as a child, I had difficulty learning to read - but at some point I had an "aha" moment that I still remember very clearly even though I was very young: "english is full of completely illogical inconsistent nonsense, it's largely just a memory game combined with a bunch of very subtle rules", but of course as a child no one ever explicitly tells you this, I can only assume most people either just grok that or put up with it unconsciously without effort. As soon as I realised this it was much easier to progress and also more generally modulate my natural tendency to look for the assumed presence of logic and consistency in other systems created by humans - basically the "accepting random shit" filter that the majority of people seem to have by default, I don't think I could have carved my own career into the obscurity of computers and technology without that skill that others seem to just have, but it's also handy to maintain my original perspective because it helps me see flaws, weaknesses, inconsistency etc in designs very quickly.
The above list reminded me of this, and although I wouldn't say it's "wrong", I am pretty sure everyone has a preference for those attributes: consistency (same colours representing the same things) and only relevant info on the screen etc - so in short perhaps it's just that dyslexics are more sensitive to bullshit and poor design, but being one doesn't make me an expert.
[EDIT]
Alternate hypothesis: I'm not dyslexic and was misdiagnosed, after all there is a whole multidimensional spectrum of non-neurotypicals and dyslexia sounds like a pretty arbitrary category.
It's like some kind of naive idealism as a child but at a very low level, then you are presented these two systems for the same language one which you pick up naturally through mimicry and the other learned consciously is supposed to represent it, with some semi-consistent rules and then a million seemingly arbitrary exceptions that you are supposed to ignore and learn.
I'm not saying you or I are particularly special in that ability (i'm sure many people notice these things), but the problem is if you notice these things in the wrong order, more specifically before you have the tools to be accepting of it: now that i'm older I can understanding the origin of these things (their evolution) and even being able to appreciate their subtleties as linguistic flourish rather than merely irritating inconsistency. The same goes for all the other crazy "systems" that have been invented, anywhere that a system has some kind of evolution and social interplay it's riddled with strange things that you would never design into it, if you are an extreme idealist this will drive you mad, but understanding it as an inevitable effect of the context of these systems makes it much more palatable - from a kind of "chaos theory" perspective.
As an aside, I have heard that German is phonetically very logical compared to English.
Most people do not even notice. They live their entire lives without knowing this.
It normally comes as a surprise that the hardest obstacle to natural language based AI is this, and not some well defined problem.
It isn't arbitrary, but the definition is so broad that it is almost meaningless. It isn't even a category of disorders that are grouped by symptoms, they are grouped by how those symptoms manifest themselves when trying to read. Basically you have dyslexia if you have trouble reading or learning to read, have normal intelligence, and don't have any vision issues. Therefore the only real way to be misdiagnosed with it is if there is some other more specific undiagnosed disability that impacts intelligence or if there is some undiagnosed vision problem like not identifying a child needs glasses. It also means it is possible that taking a different approach to learning "cured" you of your dyslexia.
You are absolutely right, "arbitrary" wasn't really what I meant.
> It isn't even a category of disorders that are grouped by symptoms, they are grouped by how those symptoms manifest themselves when trying to read. Basically you have dyslexia if you have trouble reading or learning to read... Therefore the only real way to be misdiagnosed with it is if there is some other more specific undiagnosed disability that impacts intelligence...
I've always been deeply suspicious of broad labelling through analysis of fairly non-specific cognitive symptoms. Even with the consideration you mention: excluding other physiological and neurological factors.
Reading the various definitions of different forms of dyslexia now which suggest certain causes - I don't feel like any of them applied to me. I think the failure in these attempts of classifying neuro-type or whatever is the expectation for little variation, and I don't mean in terms of a so-called "spectrum" I mean because the brain is incomprehensibly complex to us, is a composite of all kinds of "skills" that are subtly different in each individual, this is what I mean't by a multidimensional spectrum. It seems to me that even while trying to identify very specific manifestations of a symptom it's going to be easy to mix up completely separate underlying causes.
1. Highlight the text I'm reading. That text is HORRIFIC when highlighted so I can follow what I'm reading 2. Make my window thinner so my eyes have less travel distance from left to right. It's harder for my eye to wander to other lines etc 3. Line spacing! For the same reason as above.
This site doesn't do 3, 1 has overlapping font with highlight making it harder to read and I think does a poor job of 2...
Like this honestly makes me feel like I'm a kid again and my mam is telling me something she read in some stupid magazine that's taking advantage of her desire to be a good mother. She wants to help me but the advice in the magazine about curing dyslexia with Angostura bitters isn't going to work and feels like a cruel joke played by whoever wrote that article... Just like that incident, there was ZERO evidence and the about section of the site has ZERO evidence as to whether any of this works
(I get that all-caps might help, but that font?)
EDIT: Apart from that, it's a cool idea though
I do find it strange that a font designed for readability (such as Consolas -my fav for any text editor), isn't mentioned as a readable font for dyslexics (or why it isn't). Monospacing improves the readability of certain characters (i,l,t) words with this combination of characters (ill, lit, readability) often end up getting very compressed.
People have been shopping around these fonts for years, first paid, and now free but in both cases the claims that they help aren't supported. I'd be particularly interested to see their effectiveness Vs. a placebo.
Except there's a study looking at it, with 12 participants, that found it didn't help. That's the best data we have, and current data suggests it doesn't help.
If you can find a study about Dyslexic fonts which supports their usage that would be compelling. Until then, that's what we have.
Also, the study found that it didn't help the participants.
Apparently there have been a few studies, and a thesis, investigating "dyslexic fonts", which found no real benefit. I can't find any evidence that OpenDyslexic and the like are helpful, meanwhile.
Looking at 'normal' terminal fonts now is jarring, they seem so spindly and don't form 'word shapes' as readily.
Also the abysmally loose kerning and undifferentiated leading make everything run together into a scattered wall of text, which probably doesn't help.
I hope they merge them as it looks a lot better to my (admittedly non-dyslexic) eyes.
I am allegedly dyslexic (still not sure if the school just labelled me as that since I had some trouble spelling as a 5 year old, of if I really am dyslexic) and that page is a nightmare to read. It genuinely makes my eyes hurt to try and read that combination of font and spacing - I dont want to criticise like this, but unfortunately its tough for me to look at that and read it.
I'd recommend improving things by:
- try changing the background to white, and change the foreground to a dark-grey (not 100% black).
- use large line-spacing and padding to break things out a bit to make it easier on the eye.
- As well as an option of being all-caps or not, offer sans and serif font options.
I've read about it several times but since I don't have dyslexia I don't know if it actually works
It looks like they recognize that they are not solving for all forms of dyslexia, but rather a few specific symptoms.
https://www.dafont.com/tf2-secondary.font?text=The+quick+bro...
I have dyslexia and I've found that I can read so quickly with high retention using this method, and having specialized software for it is nicer.
It might help anyone here who suffers from the same thing that I do.
Email me at cammarata.nick@gmail.com if you want to be an early user!
The flags were an interesting choice instead of country names. I can see how this could be easier to parse than denser country labels, but it does required knowledge of flags.
Other than that is the main difference just the use of the dyslexic font and a reduction in label density?