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Why architecture is starting to recognise dyslexia as an enhanced ability rather than a learning difficulty
By Helen Castle
The RJBA Journal
Dyslexia has been revealed to enhance people’s ability to discover, invent, and create. It has even been described as a superpower. Helen Castle talks to those working with dyslexia.
Dyslexia is most often diagnosed when people encounter learning difficulties at school, largely with reading and writing. However, this perception of dyslexia as a neurological disorder defined by its deficiencies is shifting.
Recent research by Helen Taylor at the University of Cambridge has shown that in an evolutionary context, it is a vital tool essential to human adaptive success. People with dyslexia are better at exploring the unknown—and have ‘enhanced abilities’ when it comes to discovery, invention, and creativity.
Areas of enhanced ability described by Taylor include a greater capacity to reason in multiple dimensions, as well as to detect and investigate complex systems, including the identification of patterns and analogies.
People with dyslexia also often demonstrate heightened creativity—visualising, connecting, and delivering unusual combinations of ideas and innovative thinking.
This explains why people with dyslexia are drawn to professions such as architecture, engineering, and entrepreneurism, says Taylor.
No accurate data exists for the percentage of architects affected by dyslexia, although anecdotal evidence indicates that it is higher than the 10% in the general population.
Awareness of dyslexia within the profession is strong, with high profile architects such as Richard Rogers having acted as important role models.
Click here to read the entire article.
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June 2024
