Where once people with dyslexia were considered to have learning difficulties they are now more commonly described as having learning differences. How and why this subtle change in terminology came about, I do not know – I only became aware of it in summer 2006. On the surface it seems to smack of political correctness. Hopefully, there is something more substantive to this change than lip service to some prevailing (pseudo-)creed.
Whereas the term learning difficulties seems to imply that somebody finds learning intellectually difficult, the term learning differences carries no such stigma. People with dyslexia and other learning differences are not necessarily of inferior intelligence or ability. Sometimes it is quite the opposite. The phrase learning differences is an improvement in that it suggests that what differentiates individuals is simply how they go about certain learning tasks, not that they cannot learn.
Dyslexia support groups are often at pains to point to celebrities and other well known and successful people who happen to be dyslexic. (Click here to see some examples.) While this is meant to show that people with dyslexia can be at least as successful as those without, I find that this approach seems to imply that people with differences and who are at a disadvantage can be the same as people without that disadvantage. To my mind, that emphasises - albeit in a tacit manner - one's disadvantages too much. I'm more in favour of celebrating difference – and other forms of plurality – and trying to find ways in which differences can contribute to the greater good.
Saying that one has learning differences does not make being different any easier. The old term learning difficulties did, at least, point to the fact that certain things were not easy. If one reads slowly, as I do, a much greater amount of time has to be devoted to that task. This inevitably means taking time out from other activities.
When people refer to learning differences (and learning difficulties) they are almost invariably referring to learning by transmission i.e. what might be called school-type learning: the passing on of something already known. In higher education, while this type of learning certainly takes place there is also learning by research, that is, learning by finding out something that is not already known. In relation to research-based learning, there is no equivalent to the terms learning differences and learning difficulties. Nobody, so far as I am aware, has coined the phrases research (or researcher) difficulties or research (or researcher) differences. Yet, if one has differences with regards learning by the transmission of known information, then one must also have differences when it comes to research-based learning. Differences in ways of looking at a research problem can be highly productive. Here, I believe, the dyslexic is at a distinct advantage.
Having conducted research, one must then pass on one's findings. It is very easy to overlook the fact that one's ability to do this is an integral feature of having learning differences. Indeed, it may be more accurate to stick with the word difficulty. Passing on research findings can be quite difficult if the means of expression available do not suit one's learning differences.
Interestingly, I do not find writing to be a problem until I am required to write according to a prescribed format. Confronted with having to conform to a prescribed format, something happens to my ability to write. This is not the same as writers' block; I am still able to write on the same subject when no format is prescribed. I don't understand it, but looking at myself as dispassionately as possible, I find it a fascinating phenomenon. In order to write, it follows that one must find a way of writing that avoids the problems associated with prescribed formats while remaining sufficiently ordered so as to be readable by others.
Exactly how I solve this problem, I do not know. Finding such a strategy; finding a way of successfully assimilating and passing on research findings is a primary aim of having this website.