Page 9 - SEN115 - November/December 2021

SEN news
This font simulates what it’s like to have dyslexia
Graphic designer Daniel Britton has designed a font which gives viewers an impression of what it is like for those who suffer from Dyslexia. He has produced a font which, when formed into complete sentences, presents words as a challenge to read in order to emulate exactly how frustrating dyslexia can be.
As someone with dyslexia, believing it to be misunderstood and under-researched, Britton designed the font in his final year at university to raise awareness of the condition.
“For most people with dyslexia, letters and numbers do not jump around on the page and the colours remain the same,” Britton said. “It is simply a breakdown in communication between the eye and the brain. You can see the information, you can see each letter perfectly but there is something in your mind that is stopping or slowing the process of information.”
To slow down a non-dyslexic person’s reading speed, Britton removed 40% of each letter’s lines, rendering sentences a struggle to read. He notes that his font doesn’t show what a dyslexic individual sees when looking at text, rather it recreates the experience—mainly frustration—when reading.
According to Dyslexia International, dyslexia affects over 700 million people worldwide. Impacting a person’s ability to read, write and spell, this learning difficulty can have a knock-on effect in academic success and their self-esteem.
Individuals with dyslexia are affected to different degrees, and it should be noted that the above graphics are just his representation of the condition.
You can find more of Daniel Britton’s designs on his website.
https://bit.ly/3aO16tu
New Policy Briefing on Care Leavers
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A policy briefing on the lifelong health and well-being of care leavers has been published by the Nuffield Foundation and the International Centre for Lifecourse Studies at UCL, which shows a clear need for joined-up thinking.
From the sample of data considered, the authors of the briefing found that the chances of care leavers enjoying the same health, social and economic advantages as other adults are deeply unequal.
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The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care recently found that “there is much more we can do to help children who have been in care progress to further and higher education or find a job or home, acknowledging it might sometimes take longer than their peers.” The briefing research confirms and reinforces this finding. It recommends that all policy development demonstrates a society- and government-wide commitment to support the needs of care leavers.
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