There’s Work Yet to Do
Due to his son’s dyslexia, award-winning Auckland author James Russell ensures his books are dyslexia friendly. Now he’s keen to see all other publications to do the same.
My son was diagnosed with dyslexia by SPELD while at primary school. Soon afterwards he began working with a SPELD teacher – the wonderful Maureen Julian-Miles – who patiently helped him through his own personal puzzle of learning to read and write. He thrived under her guidance, and it’s a testament to Maureen that at the age of 17 he still reads for pleasure.
As an author, I became mindful of dyslexic readers. I published my junior novel series The Dragon Defenders, diligently making sure that the text was 1.5 line-spaced with ragged right justification to make it easier to read. The chapters were short and the pages coloured cream rather than white to minimise the glare. However, the font thing didn’t register with me. I kept using the Times New Roman, which is notoriously challenging for dyslexic readers because of its complex letter shapes, including the small ‘tails’ or serifs. So, it was with some embarrassment that I learned of my mistake from a kind lady who gently mentioned it at a library event in Christchurch.
I had thousands of books in my storeroom so I couldn’t do anything right then, but with each reprint of one of the five Dragon Defenders titles I’ve changed the font to sans-serif (without serifs). That project continues.
During lockdown I wrote two novels for adults – Mine and Lines – and published both in a sans-serif font. They’re almost unique among adult fiction titles in that regard. My recent junior fiction series, Children of the Rush, is also published with a sans-serif font. For me, it has simply become a non-negotiable.
For some reason, the publishing world hasn’t grasped the idea that a fairly decent chunk of their adult customers (or potential customers) are dyslexic. They persist with serif fonts, either because that’s what they’ve always done, or through plain old snobbery. Whatever the reason, it’s just dumb.
Maybe I’m getting cantankerous in my old age, but I believe we can all be a bit more insistent on this. It’s a matter of accessibility. In the same way, someone in a wheelchair should be able to enter a public building, people with dyslexia should be catered for in education and in life. Teaching resources, classroom projector slides, study books – even bank loan agreements and insurance policies – should all be in dyslexic-friendly fonts. It’s a no-brainer.
If your children are school age, talk to their teachers about it. Hassle the principal to ensure it’s a school-wide policy. Insist on it.
Now that my son is older and I no longer help with his homework, I’m less attuned to the material that crosses his desk. I just took a peek at his NCEA Level 3 calculus workbook, and what do you know? Times New Roman.
There’s work to do yet.
James Russell is the best-selling author of 11 books for children and two novels for adults. You can check them out here.
