Never let anyone tell you that sharing an idea can't make a difference.
Dyslexia is a learning disability that impacts each person differently. People with dyslexia often have trouble reading because the words printed on the page don’t stay anchored for them. Sometimes, similar letters (like d and b, or p and q) get flipped. Sometimes the words seem to swim around the page, so it’s hard to grasp the meaning of whole sentences and paragraphs. Sometimes it’s difficult for dyslexic people to grab hold of the sounds implicit in the words they’re reading. Since we all “play” the sounds of words in our minds so we can understand what they mean, this can be a serious problem for people with dyslexia.
Based on my research, the incidence of dyslexia seems to be related to the language you grow up speaking and reading. For instance, dyslexia has a lower incidence rate for Japanese speakers than it does for native English speakers. In the English-speaking world, that incidence rate is 10-17%. Added to that, 98% of people with learning disabilities experience dyslexia as part of their struggle. Given that the current world population of native English speakers is 400 million people, this means that up to 68 million people experience dyslexia to some degree, right now.
Peter has mild dyslexia and more pronounced dyscalculia (basically, dyslexia with numbers).
Ever since he started using a dyslexia-friendly font on his ebook, he’s been enjoying reading immensely, and has been devouring many, many books.
“What is a dyslexia-friendly font?” you might ask.
Essentially, it’s a font created specifically for dyslexic people that helps to anchor the letters and words onto a page. A dyslexia-friendly font includes more space between the letters. It also provides a unique shape for each letter, so that it’s less likely the brain will swap a d with a q, or a p with a q. The swapped letters just won’t look right. Here’s a sample of an open-source dyslexia-friendly font:
Open Dyslexic, a dyslexia-friendly font
And, focussing on some of those problem letters, here’s a comparative sample:
Comparing fonts
A couple of years ago, Peter had an idea. He asked me to use my book creation software to make a paper-based version of the ESV Bible in a dyslexia-friendly font for him. (There is almost nothing out there for dyslexic people, save for the KJV and an odd open source translation I’d never heard of before.)
“Why would he need a paper-based Bible?” you might ask. “He already could access the Bible on his e-book.”
I’m glad you asked!
The human brain processes words on a page very differently from digital text.
Though digital text is a preferred method for scanning news articles and searching quickly for specific information, reading information on the printed page provides its own unique benefits. As literacy professor Anne Mangen says, “[Print reading] is kind of like meditation — focusing our attention on something still.” [1]
Lauren Singer Trakhman, Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of Outreach for the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at the University of Maryland, has studied the effects of paper versus digital media on student comprehension. She has found that although there was no difference in students’ absorption of main ideas, small details are often overlooked. “Digital reading impairs comprehension, particularly for longer, more complex texts," says Mangen. "This may be because of the shallowing hypothesis — constant exposure to fast-paced, digital media trains the brain to process information more rapidly and less thoroughly.” [2]
If you’ve spent much time with me, you’ll know I’m a go-big-or-go-home sort of person. If I was going to create a dyslexia-friendly Bible for Peter, I’d want to make it available to all dyslexic people.
So I contacted Crossway and was told that there was no plan to create such a resource, and that Peter could use the dyslexia-friendly font on his ebook to read the Bible.
Over the course of several emails, I made a case for the need for a printed dyslexia-friendly Bible, and was told that I could apply for permissions to do it myself. Brittany from customer service also mentioned that she would log my request with the Bible production team. That was in April 2023. We were on furlough and very busy, so I decided to take this up again when we returned to Japan.
It took me a while, but when we got back I assembled a stronger pitch to sell the necessity of a dyslexia-friendly Bible, including statistics and the results from cognitive studies on how paper-based reading is so much better for deep thinking and retention of material. I sent off my package in late 2023.
By January 2024, I heard back from Crossway. Unbeknownst to us, they had decided to run with this idea! They’ve now finished creating a dyslexia-friendly Bible, and it’s slated for release next month!
Messages from Crossway
With great excitement, we’ve preordered our copy of this new, wonderful resource. If you struggle with dyslexia and would like to order a copy too, you can get it here:
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We’re so grateful to Crossway for hearing our request [3], and acting on it so quickly. It would likely have taken us several years to properly format the entire Bible, and our efforts would have had nowhere near the global reach that Crossway’s will have.
“One plants, another waters, but God causes the growth.” We’re reminded of those lines penned by the apostle Paul:
So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one but each will receive his own reward according to his own labour.
—1 Corinthians 3:6-8
In this endeavour, we have laboured very little. Crossway has done most of the work. For us, the reward is seeing this idea come into being. We love how Jesus uses each member of His body to expand the reach of His good news of love and hope to people around the world. Please join us in celebrating!
NOTES
[1] Kerry Benson, “Reading on Paper Versus Screens: What’s the Difference?” BrainFacts.org, last modified July 28, 2020, https://www.brainfacts.org/neuroscience-in-society/tech-and-the-brain/2020/reading-on-paper-versus-screens-whats-the-difference-072820.
[2] Ibid.
[3] And many thanks to Brittany from customer service for putting this on Crossway’s radar!
