People with dyslexia and dyscalculia may have previously unheralded strengths, namely reduced bias against others based on characteristics such as their disability, race or gender. Not all the impacts of such conditions are as negative as many people might perceive them to be.

I’ve linked to the press release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/27546330241288164

From the linked article:

Dyslexia and dyscalculia are most commonly acknowledged as posing challenges linked to people’s literacy and numeracy.

However, a new study has shown those with the conditions may have previously unheralded strengths, namely reduced bias against others based on characteristics such as their disability, race or gender.

The results showed those with dyslexia exhibited significantly less implicit bias than those with no disability, something the researchers had predicted based on existing knowledge of the condition and its effects.

However, those with dyscalculia exhibited even less bias, compared to those with dyslexia and from the wider population.

The researchers say the results provide new insights into the development of people with conditions such as dyslexia and dyscalculia.

However, they say they are particularly striking in that they support previous suggestions that not all the impacts of such conditions are as negative as many people might perceive them to be.