Dyslexia+and+Twitter

**Dyslexia and Twitter**
An individual with Dyslexia has a difficult time learning to read or interpret words, letters, and symbols, though it is not an intellectual disability, meaning it often does not affect one’s cognitive abilities. Someone with Dyslexia has described it as having all of the letters jumping around as you are trying to read and decipher what is on the page. It often takes someone with Dyslexia a longer time to read what is on a page, therefore affecting comprehension from what they read. Twitter, a heavily text-based social media platform, can be a huge challenge for someone with Dyslexia to tackle and feel as if they are contributing like the rest of the users.

Since Twitter has a maximum length of 140 characters per tweet, someone with Dyslexia could concentrate on fewer words that they need to read and comprehend at a time. Many people post pictures or videos on Twitter, which would make it easier for those individuals with Dyslexia to comprehend the content that is in their feed. A more innovative way that Twitter is being used for people with Dyslexia is using it as a resource. There are many, many profiles for companies, individuals, blogs, or teachers that provide ideas and resources for parents or other teachers of children with Dyslexia. So while the user with Dyslexia may not find Twitter especially useful, there are hash tags and profiles that could make it easier for those people that care for someone with Dyslexia to help those individuals.

Although the tweets themselves are short, the large amount of text on the page can overwhelm someone with Dyslexia and make it hard to keep up with the content on their feed. To prevent this barrier, one idea is to not follow too many people. This allows for more streamlined feeds and quickly being able to find the information that is most relevant. (Jen Thorpe, families.com) It could also be hard for users with Dyslexia to understand abbreviations, especially individually made abbreviations because they are unconventional and do not follow typical grammar rules. Another way to get beyond any barriers that a person with Dyslexia may face when using Twitter is to use a text-to-speech option. This way those users can hear the speech while they read their feed, which will help them see how a word is read or pronounced. Twisten is one free app that would allow users to hear their Twitter feed being read to them.

Resources: https://www.wired.com/2016/03/internet-looks-like-someone-dyslexia/ https://www.families.com/blog/when-twitter-and-dyslexia-collide https://deardyslexic.com/social-media/ https://dyslexiaida.org/leverage-social-media/ http://blog.alner.net/articles/Twisten.aspx