We are so accustomed to reading and writing that it’s hard to imagine that once no one was able to read. We may think of reading as being hardwired into our brains, but it’s not. Reading and writing is nothing more than an elaborate social convention used to transcribe speech, and this had to be invented. At one time in history the choice of notation was arbitrary, and the conventions evolved over time as people discovered ways of writing that were easier for scribes, and others that were more effective when read.
At first, the scholars, priests, and scribes who shaped the invention of writing were a relatively small and select group. Reading didn’t become common in Western cultures until the Industrial Revolution, when printed texts could be cheaply reproduced. Once reading material became commonly available, reading became useful enough to be widely taught. It was at this time that people noticed some individuals found it difficult to make use of the established conventions for reading. These people were described as handicapped, and thus, along with the printing press, a “disability” that didn’t exist earlier was invented, a disability we today call dyslexia.
We now know that people with dyslexia have neurological wiring that is different from typical readers. Dyslexia is estimated to occur in the general population at rates of at most 10% to 20%. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to assume that very few people with dyslexia were among the original scholars, priests, and scribes who first invented the conventions for writing. But, what if they were?
What if all of the people responsible for the creation of writing had dyslexia? What if writing evolved to match the capabilities of brains with dyslexia, instead of those who are typical readers? Would the system of speech notation these people would invent be completely different from the one we use today? What might writing invented by people with dyslexia look like?
About the Author
Schneps is a scientist with dyslexia, and the founding director of the Laboratory for Visual Learning at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, where he and his team conduct research on how dyslexia affects learning science. (Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the personal views