Dyslexia Disability 2026.

“Stop judging fish by their ability to climb trees. Explore why dyslexia isn’t a disorder, but a different operating system for the modern world. See the future.”

Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain

Imagine two students sitting in a classroom. “The first man is very gifted. He can play music just by hearing it, he learns new languages very fast on his own, and he is great at working with computers. Yet, hand him a pencil and ask him to draw a realistic portrait, and he fails miserably. He cannot draw a straight line to save his life.

The second student is a bright, empathetic, and vibrantly creative thinker. She sees solutions where others see walls. But place a simple paragraph of text in front of her, and her confidence crumbles. She struggles to decode basic words, her spelling is chaotic, and reading aloud is a source of visceral anxiety.

The first student is Aliah Banchik’s brother. “He was not good at drawing, but the school didn’t think it was a big deal. They just saw it as a small weakness that didn’t matter anymore once he finished his last art class.” It did not define his intelligence; it did not limit his future.

The second student is Aliah Banchik herself. Her struggle was with reading—the single skill that the modern education system uses as the gatekeeper for all learning. Because her difficulty lay in literacy, she was not viewed as having a “quirk.” She was labeled with a disability: dyslexia.

Aliah Banchik is asking us to think about a big unfairness.

She asks: “Why do we say it’s okay if someone can’t draw, but it’s a ‘problem’ if someone can’t read?”

She believes that Dyslexia is not a broken brain. Instead, she says it is just a different way of thinking. Imagine two computers: one uses Windows and the other uses Mac. They both work great, but they work differently. Aliah says our schools are built only for one kind of brain.

Because of this, schools fail to help students who think in a different way. The Neuroscience of Difference: The Spoon and the Steak

To understand the dyslexic experience, we must first understand the architecture of the brain. Here is that part explained in very, very simple language:

The human brain has two main sides: the Left Side and the Right Side. These two sides are connected by a bridge that lets them talk to each other.

Learn MOre: https://dp-ho.com/perspective-of-disability/14-special-education-categories

How Most People Read

For most people, the Left Side of the brain does all the work for reading, writing, and spelling.

The Left Side loves rules.
It is very good at looking at letters and turning them into sounds.
It works like a fast, straight road that makes reading feel easy and automatic.

How Dyslexic People Read

Banchik explains that a dyslexic person’s brain is wired in a different way.

When they try to read, the Left Side of their brain is very quiet—it doesn’t do much work.
Instead, their brain asks the Right Side and the Front of the brain to help out.

The problem is that the Right Side of the brain was not made for reading. It was made for things like art and big ideas. Because the brain is using the “wrong” side for a hard task, reading becomes much slower and much more tiring for them. It is not that they aren’t smart; it’s just that their brain is taking a much longer, more difficult path to get the same job done.

Would you like me to explain the next part about what the “Right Side” of the brain is actually good at? The right hemisphere is the domain of holistic, abstract, and non-linear thought. It is the center of creativity, spatial awareness, and “big picture” thinking. While the left brain looks at the trees, the right brain sees the forest.

“Reading is a job made for the ‘logic’ side of the brain. But a student with dyslexia tries to read using the ‘creative’ side of the brain. It is like trying to do math using a paintbrush—it is the wrong tool for the job, so it is very, very hard.”

Let’s make it even easier to imagine:

Think of your brain like a toolbox.

The Left Side of the brain is like a Hammer. It is built for hitting nails (like reading letters and following rules).
The Right Side of the brain is like a Paintbrush. It is built for making beautiful art (like big ideas and creativity).

When a student with dyslexia tries to read, their “Hammer” side isn’t working well. So, they pick up the Paintbrush to try and read the words.

Can you paint a picture with a hammer? No. Can you drive a nail with a paintbrush? Yes, but it takes forever, it’s messy, and the paintbrush might break!

This is why these students get so tired. They are using a “creative” tool to do a “logical” job. Their brain is working extra hard, but it’s just using a different tool than everyone else.

Banchik offers a vivid and memorable analogy to describe this neurological inefficiency:

“Imagine trying to use a spoon to cut a steak. It’s possible—if you press hard enough and saw back and forth long enough, you will eventually cut through the meat. But it is by no means the most efficient way of getting the job done. It is exhausting, messy, and frustrating.”*

This is the daily reality of the dyslexic student. Here is that part of the story explained in very simple words and expanded so it is easy to understand:

These students are not lazy. In fact, they are working much harder than everyone else. Because their brains are “wired” differently, trying to read is like trying to run a race while wearing heavy boots. They put in double the effort but only get half the result.

Because they have to work so hard just to keep up, three bad things happen:

They get very tired: Their bodies and minds feel worn out by the end of the school day.
Their spelling is messy: Since their brains don’t see words the same way, they make many mistakes.
They feel “bad” about themselves: They start to believe they are not smart. This sad feeling can stay with them even when they grow up and become adults.

The Problem with “One-Size-Fits-All” Schools

Most schools are built to teach everyone in the exact same way. They expect every child to learn by reading books and listening to long talks.

Banchik says this is a big problem because a lot of people have Dyslexia. Out of every 100 people, about 20 of them have it.

Think about a normal classroom with 30 students. In that small room, at least 5 or 6 kids are struggling. These kids are not slow; they just cannot understand the information in the way the teacher is giving it. Because the school refuses to change how it teaches, these students are left behind.

Here is the explanation of why this is such a serious problem, using very simple words:

The Sad Result of Not Being Understood

When schools don’t understand how a student’s brain works, it leads to a very sad situation. Because these students are often judged only by how fast they read or how well they spell, people start to label them the wrong way.

Wrong Labels: Teachers might think these students are just lazy or careless. Parents might get upset because the child cannot remember simple words.
Giving Up: The children start to feel like they are “broken.” They see their friends reading easily while they struggle. Eventually, they just stop trying because they feel that no matter how hard they work, they will still fail.

The “School-to-Prison” Connection

Banchik shares a very scary fact: About half of the people in prison have Dyslexia.

This does not mean that people with Dyslexia are bad or that they want to commit crimes. Instead, it shows that the school system failed them.

Feeling Stupid: A child grows up being told they aren’t smart because they can’t read well.
Losing Hope: They lose interest in school because it feels like a place where they always fail.
Leaving School: They drop out because they don’t feel they belong there.
No Future: Without a school degree and with very low confidence, they struggle to find good jobs. This makes it much easier for them to end up in trouble or in prison.

The prison problem isn’t caused by the brain; it is caused by a school system that breaks the spirit of these creative thinkers.

The Good News: The “Sea of Strengths”

Even though reading is hard, these same brains are actually super-powered in other areas. This is called the “Sea of Strengths” model.

It means that while there is one small “island” of trouble (reading), it is surrounded by a huge “ocean” of things they are great at, such as:

Solving hard puzzles.
Coming up with new ideas.
Understanding how people feel.

Despite its prevalence, dyslexia remains one of the most misunderstood conditions in education. Because intelligence is so frequently conflated with reading speed and spelling accuracy, dyslexic students are often mislabeled. Teachers may view them as unmotivated, careless, or simply “not smart.” Parents may express frustration at their child’s inability to memorize simple sight words.

The emotional toll of this misunderstanding is devastating. From a young age, dyslexic children internalize the message that they are “broken.” They watch their peers effortlessly acquire skills that feel impossible to them. When a student feels they cannot succeed no matter how hard they try, they experience something called “learned helplessness.” This means they stop trying entirely. They feel like they are stuck in a deep hole and can never get out. Because they always fail at reading in class, they start to believe that they are “stupid” and that failing is just their destiny. They lose all hope in themselves.

Banchik shows how bad this can get by sharing a very sad fact:

About half of the people in jail have dyslexia.

This does not happen because they are bad people. It happens because the school system failed them. When a child feels like a failure every single day at school, they eventually give up and leave. Without an education or confidence, they often end up on the wrong path in life.

This staggering figure requires careful context. It is not that dyslexia predisposes an individual to criminal behavior. Rather, it is a damning indictment of the “School-to-Prison Pipeline.” When a child grows up feeling that their best effort is never good enough, that they are “stupid,” and that the education system has no place for them, they disengage. They lose hope. They drop out of school and, lacking qualifications and self-esteem, often drift to the margins of society. The prison statistic is not a symptom of the “disability”; it is a symptom of an education system that breaks the spirit of its most creative thinkers.

The Dyslexic Advantage: A Sea of Strengths

However, the narrative of dyslexia is not one of tragedy. If we flip the coin, we find that the very neurological wiring that makes reading difficult also grants extraordinary cognitive gifts. This concept is often referred to by researchers as the “Sea of Strengths” model of dyslexia.

The dyslexic brain creates a trade-off. In exchange for linear processing speed, it gains high-level conceptual processing power. Banchik argues that throughout history, dyslexic geniuses have changed the trajectory of humanity precisely because they thought differently.

Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Agatha Christie, and Steve Jobs all struggled in traditional school settings. Their teachers often despaired of them. Yet, they possessed an ability to see the world in ways their neurotypical peers could not.

Banchik categorizes these unique “dyslexic advantages” into several key areas:

1. Enhanced Peripheral and Spatial Awareness

While the left brain focuses on the central details, the right brain scans the periphery. This makes many dyslexics exceptional at spatial reasoning and situational awareness.

The Athlete’s Edge: Banchik points to legends like Magic Johnson**. His greatness on the basketball court wasn’t just athleticism; it was his ability to process the movement of every player on the court simultaneously. He could “see” the game holistically, anticipating plays before they happened. Architectural Vision: This same skill explains why a disproportionate number of world-renowned architects are dyslexic. They can visualize 3D structures in their minds, rotate them, and walk through them before a single line is drawn on paper.

2. Superior Pattern Recognition

The dyslexic brain excels at connecting seemingly unrelated dots. It searches for anomalies and patterns within complex datasets.

The Astrophysicist’s Eye: Banchik cites a fascinating study from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Researchers found that dyslexic astrophysicists were able to identify the signature of black holes in complex graphical simulations faster and more accurately than their non-dyslexic colleagues. Where the linear thinker got lost in the noise of the data, the dyslexic thinker instinctively spotted the anomaly.

3. Holistic and Narrative Thinking

Because they cannot rely on rote memorization or linear lists, dyslexics develop strong narrative reasoning skills. They learn through stories, context, and “big picture” concepts.

The Galileo Effect:** Galileo Galilei, the father of observational astronomy, is believed to have been dyslexic. At a time when scientists were obsessed with minute calculations, Galileo used a “wide-lens” approach. He looked at the stars and saw a unified system—a heliocentric solar system—where others only saw isolated points of light.

As Matthew Schneps, a successful dyslexic astrophysicist, famously stated: “It’s not that I did all these things and just happened to have dyslexia. It’s *because** I have dyslexia that I was able to do all these things.”*

The Myth of the “Standard” Brain

If dyslexia confers such advantages, why do we persist in calling it a disability? The answer lies in the rigidity of our institutions.

Banchik references the famous quote often attributed to Einstein: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

For the last century, our education system has been a tree-climbing test. It was designed during the Industrial Revolution to produce factory workers and clerks—roles that required standardization, punctuality, and the ability to follow written instructions without deviation. In that system, a “good student” is one who sits still, reads quickly, and memorizes facts.

But the world has changed. In the 21st century, the ability to memorize facts is irrelevant; we have Google for that. The ability to spell perfectly is less critical; we have spell-check and AI for that. What is increasingly valuable in the modern economy are the skills that computers cannot easily replicate: creativity, empathy, complex problem-solving, and the ability to see the big picture. These are the exact skills where dyslexics thrive.

By continuing to judge human intelligence based on a narrow set of literacy skills, we are not only harming dyslexic students; we are harming society by suppressing the very minds we need to solve our most complex problems.

A Call for Educational Reform: From STEM to STEAM

So, how do we move forward? Banchik argues that we don’t need to “cure” dyslexia; we need to cure the school system. She calls for a paradigm shift from a “one-size-fits-most” model to a diversified approach that values neurodiversity. This reform rests on three pillars:

1. Diversified Learning Methods

Teachers must move beyond the “chalk and talk” method where information is delivered solely through text and lecture.

Visual Learning:** Banchik advocates for Mind Mapping. Instead of linear notes, students should be encouraged to use diagrams, colors, and webs to connect ideas. This plays to the dyslexic strength of seeing connections between concepts. Multisensory Instruction:** Approaches like the Orton-Gillingham method teach reading by connecting sounds with tactile and kinesthetic actions (e.g., tracing letters in sand while saying the sound). This helps “rewire” the brain to bypass the inefficient spoon-and-steak pathway.

2. Broadening the Curriculum: The Rise of STEAM

For years, the focus has been on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). While vital, Banchik argues for the inclusion of the Arts to create STEAM.

The Arts are not just “extras”; they are essential vehicles for visual and spatial thinking. For a dyslexic student, an art class or a drama class might be the only time in the day they feel competent. These subjects validate non-linear thinking. By valuing the Arts equally with Math, schools send a message that visual intelligence is just as legitimate as computational intelligence.

3. Reframing Success and Assessment

We must stop using spelling proficiency as a proxy for intelligence.

*Accommodation over Remediation:** Instead of forcing a dyslexic student to spend hours “fixing” their spelling, give them assistive technology (speech-to-text software, audiobooks). Let them access the curriculum through their ears and intellect, rather than their eyes. *New Metrics:** Assessments should allow students to demonstrate knowledge in various ways—through oral presentations, building models, or creating videos—rather than strictly through timed written essays.

Conclusion: The Future is Neurodiverse

Aliah Banchik’s message serves as a wake-up call. The label “disability” is a heavy burden, one that focuses entirely on what a person cannot do. But when we strip away the label and look at the mechanics of the mind, we see that dyslexia is simply a trade-off—a different way of processing reality that has been essential to human progress.

The next time you see a child staring blankly at a page, or a colleague struggling to write an email, pause before you judge. Remember the “spoon and the steak.” Remember that their brain is working furiously, burning energy to perform a task that you take for granted.

But more importantly, look for what they can do. Look for the creative spark, the unexpected solution, the ability to see around corners.

We are standing at a crossroads. We can continue to force our “fish” to climb trees, filling our prisons and unemployment lines with people who have been told they are broken. Or, we can redesign our ecosystem. We can build an education system that values the artist as much as the archivist, the visionary as much as the clerk.

If we change the way we teach and stop judging everyone by the same old tests, we will save these students. They will no longer feel ashamed or lose hope.

Instead of failing, these students will grow up to be the leaders of the future. If we change how we treat these students, they will grow up to do amazing things. They will become the smart scientists who find new cures, the talented artists who create beautiful things, the important bosses of big businesses, and the leaders who help run our country.

By respecting and helping their “different” brains, we let these creative geniuses succeed. This makes the whole world a better place.

The way to “fix” the problem of dyslexia is not with a medicine or by forcing them to practice reading more. The real fix is for everyone to finally understand a simple truth: just because someone thinks differently, it does not mean they are broken or disabled.