A guest post by Adam Mitchell
Well, the written word is something, isn’t it? They can make people laugh, cry, inspire, and dream. But what if those very same letters and words can make people feel sad, hurt, ashamed and uninspired to chase their dreams? Especially if those dreams involve the glorious written word, dreams of becoming an author.
I was in the second bull-pen, the one where my very dreams got squished. So here’s a little about me: I was diagnosed at twelve, ridiculed and bullied by both my teachers and classmates for years. But it was the library that got me going and showed me even the dreaded DYSLEXIA can be beat, if you know where to look, that dragon can be slain if your have the write sword for the job. Well consider me the blacksmith and quartermaster for your quest. Now my nobles squires, shield maiden’s, knights and lords. Please chose your weapons the quest to kill the dragon begins in earnest.
Now do you prefer sword or bow…
The first two weapons for you may well be… a font… No… how about a magic keyboard that speaks the dragon’s language? Well, if that tickles your fancy I give to you…
OpenDyslexic v2.
This rather brilliant replacement font has now been updated, and was created to increase use-ability not to mention readability of children and adults with dyslexia, I, yes me your humble blogger to write two novels and one award winning book all on Amazon (see, dreams do come true.)
Unlike most of the regular fonts out there this typeface includes regular, bold, italic, and bold-italic styles. Its clean and easy to use and is a nice clear print on the page as well, and more importantly it is absolutely and completely FREE at no cost to you, and has both a professional and commercial license.
So fill your boots. The creators continually update and improve the font hence the updated version and they do so exclusively with the thoughts and feedback of us Dyslexic warriors, knights and the like. Now onto the second of my wonders for you brave hero’s on your quest to save the day. So clap your eyes on this my good friends.
(Get it here: https://www.dafont.com/open-dyslexic.font)
ABC Keyboard.
This FREE App is an electronic keyboard layout that can increase computer accessibility and development for folk like you and me with a learning disability like dyslexia, heck it even helps the two fingered typists among us. It’s really something nifty. The alphabetical ordering of its keys enable even the technically unsure of us out there easy when using modern computer devices such as laptops and good old PC’s. But what else makes this so good I hear you ask. For individuals with the dreaded D word and other special needs. Learning the characters of the alphabet can be blooming tricky at times. The ABC Keyboard cuts down the learning curve of the key patterns on a traditional keyboard. Making it so much easier to use and less stressful for us all. A nice little bonus is the ABC keyboard allows us to choose a visual style to best suit our own set needs, rather than a blanket approach which is nice. So onto the techy stuff…
It features…
- Alphabetical ordering of the keys rather than the standard QWERTY set up we’re all used to.
- Customizable key fonts, and themes.
- Upper and Lower Case letters on Keys
- Word prediction, pre-programmed automatic capitalization and “.” shortcut options.
All you wandering bards who like to write and read on the move, with your ipads and iphones and such do not despair. I have chosen a few little wonders for your quests to….
Lowercase Keyboard and Dyslexiakey.
Although this little gem is for school children it can be adapted to cater for everyone, this keyboard for the ios8 and other ios devices uses both lowercase and uppercase letters and a much more simplified and streamlined set of numbers and grammar characters. It also has OpenDyslexic v1 built in, and can be updated for the version 2 model. This has been done to increase readability for readers with dyslexia.
Now for the second next little gem I have on offer for you today my dear reader.
DyslexiaKey. is a font that increasing that magic ‘R’ word again…Readability and more so for those with reading disabilities. It sets itself apart by using a set base line, with alternating stick/tails and larger normal openings. This programme will ensure each character has a different yet only slightly look to allow reading to be easier. Both of these are again 100% free and also like before come with a personal and commercial licences to use however you see fit on your quests out there in the big wide world.
Textkraft. Now every self respecting bard or traveling hero needs a shield, and well I’ve covered that too. This dyslexia friendly shield is a professional text editor (A shield that I’ve used extensively when writing my books.) It works on the Apple Ipad, Iphone and Apple Watch and comes with 22 built in dictionaries in 22 different languages.
For when your out of range of the wi-fi holy grail it comes with offline dictionaries too with synonyms and pre-programmed online references to help with spelling, language, expression, grammar, definition and translation. It also comes with some tech-stuff with a lot of jargon but in a nutshell its a dyslexia friendly Grammarly. And yes before you ask its again 100% with all the same licences and can be got from the i-store.
So in closing I just want to say from one writer to I hope some new authors and bloggers of the future, take these weapons smite your dragons furfil your dreams and if you want get your stories wrote and out there, the dyslexia dragon is no longer the mosnter it once was. So until next time brave warriors, see you castle gates!
Shakyra Dunn 