Podcast: Dyslexia in Post Industrial Manchester by Roger Broadbent
This is a recording of the talk given by Roger Broadbent in Manchester as part of the Ragged University project. Dyslexia is a much misunderstood and ignored condition, and this leads to many people being marginalized and forced to the perifery of society. The screening for dyslexia is almost entirely missing in Manchester leading to swollen prison populations due the disenfranchisement of individuals through a bureaucratic society.
Roger explores how the condition has been wholly dismissed by some politidans leading to a culture of ignorance in policy terms. Roger works in learning support which is coming under further funding cuts at the moment. These are his views on his work and how people with dyslexia should be supported
Ian Forrester came along to the night and blogged about it, going away and checking out the newspaper articles about the policy sidelining of the condition, and support for it: A Labour MP has claimed dyslexia is a myth invented by education chiefs to cover up poor teaching (BBC 2009)
“Backbencher Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley, describes the condition as a “cruel fiction” that should be consigned to the “dustbin of history”. He believes the reason many children cannot read and write properly is that the wrong teaching methods are used. But Charity Dyslexia Action said the condition was “very real” to the 6m people in the UK affected by it. Writing in a column for the website Manchester Confidential, Mr Stringer said millions of pounds were being wasted on specialist teaching for what he called a “false” condition.”
Also in the Guardian (2009). Shocking stuff, and it seems to have caused a chilling effect on Manchester schools and support. Of course theres many people trying to reverse (small and large) this but I haven’t seen this level of ignorance in a long long time….