WASHINGTON, D.C. — In kindergarten, Michelle Bernard’s son stood out for his reading abilities, so much so that his teachers at the Maddux School in Rockville, Maryland, pleaded with her to keep him enrolled. The school, known for its individualized curriculum, even offered one-on-one reading classes to nurture his advanced skills.
But by first grade, everything changed. Once an exceptional reader, her son began struggling and fell to the bottom of his class. The school’s learning specialists were baffled. “My heart broke when my beautiful son asked me during a parent-teacher conference if he was ‘dumb,’” Bernard recalled. “I shed more tears than I thought humanly possible.”
Her frustration turned into determination when she discovered that both her children had dyslexia—a revelation that highlighted a worldwide issue impacting millions of families. Within the Black community, structural educational inequities exacerbate the difficulties of navigating traditional school systems and developing effective strategies to achieve academic excellence in spite of this learning difficulty.
Dyslexia, a lifelong learning disorder, affects reading, writing, and spelling abilities despite an individual’s intelligence. As defined in Section 3635 of the First Step Act, dyslexia involves difficulties with phonological processing—the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in spoken language. According to the non-profit Understood.org, “Seventy million people in the United States have learning and thinking differences like dyslexia and ADHD. But the world isn’t set up for them to thrive.”
For Black children, dyslexia often goes undiagnosed. The consequences can be catastrophic, perpetuating inaccurate and harmful stereotypes that portray Black children as unintelligent, unteachable, troublemakers, or underachievers. These labels can follow Black children for the rest of their lives and negatively impact every aspect of their lives including college readiness, economic mobility and security, and political and social power. According to the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, Black children with dyslexia are significantly less likely than their White peers to receive evidence-based interventions. Instead, they are often mischaracterized with behavioral issues or intellectual deficits. This mischaracterization may lead to or reinforce institutional racism in education, political, economic, or legal institutions and systems.
In the U.S., while dyslexia affects about 20% of the overall population, almost half of all prisoners in the U.S. are dyslexic and a disproportionate share of incarcerated dyslexics are Black. These statistics alone show why this is a social justice issue—unequal access to educational services and opportunities disproportionately impact Black children with dyslexia.
Dyslexia does not preclude success in life. As Malcolm Gladwell wrote in David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, “An extraordinarily high percentage of successful entrepreneurs are dyslexic—estimates range from a third to half. The disability, in the best of cases, ends up providing them with advantages that they would not otherwise have had.” Gladwell’s perspective highlights the potential of dyslexics to excel when their learning differences are properly addressed and their strengths nurtured.
Engineer of Psychology (April 8, 2018). How Dyslexia Makes You Successful Malcolm Gladwell. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxvXl1xm6R853TQr1YyZNXdF3kmntoTVhI.
For Black children, recognizing and supporting their neurodiversity could unlock extraordinary potential, breaking through systemic barriers and transforming lives.
A Growing Movement
In recent years, a growing social justice movement has focused on dismantling these systemic barriers to educational excellence and social, political, and economic mobility. Organizations like the Dyslexia Alliance for Black Children whose mission is to “eliminate the amplified inequities for Black children experiencing unaddressed dyslexia and related disabilities” are critical to the growing movement. Since its founding, it has shed a national spotlight on the fact that for Black students and their families, dyslexia is an issue of social justice and equity in education. The alliance has argued that there is an intersectionality between race and dyslexia that is a key contributor to the school-to-prison pipeline that disproportionately impacts Black youth and their families. Without educational and therapeutic support, Black children with dyslexia have lower literacy rates and decreased engagement in school. As a result of racial bias, these students have a greater chance than White students of being funneled to prison.
“Addressing dyslexia is about more than just literacy,” said Nicole Patton-Terry, director of Florida State University’s Florida Center for Reading Research, in a recent interview with The Washington Post. “It’s about providing high-quality education for all students, especially Black and Brown children who face compounded barriers.”
These efforts are gaining traction as parents, educators, and advocates demand systemic changes to ensure that all students—regardless of race or socioeconomic status—receive the support they need.
Financial and Structural Barriers
Bernard’s son’s dyslexia became apparent in first grade when the font size of his books became smaller, making visual processing for him difficult without therapeutic intervention. For families like Bernard’s, financial resources play a crucial role in navigating the education system. When her son’s dyslexia became apparent, she enrolled him in the Lab School of Washington, an independent school specializing in educating students with language-based learning differences like dyslexia, with an annual tuition of approximately $60,000. While admission to the Lab School transformed her son’s academic trajectory, the cost makes specialized K-12 schools like Lab out of reach for many families, Black and White alike. The financial burden of addressing dyslexia and equity in education is particularly hard for Black families, who are disproportionately affected by systemic racism and inequality.
“Without resources, many Black kids with dyslexia fall through the cracks,” said Dr. Carlotta Miles, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and education advocate in Washington, D.C. “Too many schools just aren’t equipped to provide the level of support neurodiverse children need.”
Race plays a critical role in how dyslexia is diagnosed and treated in the U.S. Black families are more likely to face financial barriers to obtaining private evaluations or specialized tutoring outside of the public school system. At the same time, wealthier families who are often White, can often afford to advocate for their children’s needs and secure additional support. For Black families from lower-income backgrounds, figuring out how to navigate an educational system that is discriminatory even for neurotypical Black students, can leave one feeling dejected and defeated.
The stigma around a dyslexia diagnosis is particularly damaging for Black students, who already have to deal with societal stereotypes of intellectual inferiority. Unaddressed, dyslexia can lead to frustration, low self-esteem, and disengagement from school, all of which are factors that contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline. Addressing dyslexia within the Black community is not only about literacy; it’s about dismantling barriers to educational equity and opportunity.
Breaking the Cycle
According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities, Black students are less likely than White students to receive a formal diagnosis of dyslexia. Instead, their struggles with reading and writing are often mislabeled as behavioral issues or intellectual inferiority. These misdiagnoses can lead to lower expectations from teachers, punitive discipline practices, and a denial of access to the academic accommodations and support that dyslexic students need to thrive.
“Blame for low literacy rates is placed not on the system itself, but on individual students and their families,” according to a 2002 report from Advocates for Children of New York. That sentiment still rings true today.
Advocates argue that treating dyslexia as a social justice issue could significantly disrupt these cycles. Efforts are underway to mandate universal screening in public schools, expand teacher training, and provide affordable access to interventions.
A Personal Connection
Michelle Bernard is my mother. I’m the “gifted” student she was once so worried about—the first grader who asked her if he was “dumb.” I was lucky. My mother had the knowledge and resources to get me tested, enroll me in specialized multisensory reading programs, and enroll me in the Lab School of Washington which met my learning needs.
Because of her advocacy, I became the first graduate from the Lab School to be admitted to Howard University in more than fifty years. But I am acutely aware that my story is not representative of the experiences of most Black children with dyslexia.
A Call for Systemic Change
As conversations around dyslexia and social justice continue to grow, advocates are demanding systemic change. Policies that prioritize early identification, equitable access to interventions, and teacher training are critical steps forward.
Ultimately, addressing dyslexia in the Black community is about more than academic achievement. It’s about dismantling barriers to educational, economic, social and political opportunity and ensuring that every child has the chance to thrive.
While the movement to treat dyslexia as a social justice issue is in its early stages, it has the potential to create an equitable education for all of the students the world sees as “less than.”
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