The Malta Independent on Sunday
Every person with dyslexia has different problems
Dyslexia is a learning disability, and is a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters and other symbols, but it does not affect levels of intelligence. And people with dyslexia can be affected in a variety of ways, according to young people with the condition who were attending a conference in Malta.
It is not easily diagnosed and, in fact, there are people who never know that they do, in fact, have a learning disability. Interestingly, Malta Dyslexia Association treasurer Dr Ruth Falzon, who is also part of the University’s Counselling Department in the Faculty for Social Wellbeing, said that there are no official statistics from the National Statistics Office as to the number of persons with dyslexia in Malta. However, considering that dyslexia occurs in most if not all countries, then the figure is probably around 10 per cent, the same as elsewhere.
Earlier this week, Malta hosted a conference that brought together 60 young people with dyslexia from all over the EU as part of a project entitled ‘Sharing Experiences of Dyslexia across Europe’, made possible after MEUSAC assisted the Malta Dyslexia Association to secure Erasmus+ funds. Giuseppe Modogno, from Italy, said he discovered his dyslexia quite late, when he was 17. “When I discovered it I was relieved, as I had many problems at school, and this was the reason why. I had friends who supported me and now I am intending to pursue a career in tourism.”
Every dyslexic has different problems. “My problems began in elementary school”, said Giuseppe. “I had lived here in Malta for five years and the main problem was when I went back to Italy, where my teachers did not understand what I was going through. Luckily, Italian and English weren’t problematic for me as I learnt them at a young age, but I struggled with economics and maths”.
Asked about the kind of solutions he recommends to help teachers teach those with dyslexia, he said that most Italian teachers don’t understand the condition. “There was one teacher who would say I wouldn’t study, yet I’d have spent five hours studying the night before.”
Thanos Papathanasiou, from Greece, has problems when it comes to writing. “I understood dyslexia because of my brother, who couldn’t read or write. There wasn’t much support from the government or school in Greece. My parents had to hire a private teacher when he was seven, and had to take extra lessons after school.”
He stressed that governments need to explain to people what dyslexia is and the difficulties faced by people who have it. “Dyslexia is not a problem, it’s just that our minds work differently than others. We may need some more attention and to work harder, but if we succeed I believe we can do things better, because when someone overcomes difficulties, he or she becomes stronger.” Steve Daley from Scotland said that he struggled with grammatical issues and did not discover his dyslexia until he was at university. “I struggled. In Scotland there are tests for dyslexia at University and once it was revealed, the government and the university provided a tutor and my grades shot up. I graduated university with a 2,1, which I thought would be impossible”.
During the conference, Social Dialogue Minister Helena Dalli made the point that in order to understand someone else’s situation, you needed to walk in that person’s shoes.
In response, Mr Daley said that there are already people in Malta who walk in the shoes of those with dyslexia – such as the Malta Dyslexia Association. “The government should help with its funding, so it’s more able to educate the Maltese public about this learning disability.”