Are dyslexics excluded from academia?
Are dyslexics excluded from academia?
You stgrugle throguh the wrods triyng to find a corheence. Lteters, sybllales, and seuqence blnend together. Yòu have to use a lot of yuor ernegy to try to slove the senetnce, before you get to think what it means. “What did I read just now?” This is how it can feel for a dyslexic person to read. Imagine that you are also a student writing a master`s thesis, all alone, without resources from the university to rely on.
Journalist: Marie Tjelta
Illustrator: Anna Bjørke
ITranslator: ngrid Bjørnevik Nygaard
Writing a master’s thesis with dyslexia
It is a given that students with reading and writing difficulties receive accommodation throughout elementary, middle, and high school, but suddenly the degree of support changes at the university. Tuntreet has talked to Guro Hovelstad, a master student with dyslexia at NMBU. When Guro was about to start writing her master’s thesis, there was limited help with the spelling from NMBU. Instead, she got advised to find a family member who could proofread her master continuously. That leads us to the question: Are students with dyslexia excluded from academia?
When Guro is asked about how it is to write a master’s thesis with dyslexia, she has to think a little before she answers: “It is really self-discipline and the ability to get started that drives the writing process, more than the actual writing ability” Guro laughs. Even so, she adds that dyslexia means it takes a bit longer, and that there are some issues like misspelling that is hard to notice oneself. That is why when Guro started her master’s thesis, she thought that help from NMBU with spelling, would be nice.
No allocated resources
.First Guro contacted the faculty supervisors that gave her a clear message that it was smart to have a family member proofread. “I only have craftsmen in my family, so I didn’t have anyone to ask” Guro laughs. “So weird, what are you doing here then?” someone had answered to her astonishment.
Still, Guro did not give up and contacted the writing center and accommodation office to see if they could help. From them she got told that NMBU doesn’t have any allocated resources to help with this. Tuntreet has tried to contact the writing center and accommodation office to comment on the matter, we only got an answer from the writing center. Here we got mostly the same answer. The writing center will happily help to raise awareness for those with writing difficulties, but has no official body for those with dyslexia. “The writing center helps with text structure, but not spelling” Guro confirms. However, there is spelling programs that can help those with dyslexia, she points out, but underlines that the human aspect is important when writing a paper, since humans can catch things in other ways than a machine. You also have AI, but running the entire master`s thesis through it, might be a bit scary
Are other universities better?
Even if NMBU doesn’t have any allocated resources, does not mean that other universities don’t have them. Guro points to arrangements at other universities that facilitate students to help one another read through each other’s papers. She also recommends this type of arrangement where students can pay each other for proofreading, something that can be beneficial for both parts.
A lot that’s good, but could be better
Furthermore, Guro emphasizes that she, as a dyslexic, have gotten a lot of accommodation and help through the years, also as a student at NMBU. This has mainly been in the form of extra time and offers to get her own room at the exams, as well as reading aloud the exam question. You don’t get as much support at the university as you did throughout the rest of the educational path, something Guro understands. “You have applied with you own grade average and said that you are at the same page as someone else, so I understand it is difficult to accommodate everyone, and it’s okay, we manage, it’s just that they could make it a bit easier.” A lot that has improved since she started here in 2019, such as enlightenment and information about accommodation at NMBU’s website. “I have received lots of great help, everyone has answered me, but a small step further would have been nice!”
