Reading and writing have always been a little more difficult for me because I have a learning disability and dyslexia that makes reading more difficult. Blogging has some challenges because of my dyslexia but it isn’t that hard anymore because I have been doing it for years and have had lots of practice. Accessibility is super important to me, because I am constantly advocating for accessibility and never want disabled people to face barriers while on my blog. Most content that is online is only accessible to some people because people tend not to think about the disabled community. As a disabled person, I think it’s so important to make my content as accessible as possible because I am always advocating for accessibility and need to show people what accessible content looks like. I took a break from podcasting because I restarted my blog, and just recently started it up again because audio posts are important if you reach as many people as possible. Reading blog posts is a lot more difficult than writing them because of my dyslexia, and it takes me twice as long to film a podcast as it would for me to write a blog post. How do I make podcasting easier while living with dyslexia? In this post, I am going to share how I record podcast episodes while living with dyslexia.
I make the font a little bit larger– When I’m reading something out loud, I need the font to be a little bit larger because if the font is small, it’s harder to keep track of where I am. If I am filming a podcast, I don’t read posts directly from my blog because the font is a little too small and is not accessible for filming podcasts. When I do a podcast, I copy and paste posts into Google Drive because I don’t have Microsoft Word on my computer, and make the font a lot larger and easier for me to read. I can edit blog posts on the original blog, but reading them out loud can be a little bit of an extra challenge because sometimes I struggle with tracking, and I need larger, clearer fonts to read more easily. Larger fonts can help me not lose my place as often, which will help me record podcasts a lot quicker.
I make each sentence a different color– One of the main reasons I don’t read posts directly from my blog is because I change a lot to make it more readable, and it would take even more time to put everything back to the way it was. Larger fonts can help make reading posts out loud a little easier, but I still can get tripped up when the entire page is the same color, even if the font is huge. I make each sentence a different color so I can see it more easily, which was something I learned from my previous occupational therapist, that works well for me. I still make a lot of mistakes, because some words are difficult for me to say, and depending on the length of the post, I will sometimes spend all day filming one podcast. The colors I tend to use when I am reading posts are black and red because it’s easier for me to read. You want to pick colors that are easy to see because it’s going to be more difficult to read if the colors are too light or too similar.
I pick fonts that have letters that are more spaced out– When words are too close together, sometimes I struggle with reading them because I often get my letters mixed up, and some words are more difficult for me to say. Larger fonts can make reading a little easier, but it doesn’t stop there, and I also need the words to be a little more spaced out because if they’re too close together, I make more mistakes. I try to pick fonts that have the letters a little more spaced out because I can easily lose track of where I was and will spend more time filming a podcast. I still sometimes will lose my place when I am reading and have to start over because I can’t change my disability, but it does make it a little easier when the words are more recognizable.
I put the words in bold– When I am filming a podcast, it is easier for me to read when each sentence is in a different color, but it can still be difficult to read because the lettering is not always the easiest for people with reading difficulties to understand. I put everything in bold, along with changing the color of each sentence, because the clearer the lettering is, the easier it is for me to read.
I check my post for grammar– Before I do a podcast, I always re-read my post to see if there are any grammatical errors that I can change, which there usually always is because grammar was not something that was taught to me in school. My grammar will never be perfect because when I was going to school, I was told I’d never use it and that it wasn’t important, so I was never taught it. Blogs do not need perfect grammar because it is not a college essay, and the most important thing is that people understand the point you are trying to get across. Grammar is important for blogs, but it doesn’t have to be perfect, and sometimes you have to break a few rules to add personality to your posts. My posts will never have perfect grammar, and that is okay because I am not trying to make every single post grammatically correct. Grammatical errors can make reading posts out loud a little more difficult, so before I film, I re-read posts to see if there are any edits I can make that will improve my writing.
I read posts at a slightly slower pace– When I try to read too fast, I sometimes stutter and make more mistakes because I lose track of where I am. I have found that when I read posts at a slightly slower pace, my words don’t get mixed up as often. I don’t read posts as slowly as I can, because I want people to listen to the podcast, and I try to read at a normal pace.
Podcasting with dyslexia is more difficult than writing blog posts, but it is important because it makes your blog more accessible, which will get you more views. As a disabled creator, I think it’s so important to make my blog as accessible as possible because I am always advocating for accessibility, and it shows people what an accessible website looks like and why it’s important. My disability makes content creation more difficult, and sometimes it takes more time to make it accessible, but I don’t ignore accessibility because when you do, only some people can access it. I don’t always spend as much time on accessibility as I know I should, but it’s not because I don’t want to, and sometimes I don’t have the energy due to pain. Accessibility matters because you can’t reach as many people as possible if it’s only accessible to some people. Podcasting is not one of my strengths because I don’t do it as often, but like anything in life, you will get better the more you practice. How do you make reading easier while living with dyslexia? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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