Reading is not always automatic. Words can blur, flip, or refuse to settle down, especially when you are tired, stressed, or forced to read something boring. You might read slowly, skip lines, or need to reread to get the meaning. Spelling can feel like trying to memorize the opinions of a thousand tiny rules. None of this says anything negative about your intelligence. Dyslexia often comes with strong problem solving, creativity, spatial reasoning, and big picture thinking. You might be better at understanding ideas than decoding the exact letters on the page. The struggle is real, but it is also workable. Tools help. Time helps. The right font helps more than people think.

This diagnosis refers to persistent difficulties with accurate or fluent word recognition and decoding that are not explained by overall intellectual ability or lack of opportunity. Clinicians use it to support accommodations such as extra time, audiobooks, assistive technology, or explicit reading instruction. A good provider frames it as a learning difference, not a defect, and will happily agree that some fonts should be illegal.