I have been dyslexic my whole life, and a historian for 20 years. Though these two experiences are fundamental to my identity, I had never paused to consider what the history of dyslexia might reveal when studied by experts until I learned about The History of Dyslexia this summer.
The History of Dyslexia, unveiled in July, is a website that aims to make the fruits of about 140 years of dyslexia research available to the public. Although the condition is likely ancient, the site explores the ways our understanding and concern about dyslexia intertwines with the history of modern literacy.
It's a joint project of an interdisciplinary group of four professors at Oxford University, who specialize in history, psychology, and education policy. So far, their project features a timeline of key events, a collection of oral interviews, and an online archive containing documents, photographs, and oral histories. Over the next few years, the researchers intend to generate a collection of primary and secondary materials that explore the science of the condition, the politics around government response to growing understanding of the condition, and the everyday experiences of people with dyslexia.
The core of the site will be a large archive of written documents and oral histories intended to support scholarly inquiry into the ways that people experienced and understood dyslexia in different historical periods. “We're interested in [dyslexia's] development in science, civil society, and policy—from its first diagnosis by physicians in the late 19th century, to its present widespread and hard fought recognition in U.K. education,” the homepage reads.