A new art exhibit in London is showcasing the out-of-the-box thinking of dyslexic designers. And a recent Wired article is asking some big picture questions about the dyslexic brain, as a result.
“London-based industrial designer Jim Rokos curated it in the hopes of getting other people to see what he already can: that people with dyslexia aren’t suffering from a so-called learning disability. Rather, they’re highly creative problem solvers who think in ways that make for killer designs.”
But is creativity a hallmark of dyslexia in every case? Well, that depends on your definition of what counts as creative.
“‘People who are dyslexic seem to have an abundance of creative thought,’ says Sally Shaywitz, co-director of the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity and author of Overcoming Dyslexia. ‘But when you try to pin it down you have to remember that creativity is a very big area.’ Shaywitz often invokes Charles Schwab, a billionaire businessman and dyslexic, as an example. ‘I remember him saying, ‘I can see the end zone, while others are thinking very serially, step by step.’’ ”