DesirableDyslexia

Survey

You can access the following tools to identify your strengths and other areas linked to thriving.

VIA

VIA survey is the only free scientific survey of character strengths in the world. Values in Actions (VIA) character strengths survey will inform your personal strengths at the end of the completion of this survey. If you are an individual with dyslexia you can take the VIA survey on this website. Desirable Dyslexia website will let you complete the VIA survey enabling additional supportive technology such as the survey text can be read out to you by the computer in order to accommodate dyslexia associated challenges. In addition, the functions such as change of font, font size , colour etc.

Go to the Survey

Uni-Stride

The measure of academic tenacity is a valid and reliable scale to identify your academic tenacity and self-composure which also contributes to overall thriving. If you are a student ( University, College or High School) you can identify whether you are strong on Tenacity, Composure or on both areas.

Research

If you are interested in additional information on Desirable Dyslexia and related research work, you can find a list of published research articles and resources below.

Thriving Dyslexia

Languishing to Thriving Dyslexia

Strengths

Dyslexia Character Strengths

TEDx

Success in Failure

For Young

After the launch of Desirable Dyslexia project for adults we recieved multiple queries from teachers, parents and students requesting a dyslexia friendly access to VIA survey. We now have enabled the VIA survey for youth on our website. If you are a student ages between 10-17 year , you can complete this VIA Youth Survey in order to identify your strengths.

About

Desirable Dyslexia project is an initiative to recognize and scientifically validate extraordinary strengths of people with dyslexia. Primarily dyslexia is recognised as a learning difference which affects reading and writing skills. The characteristic features of dyslexia are identified as difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory, and verbal processing speed ( British Dyslexia Association, 2010). Historically, the focus of scientific investigations into dyslexia were on studying the difficulties of dyslexia and fixing the challenges that came along with dyslexia.

Although at the time of the launch of Desirable Dyslexia project in 2013 there were some scholarly discussions on potential strengths of a person with dyslexia, it was significantly a limited amount of scientific evidence to support the notion. Yet such limited scholarly discussions led to a very important conversation of 'the possibility and potential of a person with dyslexia to thrive?' In order to address this timely question, the Desirable Dyslexia research team decided to investigate the implications of the rapidly developing field of Positive Psychology theory for people with dyslexia.

'Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experience of love, work and play' (Positive Psychology Center, 2020). The mission of the Desirable Dyslexia project is to help individuals with dyslexia to encourage the focus on their strengths that enable thriving. If you are an individual with dyslexia you can learn about your Signature Strengths by completing the Character Strengths survey on this website. This is a dyslexia user friendly website and will allow you to complete questionnaires with the support of technology such as text to audio assist, changing font size to a large font etc.

2013-2015

Our Beginnings

Desirable Dyslexia Project was launched as part of a PhD research. We recognised the extraordinary strengths of people with dyslexia yet having limited scientific evidence to celebrate such strengths. It was also an initiative to help people with dyslexia identify their strengths, if they have not had the opportunity to explore strengths aspect of their character. At the first phase of the project, we were supported by Professor Martin Seligman, Dr. Ryan Niemiec and the team at VIA Institute by giving permission to use the VIA Strengths Survey on Desirable Dyslexia website and supporting this initiative.
2015-2019

Thriving Dyslexia

With the help of our participants' responses to the Desirable Dyslexia Project, we have identified the key factors that contribute to 'thriving'. We have also identified the top strengths of people with dyslexia. If you are interested in these findings, please go to the research area and you will be able to access the research publications.
2019- To date

For Young

We are now expanding our work to help young people with dyslexia identify their strengths.
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