Dyslexia Awareness Month falls in October every year, and it’s the time of year when we focus on promoting a more accessible and inclusive world for people with dyslexia and low literacy, as well as celebrating dyslexic excellence! It’s a significant event on the global neurodiversity movement’s yearly calendar, and it’s observed by people and businesses all over the world.
It’s actually part of a whole landscape of neurodiversity awareness initiatives that run in the month of October: many people observe a Dyslexia Awareness Week (2nd – 8th October 2023) as a focus of activity for the month, and World Dyslexia Day (8th October 2023; but some people celebrate on the 5th) is the highlight of many programmes, and is the day on which most people choose to hold their events and celebrations. But it’s not just about dyslexia, either: October is ADHD Awareness Month, and the month where we celebrate Dysgraphia Awareness Day too. Some countries like Canada choose October as their Autism Awareness Month too, although many people also observe this in April, the same as Neurodiversity Celebration Week.
Basically: October’s a busy and exciting month if you’re dyslexic, or if you’re neurodivergent in other ways, or if you just really want to shout about dyslexic excellence from the rooftops.
(… and also if you’re really into pizza).
Different businesses and organisations tend to focus on different aspects of the dyslexia journey throughout Dyslexia Awareness Month, Week and Day: it’s an opportunity for you to focus on your own narratives as well as align with wider awareness themes. That said, each year Dyslexia Awareness Week tends to have a unified theme in the UK based on the aspect that the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) and friends are focusing on that year.
The theme for Dyslexia Awareness Week in 2023 is Uniquely You: it centres on the idea that everybody experiences dyslexia differently and that no two dyslexic people are the same. “Having dyslexia can bring its challenges, but it also shapes experience and perspective, and makes you uniquely you,” is how it describes the theme on their official Dyslexia Awareness Week website.
You can find out more about Uniquely You and how you can join and celebrate here!
The first dyslexia awareness month was officially held in the UK in 2002 and took the form of a small movement day where dyslexia associations and people ‘in the know’ organised events within their local communities, with the odd few schools and businesses taking some time out to reflect on accessibility and dyslexia. It’s grown a lot over the past 21 years, from a small community day into a huge international movement both in the physical world and across social media.
And now… it’s pretty big.
Dyslexia associations, movements and assistive tech providers tend to go all-out for Dyslexia Awareness Month (or Dyslexia Awareness Week, or Dyslexia Awareness Day) these days, with full programmes of seminars and learning events, as well as public events that take their message of accessibility and inclusion right into the heart of the community. You can find out what’s going on in your network by taking a look at the #DyslexiaAwarenessMonth, #DyslexiaMonth, #DyslexiaDay and #GoRedForDyslexia hashtags on social media, or even searching events engines like EventBrite for things to join in with near you.
Schools tend to focus on understanding what dyslexia actually is and breaking down the stigma that unfortunately still surrounds it during Dyslexia Awareness Month, making sure that children and young people don’t see dyslexia as a barrier between themselves and success or something that divides them from their classmates. This can take the form of assemblies and presentations or even non-uniform days, where learners raise money for good causes like their local dyslexia organisation or action group.
Businesses might choose October to hold some neurodiversity training, or other kinds of seminars and employee advocacy forums that focus on supporting dyslexic people in that sector or workplace. They might invite speakers in to share their expertise, or even choose October as the month in which they debut new, more accessible websites. They too might get behind the idea of a dress-down day to raise awareness, or even light up the front of their building or signage to show the world that they’re supporting and championing individuals with dyslexia.
In reality, it’s up to you how you observe the month, and you can be as public or as private about it as you like.
It’s tempting to look at the progress we’ve made over the last thirty years or so and think that we’re on the right path now. We’re focusing more on accessibility, we’re talking about inclusion, we’re so much more clued into the concept of dyslexia and so much better at diagnosing it early. But it’s not all plain sailing… and we’ve still got a way to go.
An annual event reminds us of an ongoing commitment to inclusion and the idea that each year should be better than the last in terms of inclusivity and accessibility. It also means that we’re making a public commitment to neurodivergent people and acknowledging the differences that they experience navigating work and education, and gives us the opportunity to ensure these aren’t being forgotten or glossed over.
Dyslexia Awareness Month is also a powerful opportunity to bring the global neurodiversity community together, and to share knowledge and expertise in a meaningful way, whether that’s new ways to make the workplace better for neurodivergent individuals or simply to share the importance of diagnosis and intervention. More diagnosis and intervention means that more and more dyslexic people year on year are better understanding their needs and advocating for the support that they deserve — which makes the world better for everybody.
Go Red For Dyslexia is a global campaign that runs throughout Dyslexia Awareness Month and is supported by Succeed With Dyslexia. It’s all about changing the narrative for people living with dyslexia and low literacy.
We’ve been a key part of the movement for a long time now, and we’re proud to dedicate our efforts to raising awareness, amplifying dyslexic voices, and championing the fantastic achievements of people with dyslexia all over the world every October (as well as in every other month of the year, too).
We support Go Red because, as a movement, we want to end the stigma that sadly still surrounds dyslexia and dyslexic people and shout from the rooftops about all the fantastic things that neurodivergent people can do.
Most dyslexic people are pretty used to the colour red.
It’s the colour that’s used to highlight our mistakes when we’re in education: a red circle around a misspelled word, a red square on a progress tracker when we’re working below the grade that we should be, the red pen at the top of a returned worksheet that says ‘see me after class’. It’s also the colour that we associate with stop signs, red lights and danger warnings too: things that stand in our way and impede progress, that make us want to turn back and head off in the other direction.
But Go Red for Dyslexia wants to change all that.
Go Red is all about taking back the colour red for dyslexic people everywhere and making it something to be proud of instead of something that represents our perceived limitations. It’s about reclaiming the colour for the global dyslexia positivity movement, but making sure that we acknowledge its history as something that might have, in some cases, been used to define and discourage individuals with dyslexia and low literacy.
With Go Red for Dyslexia, we want to make red something that unites us within the neurodiversity movement and ensures that the next generation of dyslexic people grow up understanding that the colour red as it appears on an essay or a spelling test doesn’t mean that they’re not capable of doing amazing things.
We’re glad you asked!
You can join the Go Red movement and spread the Go Red message throughout October and help us make a difference for dyslexic people all over the world. Head over to www.goredfordyslexia.org to find out more, or check out last year's festivities here at our Go Red Wrap Up blog!
Whether it’s changing your business logo red, turning your whole organisation red, lighting up a building in red or organising a red clothes day to raise awareness or funds for your local dyslexia association, we’d love to see it. Tag us in your social media posts using #GoRedForDyslexia, and we’ll share our favourites with the global dyslexia community.
