Doctor Dyslexia Dude Blog

Decades of psychological research show that characters are not neutral. They shape how people see themselves—and what they believe they are capable of. In gaming and media, female characters have historically been portrayed as secondary, overly sexualized, or lacking competence. These portrayals don’t stay on the screen. Research shows they influence self-belief, confidence, persistence, and identity in the real world—especially for girls and women navigating learning spaces. More recent character design models and research demonstrate something important: when characters are portrayed as  both competent and human , audiences respond differently. Viewers are more likely to identify with them, feel capable, and persist through challenge  The same principles apply to literacy. When learners only see struggle reflected back at them, difficulty feels like failure. But when characters model growth, strategy, and persistence without being reduced to stereotypes students begin to r...

I spent years writing for systems that promise legitimacy if I waited long enough, submitted often enough, or explained myself clearly enough. Some of that mattered. Some of it didn’t. What became clear is that  representation in literacy is structural, not symbolic —especially at the intersection of race, disability, and genre. For many Black boys, reading identity is shaped by whether they see themselves reflected at all. Without that mirror, reading becomes compliance, not connection.  Dyslexia, when unnamed or misread, is often recoded as behavior or disengagement. That misreading fractures identity long before it affects test scores. And genre matters. Graphic novels are not a shortcut. They are a legitimate literacy space—one where story, cognition, and identity can meet without apology. When race provides the mirror, dyslexia provides the meaning, and the graphic novel provides access, something rare happens: A student doesn’t just decode words. They decode themselves. ...