Volume 45, Issue 2 pp. 124-140
Original Article

‘Do I have to spell it out?’ Dyslexia, Lexism, and an object of comparison

Craig Collinson

Corresponding Author

Craig Collinson

Address for correspondence:

Dr Craig Collinson

Edge Hill University

St Helens Road

Ormskirk

Lancashire L39 4QP

UK

Email: [email protected]

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First published: 06 April 2018
Citations: 2

Abstract

In this article I mount an attack on the problematic conceptions of literacy that lie behind the Standards and Testing Agency's 2015 Interim Teacher Assessment Frameworks at the End of Key Stage 2 and the Key Stage 2 English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Tests. I employ an object of comparison (a philosophical method), for attitudes towards literacy and dyslexics. I challenge current conceptions of the Othering of, and discrimination against, dyslexics. I argue for the concept of ‘Lexism’ as an alternative explanatory account for the existence of dyslexics.