Gift from the gods? Dyslexia, popular culture and the ethics of representation

Abstract

The popular culture of learning difficulties has gained increasing attention in recent years, especially autism and Asperger syndrome. As yet, the representation of dyslexia has gone unexplored. Here, the popular culture of dyslexia is analysed, using the Percy Jackson series as a point of reference. It is suggested that three key tropes characterise these popular cultures: dyslexia as gift, functional limitation and joke. Conceptually, the article seeks to explore the potential for accounts of the popular culture of disability to go beyond the positive/negative ethical binary. It does so by situating representations of dyslexia within dyslexia’s broader histories and cultures, drawing on interviews with people with dyslexia from the UK Dyslexia Archive, amongst other sources. The article suggests that, in the case of dyslexia’s popular culture, the positive/negative ethical binary does not always capture the full complexity of representations.Points of interestThis account contributes to emerging work on learning difficulties and popular culture, focusing on dyslexia in western popular culture.This account of dyslexia and popular culture focuses, in particular, on one of the most popular representations to feature a character with dyslexia: Percy Jackson.Representations of dyslexia fall into three significant tropes: dyslexia as gift and/or functional limitation and/or joke.Representations of dyslexia often exceed straightforward conceptualisations as either ethically positive or negative.This account calls for future research on the representation of disability to move beyond the positive/negative ethical binary.