Dyslexia and Developers
summary
Claim: dyslexia affects processing not IQ and appears in about 3 to 7% of people, with a 2004 study suggesting programming can exploit dyslexic strengths. Practical fixes include RubyMine plus the Open Dyslexic font for context and readability, offline docs via Dash, Git hooks with overcommit running RuboCop and tests to prevent mistakes, OneNote/Spirax notepads for working memory, and noise‑canceling headphones. Those tools and workflows are built and used and they demonstrably reduce errors and let pattern‑spotting and big‑picture strengths shine.
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chapters (24)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:57What is Dyslexia?
- 3:57Don't complain you have a faulty hammer
- 5:02Characterised by difficulties with words
- 5:57Common Traits
- 6:37Neurobiological
- 7:0647% more waterproof
- 8:13Overcoming the Weaknesses
- 9:06Font Support
- 9:34It takes longer to learn things
- 10:08Poor working memory
- 10:58A notepad
- 11:55Good Project Management
- 12:27Trouble expressing ourselves through speech
- 13:27Distracted by background noise
- 13:44Noise Cancelling Headphones
- 14:08Time & Patience
- 14:29I can get overwhelmed easily
- 15:04Emotions
- 15:49Getting to the core of the problem
- 16:18The good type of lazy
- 17:06Creative Problem Solving
- 17:32More explicit, broken down code
- 18:00The takeaway
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