Definition

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty which primarily affects reading and writing skills. However, it does not only affect these skills. Dyslexia is about information processing. Dyslexic people may have difficulty processing and remembering information they see and hear, which can affect learning and the acquisition of literacy skills. Dyslexia can also impact on other areas such as organisational skills.

Who’s reading your tender

So, for those regularly submitting bids there is likely to be at least one reader on almost every bid who struggles to read, absorb, and understand what you’ve written.

How to make your content dyslexia-friendly

 Readable fonts

• Use sans serif fonts, such as Arial and Comic Sans, as letters can appear less crowded. Alternatives include Verdana, Tahoma, Century Gothic, Trebuchet, Calibri, Open Sans.

• Make font size 12-14 point or equivalent (e.g. 1-1.2em / 16-19 px). Some dyslexic readers may request a larger font.
• Use larger inter-letter / character spacing (sometimes called tracking) to improve readability, ideally around 35% of the average letter width. If letter spacing is excessive it can reduce readability.
• Make inter-word spacing at least 3.5 times the inter-letter spacing.
• Some dyslexic people find that larger line spacing improves readability. It should be Proportion inter-word spacing to 1.5/150%.
• Avoid underlining and italics as this can make the text appear to run together and cause crowding. Use bold for emphasis.
• Avoid using all capital letters and uppercase letters for continuous text. Lower case letters are easier to read.

Headings and structure

• Use a heading font size that is at least 20% larger than the normal text. Use bold to further emphasis.
• Use formatting tools for text alignment, justification, indents, lists, line and paragraph spacing to support assistive technology users.
• Add extra space around headings and between paragraphs.
• Make hyperlinks look different from headings and normal text.

Colour

• Use single colour backgrounds. Avoid background patterns or pictures and distracting surrounds.
• Use sufficient contrast levels between background and text.
• Use dark coloured text on a light (not white) background.
• Avoid green and red/pink, as these colours are difficult for those who have colour vision deficiencies (colour blindness).

• Consider alternatives to white backgrounds for paper, computer and visual aids such as whiteboards. White can appear too dazzling. Use cream or a soft pastel colour. Some dyslexic people will have their own colour preference