Dyslexia

[THE_COYOTE]

A good friend of mine suffers from Dyslexia, she asked me if it would stop her from becoming a commercial pilot. I had no idea, I googled it and didn't get any reliable results. Any experience with this as far as knowing someone with it that flys or got rejected? I know there different degrees of severity so it is hard to say for sure, but I was hopping for some anecdotal advice. Thanks.

[WolftalonID]

Are not we all that way sometimes? I call the wrong downwind often because im not paying attention just reading the compass as i fly....i realize it most of the time...then fix it. Hahah

 

Today, I was doing my bi annual, another student called the opposite heading, after i had already flown three laps around he track and I caught myself saying it too!

[Eric Hunt]

Just look at the helicpocter forums and see how peeple cannot spel. You can stil lern to phly without any secondary edjimacation.

[zippiesdrainage]

Could be an issue if you're dependent on your gps for direction or distance and you punch in the wrong airport code or in a busy airspace and screw up your tail number a couple of times leading them to think you are more than 1 aircraft. You could certainly put yourself in some bad situations. I don't know how they differentiate oil rigs in the gulf but if they have similar numbers or codes it could mean dropping guys off at the wrong rig or something.

[iChris]

A good friend of mine suffers from Dyslexia, she asked me if it would stop her from becoming a commercial pilot. I had no idea, I googled it and didn't get any reliable results. Any experience with this as far as knowing someone with it that flys or got rejected? I know there different degrees of severity so it is hard to say for sure, but I was hopping for some anecdotal advice. Thanks.

 

Depends on the degree and severity. It’s possible since the FAA even has special written test options for Dyslexic applicants. The old order 8080.6D named it as such. However, under the new revisions to 8080.6G, it’s called Testing Procedures for Applicants with Learning or Reading Disabilities.

 

FAA Order 8080.6G

 

Chapter 4. Test Procedures—General

 

13. Testing Procedures for Applicants with Learning or Reading Disabilities

 

 

FAA Order 8080.6D

 

CHAPTER 6-5. TESTING PROCEDURES FOR DYSLEXIC APPLICANTS.

 

a. A dyslexic applicant may request approval from the local Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) or International Field Office (IFO) to take an airman knowledge test using one of the three options listed in preferential order.

 

(1) Option one. Use current testing facilities and procedures whenever possible.

 

(2) Option two. Applicants may use a Franklin Speaking Wordmaster® to facilitate the testing process. The Wordmaster® is a self-contained electronic thesaurus that audibly pronounces typed in words and presents them on a display screen. It has a built-in headphone jack for private listening. The headphone feature must be used during testing to avoid disturbing others.

 

(3) Option three. Applicants who do not choose to use the first or second option may request a proctor to assist in reading specific words or terms from the test questions and supplement material. In the interest of preventing compromise of the testing process, the proctor must be someone who is non-aviation oriented. The proctor must provide reading assistance only, with no explanation of words or terms. When this option is requested, the FSDO or IFO inspector must contact AFS-630 for assistance in selecting the test site and proctor.

Edited November 12, 2013 by iChris

[THE_COYOTE]

Thanks Chris, very informative as usual.

[Jelico]

I can't speak from a commercial perspective yet, but I have issues with numbers occasionally. Not diagnosed but obviously some form of mild dyslexia. Basically sometimes I get numbers mixed up.

 

It hasn't been a problem for my training/flying so far, I have just learnt to be really disciplined with numbers - I double check everything and re-verify everything.

Outside of flying I run a medium size business that I started 7 years ago and haven't had too many problems in that side of things either.

[THE_COYOTE]

Appreciate the feedback from you all, but I think that you may not understand Dyslexia completely. It does effect numbers and words, but the more extreme cases also suffer from hearing, vertigo and vision problems. This is the reason I was wondering if anyone knew of any specific cases. The way I understand it is that through training those problems can be overcome and I was curios about aviation related instances.

[WolftalonID]

I didn't mean to belittle the issue. I often write in odd order myself, but was told by many educators, my mind is often far ahead of my ability to speak or write fast enough. At times I even stutter due to not being able to speak at the speed of my thought path. So far, not on the radio thank god, and when flight planning foreflight shows your path...helps correct any mistypes pretty quickly when your highlighted path is not where you intend to go.

 

I have never heard of it being linked to vision or hearing issues, more of an order of processing/recall.

[THE_COYOTE]

I have never heard of it being linked to vision or hearing issues, more of an order of processing/recall.

 

Yeah me either, but apparently it does.

[aeroscout]

Sometimes when what I see is close to what I want to see, I just see what I want to see. I hope it's not dyslexia.