'Dyslexics "knowing how" to challenge "lexism"

Lexism (Collinson, 2012, 2014) is alternative conceptualisation of what defines dyslexics. Much as ableism and racism entail prejudice against specific culturally constructed groups, lexism is the Othering of, and discrimination against, dyslexics. Lexism is the result of normative attitudes and beliefs of literacy – that literacy should only be ‘done’ a certain way. We use the new concept of lexism to reassess some assumptions around literacy and dyslexia, and then to examine the way social media can act as enabling technologies which unsettle these normative assumptions.