Dyslexics Play Better
Imagination is the most advanced human faculty
The imagination is that faculty which gives form to thought — … form capable of being uttered in shape or in sound, or in any mode upon which the senses can lay hold. It is, therefore, that faculty in [hu]mans which is like […] the prime operation of the power of God, and has, therefore, been called the creative faculty, and it’s exercise, creation.
A Dish of Orts, by George MacDonald
Scottish Author and Poet, 10 December 1824–18 September 1905
Out of the curve of the imagination, all things are born — we all know that. We all know humans are innately creative and that creativity is not limited to a specific type of person. You are creative. You can imagine. You can make. You take comfort in this and so you should. Yet, there is evidence that a high number of filmmakers, writers, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, are dyslexic or identify as Neurodivergent.
As the founder of DYSPLA, you will hear me shamelessly say that, “Dyslexics make better Storymakers”, I have built DYSPLA on this premise; on this belief that “better” exists and difference is the key, because, if all humans have an imagination, it is only one’s difference that will set their imagination apart.
Dyslexia Is The Difference
Dyslexia is this difference because it literally is a different way of processing information. We learn differently, therefore, we think differently; we see ideas connect and intersect in ways not obvious to others. This difference could be translated as, originality, innovation or intuition - which are all human traits, born out of creativity…or because of creativity. These traits are also innate characteristics of dyslexia. People, other than myself, have also obsessed over the idea that dyslexia holds a kind of elixir. Dr. Alice Cancer, in 2016, wrote a paper called: “The alleged link between creativity and dyslexia”. Their work looks to identify the specific process in which dyslexic people excel. Their findings proved that the dyslexic participants who took part in the experiment, “were more open to new ideas and more willing to accept ambiguity”. These are primary skills in the art of storymaking and innate characteristics of dyslexia.
Dyslexic & Neurodivergent Filmmakers
We just have to look at the body of work from some dyslexic and other Neurodivergent filmmakers like; Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, George Lucas, Steve McQueen, Tim Burton, Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Orson Welles, Guy Ritchie, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay, Woody Allen, Spike Lee, David Lynch, Billy Wilder, Charlie Chaplin, David Lean, to see the creative benefits of neurodivergence in filmmaking. We suspect that there are even more brilliant filmmakers, past and present, who are undiagnosed. For example, we suspect that Francis Ford Coppola, may be an undiagnosed dyslexic filmmaker because his sister and son are both dyslexic and Dyslexia is a learning difference that passes down the gene pool.
“Dyslexia is regarded as a neurological condition that is genetic in origin”.
Jerome J. Schultz.
Neurological Gift
This neurological condition is a gift for filmmaking and for filmmakers like us. We have the potential to succeed, to stand out as Auteurs, because of our imagination and the way we invent and reinvent ideas. Dyslexic Filmmakers play better and in playing they become new. It is in playing that we exercise our imagination and our imagination becomes more robust. The specific skills associated with creativity are connected to the ways Neurodivergent people process information. In fact, there are three basic skills needed to evaluate creative thinking and these are, “widening, connecting and reorganizing,” known as the WCR Creativity Test.
If creativity is too subjective for you and you need more evidence that dyslexia makes for better storymaking, then perhaps you will be more impressed to know who the richest filmmakers are. George Lucas is worth $5.4 Billion and Steven Spielberg is worth $3.7 Billion. The richest filmmakers in all the world are DYSLEXIC. It is not coincidence that places the most successful filmmakers at the top of the food chain. It is dyslexia.
Dyslexia and Entrepreneurship
Dyslexia is also the commonality among, 40% of 300 millionaires based on a study reported in The Sunday Times on the 5th October 2003. This percentage of dyslexics among millionaires is four times higher than in the general population. Adrian Atkinson, one of the business psychologist working on the research at the time said, “most people who make a million have difficult childhoods or have been frustrated in a major way. Dyslexia is one of the driving forces behind that.” It is fair to say that for some, difficulties, weather developmental, emotional, physical or economical, lead to creative solutions.
In a more recent study by Professor Julie Logan, at the Cass Business School in London, revealed that “20% of the UK’s business self-starters have the condition. Her research into the US market showed that 35% of company founders identified themselves as dyslexic, compared with 15% in the general population,” as reported by Louise Tickle from the Guardian Newspaper in 2015.
School doesn’t teach dyslexics how to read, it teaches them how to survive and the only way for that to happen, is to quickly find another way. This sentiment is perfectly explained by dyslexic actor, screenwriter and producer, Billy Bob Thornton, in an interview with Men's Journal. (FYI -he is worth 45 Million Dollars as cited on Celebrity Net Worth).
“I was severely dyslexic, so I was just kind of known around school as a moron. Nobody really encouraged me. Dyslexia drives you, because you’re trying to overcome this thing. They’ve found that a lot of people with dyslexia are high achievers in things like the arts, or writing, or whatever, because you compensate in other ways.”
RICH FILMMAKERS
The website Wealth Gorilla compiled a list of the 25 richest filmmakers in the world. I have edited it to highlight in bold who are the Dyslexic or Neurodivergent filmmakers. The italicised filmmakers are either school dropouts, undiagnosed dyslexics or present neurodivergent traits in their work.
- George Lucas — $5.4 Billion
- Steven Spielberg — $3.7 Billion
- James Cameron — $700 Million
- Tyler Perry — $600 Million
- Peter Jackson — $500 Million
- Michael Bay — $430 Million
- Ridley Scott — $400 Million
- Francis Ford Coppola — $300 Million
- Roland Emmerich — $200 Million
- Christopher Nolan — $180 Million *
- Ron Howard — $160 Million
- Guy Ritchie — $150 Million
- Tim Burton — $140 Million
- Gore Verbinski — $130 Million
- Coen Brothers — $120 Million
- Quentin Tarantino — $120 Million
- Irwin Winkler — $100 Million
- Martin Scorsese — $100 Million
- Rob Reiner — $100 Million
- Judd Apatow — $90 Million
- Chris Columbus — $80 Million
- Jon Turteltaub — $80 Million
- Woody Allen — $80 Million
- Oliver Stone — $70 Million
- Zhang Yimou — $70 Million
Why is this relevant or important?
Because the household names above consist of only men in their fifties or older. They no longer need any help, or support or promotion. Grassroot filmmakers do! The work being made now by Neurodivergent filmmakers is far more exciting and relevant because they are the future Award Winning Directors. They are the ones who will fill the shoes of the giants that came before them. I like to think that DYSPLA will be part of their journey to success in some small way through the advocacy we do and from the initiatives we produce, such as the DYSPLA Storymakers Residency or the DYSPLA International Moving Image Festival. I would like to believe that by advocating for the necessity of Neurodivergence in storymaking, filmmakers and artists will gain the development support they need to succeed against all the odds.
Neurodivergence is a Storymaking Attribute
Everyone benefits from Neurodivergence, even Christopher Nolan, who used the lessons of dyslexic filmmakers to hone his craft. While he is not dyslexic himself, he was highly influenced by George Lucas and Ridley Scott. Being Neurodivergent is an advantage and if you still do not believe this, you may just not want to. You might not want to believe that dyslexia is a gift, or that we think in more original ways. But we are able to expand on thought, to connect the dots and to reinvent ideas as well as ourselves with ease. We play better because we have more “exercise.’
There is no such thing as writer’s block for us —our blocks are more domestic, organizational, or logical. Time does not exist in our realm, management of it is difficult and a disarray of tasks and chores follow us around like neglected kittens. We might not be good at traditional life, but Art is ours for the taking. Here, we are the asset, not the dummy. We have something more to offer and we keep going with an unrelenting sense of enthusiasm and perseverance, even when our confidence is broken by, education, society or family.
DYSPLA — Artists and Creative Producers
Our approach to development is always artist lead. The filmmaker must always be an Auteur if their voice and their vision is to develop and form legacy in British Cinema. DYSPLA is not the type of organisation to pity the disabled artist, instead, we put them on a pedal stool.
We call on dyslexics and all neurodivergent creatives to step forward and be part of this new Art Movement coined by DYSPLA in 2018 as the “Neurodivergent Aesthetic”. This new aesthetic is defined by the creative work of Neurodivergent filmmakers.
DYSPLA’s ongoing research into the Neurodivergent Aesthetic is intended as provocation into thoughts around creativity, excellence, originality and disability. Ultimately, everything we do is intended to convince you that Dyslexics were born to tell stories.
“I believe that the imaginary is our Virtual Reality where we flourish as flawless Avatars. In this world, our disability is not a barrier — it is a bridge.“ Lennie Varvarides, 2021
© Lennie Varvarides November 2021