Some animated shorts aim to educate; What Is Dyslexia? aims to reframe an entire narrative. Directed by Kyra Bartley, this vibrant, imaginative short follows Lola, a young girl who does what millions of children do every year: she Googles her condition. What she finds – cold clinical terms like “intellectual disability” and “lifelong disorder” – sends her spiralling into fear before the film gently pulls her into a world that shows her something far more truthful, hopeful, and expansive.
The film’s central device is a metaphorical rabbit hole, a clear nod to Alice in Wonderland, where Lola discovers a dreamlike landscape that reframes dyslexia not as a deficit but as a different way of thinking. Along the way she meets an eccentric inventor and encounters figures like Muhammad Ali, whose presence underscores the film’s message: dyslexic minds often see the world differently, and that difference can be a source of brilliance rather than limitation.
What makes the short so effective is its clarity of purpose. The filmmakers set out to challenge the bleak, clinical search results that dominate the internet – the very results that leave “9 out of 10 children worried about their future,” according to the SPLING review. Instead, the film offers a counter‑narrative rooted in creativity, lateral thinking, and problem‑solving, qualities that dyslexic thinkers often excel in.
The production itself embodies that ethos. Much of the team behind the film are dyslexic, including producers and Grammy‑winning composer Lorne Balfe, whose soaring score gives the film emotional lift. The voice cast featuring Jeremy Irons and Liv Tyler — adds a layer of warmth and international credibility, helping the film reach the broad audience it deserves.
Visually, the short is exuberant and surreal, using colour, movement, and playful design to capture the internal experience of dyslexic thought. It’s not just an explainer; it’s an invitation to rethink assumptions, to see dyslexia as a spectrum of strengths rather than a list of obstacles.
In the end, What Is Dyslexia? is more than an educational tool, it’s a gentle, imaginative act of reframing. A reminder that diagnosis is not destiny, and that the stories we tell children about themselves matter deeply. Short, sweet, and quietly radical, it offers the dyslexic community something long overdue: optimism.
