Labour MP says dyslexia is 'a cruel fiction' to cover up bad teaching

A Labour MP has claimed dyslexia is a myth to cover up bad teaching of reading and writing.

Graham Stringer, MP for Manchester Blackley, also suggested there was a link between illiteracy and crime - as prisons were full of people unable to read and write.

He describes the condition as a "cruel fiction", claiming it is "no more real than the 19th century scientific construction of 'the aether' to explain how light travels through a vacuum."



"The sooner it is consigned to the same dustbin of history, the better."

Mr Stringer suggested the dyslexia "industry" should be "killed off" through the "magic bullet" of teaching children to read and write by using a phonetic system of sounding letters and words.

He made the comments while writing a column for Manchester Confidential, an entertainment and review website about the city.

You can read the article here.