Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1063613
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 DECEMBER 2018 11 OPINION www.creditinfo.com.mt info@creditinfo.com.mt Tel: 2131 2344 Your Local Partner for Credit Risk Management Solutions Supporting you all the way Francis Zammit Dimech Rosianne Cutajar Francis Zammit Dimech is a Nationalist MEP (EPP) Rosianne Cutajar is a Labour MP and Commissioner for Simplification of Bureaucracy Francis Zammit Dimech IMAGINE being very intelligent but having difficulty in reading fluently and spelling words correctly. This condition is known as dyslexia. People with dyslexia have trouble matching the letters they see on the page with the sounds those letters and combinations of letters make. Learning a second language is also very challenging for these people. It is estimated that dyslexia affects around 5% of the world's population, meaning that as many as 50 million Europeans could be dyslexic. Since the condition does not manifest itself exteriorly, only 1% of dyslexics are actually diagnosed. One tends to wrongly assume that this condition is related to a lack of intelligence. However, research has highlighted the opposite to be true. While people with dyslexia are slow readers, they are often, paradoxically, very fast and creative thinkers with strong reasoning abilities. In fact, some very famous people such as Albert Einstein, Steven Spielberg and Pablo Picasso have been diagnosed with dyslexia. These people have made a name for themselves, excelling in their own respective spheres, which goes to prove that dyslexia should not in any way be an impeding factor for those affected. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver actually says that having dyslexia (he has the condition) should be considered a stroke of luck because it helps you see things in a different and possibly more creative way. Whether this is true or not, the fact remains that he went on to become very successful. Many others, however, are not as fortunate and go through life with great suffering. There is no doubt that dyslexia not only brings about great difficulties in education, it also contributes to character challenges in an individual. Those affected tend to have low self-esteem and lack self-confidence. Statistics show that 40% to 60% of dyslexic children have psychological manifestations, including anxiety, depression and attention deficit, making it especially hard for them to find work. These difficulties tend to lead the affected individual to lose direction and, in cases where the individuals are not given support, they can move towards poverty and criminality. The information presented does not present a pretty picture. On the contrary it shows a myriad of problems which need to be addressed, and I believe that the EU could and should be a gateway to the alleviation of challenges experienced by dyslexics. Whereas the condition is not life- threatening, it is our duty as legislators to provide a support framework for people affected by this condition and for their families. Together with Roger Broadbent from the Dyslexia Institute UK, within the European Parliament, I launched the European Dyslexia Charter. This document is intended to give dyslexic people more opportunities to fulfil their aspirations in life and to support teachers working with dyslexics through better training and support, to help dyslexics struggling to find work and to reach their potential when they get their job so as to get the maximum benefit. One major recommendation that the European Dyslexia Charter puts forward is the need for education systems to integrate modern technological tools that can help young people grasp basic reading and learning concepts. People with dyslexia are known to find it more difficult to learn using traditional printed material but are more responsive when the same material is presented in computer software and apps such as text-to-speech and auditory notes. This Charter could only be achieved thanks to the dedication and the contribution offered by the Malta Dyslexia Association (MDA) and parents of dyslexic students with whom I had discussions and thanks to whom I could understand the realities and the difficulties that people with dyslexia or parents of children with dyslexia have to face on a daily basis. Apart from parents and affected adults, the MDA also includes experts in the field who, together with the rest of the members are doing a fantastic job in creating the much- needed awareness and providing information to people dealing with the condition. Once we recognise the difficulties that people with dyslexia go through, we can then provide the necessary support frameworks that will help these people lead a fruitful life with more self-confidence and with ambition. This is what the European Dyslexia Charter is all about. A FEW days ago I filed two libel suits against two individuals, both publicly active on social and information media and close to a faction of the PN, who used blatant verbal abuse in my regard. I filed these libel suits for very clear reasons. It is unacceptable that, at a time when the country is building a broad consensus around gender equity and civil rights, women in public life are, at the same time, subjected to online abuse and verbal violence. Calling a female politician a 'whore', 'call girl' and 'prostitute' is not free speech. It is outright hate speech. It is violent, derogatory and abusive. And I want to call this violence by its name — violence — in an effort to open a longer conversation about it, and its effects on women in public office or in public life. Rather than merely bemoan the abuse, I'd like to ensure that others in my position now and in future, are sheltered from it, and empowered against it. It cannot be business as usual. To send out the message that verbal abuse of this kind is OK will complicate matters for those who, further down the line, may wish to serve their society in a political capacity. This also means fighting the double standards of those who clearly justify or try to make a virtue out of abuse when it is coming from those of their ilk, and cry foul straightaway when it comes from their opponents. The right for a person in public office not to suffer abuse on the basis of their gender is a universal one just as it is for any other person, from any other walk of life. To argue that I should take the flak because I am the one who speaks vociferously in the first place, is merely fudging the issue and misleading people. However vociferous my criticism of others may be, legitimate criticism is what it is. Slurs and abusive language are not. Hurling insults, throwing malicious innuendo into Facebook posts, seeking to hurt and destroy people by any and all available means — that is not fair criticism. That is something else altogether. Some bright sparks have brought out their dictionary and tried to dress up the abuse by arguing that 'qahba f 'xalata' is a metaphor or a popular expression and should be taken as some innocent figure of speech. The harmful and slanderous intent behind these insults is clear to everyone. Those trying to justify this abuse would have us believe the hate speech was some forgivable, spur-of- the-moment romp. Well, you can spin it around as much as you wish to, you can try to soften the violence by being sarcastic about it or saying why we must all take it with a pinch of salt. The point is, it's plain abuse — and people are bound to realise you're taking them for idiots. This nasty business should long have been a closed chapter in this country. Instead, there are those who are trying to accustom people to this abusive behaviour, to make it feel "normal" and acceptable or even morally right in people's minds as long as you're "hitting at the enemy". These individuals will never bring about the damage to Labour which they desire. On the contrary. Hate speech is the tool of last resort for those who have nothing worthwhile to offer our people. And one of the reasons the Opposition has little political content or policy planning right now is, precisely, these same individuals: hanging round the Opposition's neck like the proverbial albatross. As to calling me a "fake feminist" — the only fake stuff I see are these attempts to intimidate, mislead and silence others by abusive means. On the contrary, our economic and social achievements, our effort to aim higher, our readiness as a government to always improve our act: these facts are not fake. They are real, and I am confident they're being appreciated. Living with dyslexia This violence has to end