Rossie Stone - a real character

Founder of Dekko Comics Rossie Stone – and one of our very own Ambassadors – shares his views on dyslexia’s representation in the media – and why relating to fictitious characters helps learners to find themselves

How well is dyslexia represented in the media, do you think?

I have seen more things pop up on telly like neurodiversity documentaries or the term neurodiversity being used – and programmes like The Good Doctor. None of these are dyslexia, per se, but I’m seeing more of a trend of that start to emerge and neurodivergence starting to become more normalised. Improvement for me personally would be dyslexia just being normal in society and being accepted as normal; not seen as a big deal. I think dyslexia has made so much progress over the years. In many ways, compared to some of the other labels, dyslexia has made some of the best progress – in my opinion.

From what I’ve seen, over the years of starting my work with Dekko Comics, it seems to have less emotional baggage and stigma nowadays compared
to other forms of neurodiversity such as autism or Tourette’s. But of course, I think there’s always improvement that can be made. I would just like to see it keep going in the direction of normalisation.

What role models or characters did you identify with in the media growing up and why?

I had two characters that I really identified with. Calvin from the Calvin and Hobbes comics by Bill Watterson because Calvin’s the sort of boy who always grew up in his own imagination and really struggled to connect with school, as well as with other people. When I was younger, that was the case for me. In one comic, he says, “they tried to teach me, but I was too tough for ’em”, and he was just a weird, funny kid. But clearly you can also see behind that fun, he was struggling as
well: struggling to relate to the people and norms around him, struggling to understand how to do anything right at school, letting his
imagination carry him away and get the better of him…

I also saw myself in Bart Simpson in one particular episode of The Simpsons. In the episode ‘Bart Gets an F’, he is struggling at school and he eventually gets threatened that he’ll have to repeat a year. I could really relate to him drifting off into daydreams whenever he tried to study or wanting to do something naughty or fun instead of studying. Later in this episode, Bart actually takes his studying more seriously than he ever has before and actually tries to give it his best shot. There’s even a moment where he’s slapping himself to make him concentrate and, in a way, I sort of did similar things like that to myself at times. And there’s this really
heart-wrenching moment near the end, which always made me sad, where he breaks down in tears in front of the teacher when he gets yet another ‘F’ after honestly trying his best – feeling like an utter failure. And the thing is, when I look back at it, it felt really close to home. This boy, who was a cheeky wise-kid beforehand, who’s always got something to say back to the teacher, actually breaks down in tears. He sobs to his teacher, “You don’t understand.I really tried my best, and this is the best I can do, and I still failed.” Though he does get a pass in the end, because he gets an impressive off the record question correct, that scene and that episode really struck a chord with me -even way back then as a 6 to 7 year old watching it.

What are your hopes for dyslexia in education and the media?

My ideal would be that one day for all of this just to be seen as the human brain. The brain has always been diverse. It always came in lots of different shapes and sizes, types and wirings. I hope we get to a point where we don’t need the labels anymore. The labels are only as useful as the disadvantageous situations people who learn differently find themselves in, where they face prejudice based on the way a system has been set up.

Rossie’s philosophy underpins the work of Dekko Comics. Educators can take part in their online video courses and subscribe to the comics. See more at
dekkocomics.com.