It doesn't matter for a lot of people who think it looks nice to present work or reports but others try to fill a page with as much ink as they can, use a small font size and put boxes around everything.
This is a problem seen pretty much everywhere from schools, exam papers, company reports etc.
Coping strategies for lack of white space I've found useful include.
- Printing my own version of notes/forms/reports on Word or GoogleDocs by editing the line spacing.
- Using a "letter box" a slot cut into a page and placed over the complicated text. This removes the majority of the ink from the page and has the effect of creating white space. It also had the added advantage of keeping my place in meetings.
- Using the edge of a clean sheet. Like the letter box approach above but only removes the bottom or top ink from the reading page.
- Enlarge the page via photo copy. Turn an A4 page into A4. Words and space around them are made bigger and easier to read. I've recently sat an exam at work and due to struggling with the paper asked to photocopy it bigger. As it was multiple choice I made big X's and at the end photocopied it again and reduced from A3 to A4 so it could be marked. This really helped with the understanding even if it didn't help with my knowledge of the subject.
Visually more ingormation of wierd and wondetful boxes, images ir set outs may appear nice or puts data in order but to a dyslexic this could spell trouble (don't worry that's my only dyslexic joke).
White space gives eyes a chanse to focus on the ink and read the words, giving my brain extra time to process the information. Extra space between lines (for me at least) makes the process a lot easier and stops the dramatic dance that the ink goes on around my vision.
More white equals less head aches!
By using boxes on the page reduces the space and makes using the check boxes or lists hard to read; so what was designed as a time saving tool turns into a time wasting exersice as I ignore the printed page.
Not a big issue? In real terms not really, unless you're expecting information to be correctly entered onto the forms especiallyin a time sensitive period. I work for the emergency services who have dyslexia input from experts, which help with the creation of forms and screens but they have recently created a IEC (immediate emergency care or first aid to you and me) form for the collection of stats from casualties. The form has more colour on it than a Christmas tree and typed so small to get everything on one page and then boxed off to separate the different parts of our role. Unfortunately all I see are pretty coloured squares which I ignore to use my time caring for the casualty and revert back to recording stats on the back of my glove.
O.k I know the importance of chain of events and having an accurate record to pass over to responding ambulance crews and further up the line but when they make it so hard I struggle to fulfill this part of my role.
Don't confuse this blog as a moan about the system or my role. I greatly enjoy casualty care, having done it and instructed in it for over 20 years in one form or another and get a lot of satisfaction from carrying it out, but this recent frustration is now ause that I believe I just can't do at the scene of anything greater than a minor call.
Are there any people out there with simular issues at work that have come up with coping strategies that may help? Please let me know.
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