Awareness and Public Perception of Dyslexia in Urban Pakistan: An Analytical Cross-Sectional Study

Dyslexia is a neurocognitive disorder of an individual of fluent reading, writing, and memorize difficult spellings or words. Objective: To critically evaluate the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) along with awareness of learning disability (Dyslexia) disorder in urban Pakistan. Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted by the Sindh Biotechnologist Association (SBA) in collaboration with a tertiary care hospital of Gomal Medical College, MTI, D.I. Khan, Pakistan. A total of 270 participants were enrolled using a convenience sampling technique. KAP of the general audience regarding Dyslexia was conducted by using an e-survey (i.e., Google document). SPSS Version 25.0 was used to analyze and correlate the data, where p<0.05 was considered a statistically significant response. Results: Out of 270 respondents, a majority of respondents (i.e., 57.8%, f=156) did not even know the signs and symptoms of dyslexia. While 37.8% participants were still in the denial mode about their closed ones’ Dyslexia. Moreover, 94.8% (f=256) believed that this survey helped them to know more about Dyslexia. The study found a strong correlation between respondents' knowledge and practices about dyslexia, with positive awareness being 6.25 times more likely to engage in positive dyslexia-related behaviours. Conclusions: Dyslexia significantly impacts individuals' performance in routine jobs, including reading, numeracy, memory, and verbal communication. It also affects record keeping, case load management, and medicine administration. Peer support plays a significant role in receiving support, but fear of retaliation may limit public understanding.