‘No sanctuary’: Missed opportunities in health and social services for homeless people with dyslexia?

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between dyslexia, homelessness and access to health and social services. This is a quantitative study analysing data from the Multiple Exclusion Homelessness across the United Kingdom Survey. Data was collected from 443 participants who had experienced some form of homelessness in the UK. A comparison was made between people with dyslexia and those homeless people without this condition. The data findings in this paper appear to reveal that people with dyslexia are overrepresented within the survey’s homeless population. It may be expected that people with dyslexia might not come in contact with health professionals and social workers as support for this condition generally takes place within an educational environment. Yet this study seems to indicate that homeless people with dyslexia have greater contact with health professionals and social workers compared with non-dyslexic homeless people. This paper suggests that health and social services need to consider conditions like dyslexia in order to develop support for this particular group of people that have experienced homelessness.