It’s revolutionary: Canal + will offer a feature for dyslexic people

“When I watch videos with subtitles, I have to slow down. And sometimes I have to back off“- explains a young dyslexic girl in this video, which was published on Youtube by the agency BETC.

It marks the collaboration between the Canal+ channel and the association Pouvoir Dys, which has been working for years to develop therapeutic techniques for people suffering from written language disorders.

Dyslexia affects 8 to 12% of the world’s population and 5 to 8 million individuals in France alone. And as for movies and series, they are on the edge. It is impossible for them to follow the program with subtitles in the original language, because the latter is not adapted to their language impairment.

Béatrice Sauvage, researcher and president of the association Pouvoir Dys, has been working for 10 years on typography aimed at both dyslexic and non-dyslexic people.

In the video, he explains that he and his teams developed an alphabet inspired by scrolls, where each letter is suggested in depth. These new forms of discomfort allow viewers to “Read the words without decoding them“.

These subtitles, called “distites”, will have a peculiarity of understanding for all viewers. Canal+’s ambition is clear: the channel wants to offer this new feature for the summer, but on certain programs. It sets itself the goal of 2025 to integrate everywhere and even during live streaming.

So, a world first to be applauded.