Graduate student Abigail Cordiner navigates dyslexia in science

“Rachel has 17 apples and gives 9 to Sarah. How many apples does Rachel have now?” Young third-grade Abigail Cordiner never had trouble understanding the problem—only reading it.

While her classmates puzzled over mathematical word problems on the page, the moment the problem was read out loud, the answer clicked instantly. Noticed by her teacher, this pattern became the turning point that led to Cordiner’s dyslexia screening, and, years later, continues to shape how she navigates graduate school today.

Now a fourth-year graduate student, research is about more than advancing stem cell therapies—it’s also about helping make science more accessible for people like her.

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cordiner studies how to improve the processes used to generate stem cell–derived heart muscle cells. These cells are important tools for studying heart disease in the lab and may one day be used in regenerative therapies to treat conditions such as heart failure.

Creating these cells, however, is far from simple. Scientists must guide stem cells through several stages of development, carefully controlling the signals that influence how a cell “decides” what type of tissue it will become. Much of Cordiner’s work focuses on understanding and controlling this process at the genetic level to make the production of these cells more reliable and scalable for research and medical applications.

For her work, Cordiner received a fellowship from the Graduate Research Fellowship Program from the National Science Foundation in 2024 and is part of the Biotechnology Training Program (BTP), which is funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Alongside her scientific work, she’s also open about navigating research with dyslexia and related conditions, sharing the strategies, tools, and perspectives that help her succeed in a field that isn’t always designed with reading difficulties in mind.

Understanding dyslexia and related conditions

As a child, Cordiner was diagnosed with dyslexia along with two other conditions, dysgraphia, and Irlen syndrome. All three conditions affect reading and writing, but in different ways:

• Dyslexia affects how people process written language, particularly breaking down words and sounding them out, which can make reading and spelling difficult.
• Dysgraphia primarily affects handwriting and can involve broader hand–eye coordination challenges.
• Irlen syndrome involves visual processing differences that can interfere with reading.

These diagnoses and all learning conditions are based on symptoms—not cause. While these conditions can be present singularly, they frequently occur together and possibly share underlying causes that medical professionals and researchers are still trying to understand. So as diagnostic techniques and criteria have adapted and changed over time, diagnoses might include multiple conditions or only dyslexia, which would only include reduction in the ability to read and no other learning areas.

“These conditions are so commonly found with dyslexia that most people assume the symptoms are all just dyslexia,” she explains. But each condition also includes symptoms beyond reading. Dyslexia can affect spatial awareness—such as distinguishing left from right—while dysgraphia can influence hand-eye coordination and Irlen syndrome is often associated with migraines. For Cordiner, Irlen syndrome changes how text appears on a page.

“The color white actually looks like patches of very light green and purple to me, and the white space between words looks brighter,” she says. “On some pages, that creates distracting channels across the text.”

This visual effect can contribute to reading fatigue and is one reason accessibility guidelines often discourage fully justified text formatting as uneven spacing can make these visual distortions more pronounced.

Talking about disability in science

More than 1 in 4 Americans are disabled, yet only a small fraction of doctoral recipients in STEM identify as disabled, with engineering as one of the lowest representations. This gap suggests challenges in retaining disabled students in scientific fields. But in fact, many famous scientists are known to or have been suspected of having learning disabilities, including Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, and Albert Einstein.

Mentorship plays an important role in improving retention. While there are some mentorship opportunities, like the DisabledInSTEM program, relatively few programs specifically support disabled graduate students. Because of this, Cordiner believes that science needs more open conversations about disability and notes the importance of sharing not only success stories, but also the practical systems researchers use to manage their disabilities.

Highlighting accomplishments without discussing those systems can unintentionally create what disability advocates call “inspiration narratives”—stories that celebrate success without acknowledging the tools, accommodations, and support structures that made it possible. She hopes for more honest conversations about accessibility and inclusion in science.

“Dyslexia alone doesn’t stop someone from becoming a scientist or engineer,” she says. “What makes it difficult is a system that isn’t built for us.”

Building systems that work

In graduate-level research, students read hundreds of scientific papers, a task that can be particularly challenging for people with reading-based learning differences. To manage this, Cordiner found multiple methods that rely on technological tools to assist her and structured workflows.

One of the most important tools in her arsenal is text-to-speech software. So instead of reading every word visually, she often listens to papers while reviewing the figures separately. Though, Cordiner notes it can be easy to lose attention, so you need to find a way to keep your attention focused.

“For some reason, this is the best method for me,” she says. Wile on the bike, Cordiner uses an app called Natural Reader on her phone, which allows her to listen while studying other parts of the document, usually the figures in the paper.

To help keep her focus, she started by using two screens—one running text-to-speech software and another for annotation. With this dual-screen setup and using digital tools, like OneNote, she can display a copy of the paper and highlight key ideas and leave notes while she listens. This still works well for papers outside her research area. But for papers in her own field, she has developed another method that works surprisingly well for her attention and focus—reviewing papers while on a stationary bike.

But because there are relatively few resources focused specifically on managing dyslexia in scientific research, she encourages students to experiment with different reading setups, software, and workflows. The fact that everyone experiences dyslexia differently, also complicates matters with no universal road map. “If you find something that works for you, share it,” she says. “It might help someone else.”

Technology that changes the game

Even with today’s advanced technology, there’s always challenges. Because scientific papers include elements that text-to-speech programs struggle with, such as equations or figure captions, Cordiner manually guides the software to focus on the main text and skip distracting elements.

Writing presents its own challenges. Many people with dyslexia struggle with spelling because sounding out words doesn’t reliably lead to the correct spelling. Modern AI-based grammar and spelling tools have made a significant difference for Cordiner. Traditional spell-check systems can identify misspelled words, but they can’t always recognize when someone has written a real word that wasn’t the one they intended. Newer machine-learning tools are better at recognizing context and suggesting the intended word. Then after writing, she utilizes text-to-speech software to read her writing aloud, and catch errors and improve clarity before sharing documents with collaborators.

She also encourages students to focus on developing strong communication skills, especially storytelling in writing and presentations. So rather than striving for perfect spelling, she suggests concentrating on clarity, structure, and the ability to explain ideas effectively.

“Make the content so good that it doesn’t matter that someone else checks the spelling,” she says.

Practicing presentations, seeking feedback, and learning the typical structure of different scientific documents, such as research articles or literature reviews, can also help build confidence.

Navigating disclosure & understanding discrimination in the field

But beyond tools and study techniques, Cordiner says students often face a more complicated question: whether to disclose their disability in academic or professional settings. For Cordiner, choosing to disclose her dyslexia has ultimately made things easier.

“People sometimes make worse assumptions about me when they don’t know I’m dyslexic,” she says. “They might think I’m careless or that I just can’t spell.”

Being open about her diagnosis helps clarify the situation and allows conversations about how she works best. But she stresses that disclosure is a deeply personal decision, and the right choice can vary depending on someone’s circumstances and comfort level.

Although awareness of learning differences is improving, discrimination related to disability still exists in academia and industry. According to research on the scientific workforce, concerns about bias can affect hiring decisions, promotions, and even grant opportunities. Because of these lingering misconceptions, disclosure can sometimes carry risks and can be a difficult decision for early-career researchers.

At the same time, she believes that more open discussions about disability in science can help reduce stigma and improve understanding within the research community.

“There isn’t an easy answer. There are still people who believe that having any learning disability means you can’t be a good engineer or researcher. So you have to balance the potential risks and benefits for yourself.”

Changing the culture of science

Regardless of whether students choose to disclose widely, Cordiner strongly encourages them to take advantage of any accommodations they are legally entitled to. Universities and workplaces in the United States are required to provide reasonable accommodations for documented disabilities. These supports can include assistive technology, alternative testing formats, flexible deadlines, or adjustments that make learning and research more accessible.

These supports are not shortcuts or special treatment, she adds—they are tools that help level the playing field in environments that were not originally designed with disabled scientists in mind.

Cordiner hopes that the scientific community will continue moving toward a more open and supportive culture around disability. By talking honestly about accommodations, tools, and the realities of working with a disability, she says, the scientific community can become more inclusive for the next generation of researchers.

Because for her, progress in science isn’t just about new technologies, it’s also about building systems where more people can participate and succeed.