And the Word Became Accessible: Publishers Release Dyslexia-Friendly Bibles
By Rachel Pfeiffer -- Christianity Today Newsletter
The lines land with slightly thicker strokes and dashes at the bottom. The letters leave little spaces inside as they curve up, like a stencil. This new typeface, a curly variation of a slab serif font, is called Grace—made especially for millions of Christians who struggle to read Scripture due to dyslexia. Major Bible publishers partnered with a specialty design firm to develop the Grace typeface and are now releasing Bibles using the new lettering.
Lifeway Christian Resources has made two dyslexia-friendly versions of its Christian Standard Bible (CSB): CSB Grace Bible for Kids, out now, and the CSB Grace Bible, coming in February. Crossway Publishing, which prints the English Standard Version (ESV), plans to release the ESV Holy Bible: Dyslexia-Friendly Edition in January.
Graphic design company 2K/Denmark specializes in typesetting and production of complex texts like Bibles and spent years developing the typeface. 2K/Denmark was founded by Danish designer Klaus Erik Krogh, who has been called a “living legend of Bible design.”
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Bibles aiming to be more Dyslexia friendly have been around for a while. The British and Foreign Bible Society began introducing these with the Gospel of Luke in 2015. Dyslexic friendly fonts appear to be designed on a faulty premise that dyslexia is at heart a visual problem - an idea proposed as early as 1927. Citing and summarizing many experts, Youki Terada’s article “Do Dyslexia Fonts Actually Work?” ( edutopia.org/article/do-dyslexia-fonts-actually-work/ ), suggests that they can actually cause more harm than good, compounding feelings of failure if it builds up a high expectation that then doesn’t result in improvement.
In combination with other adaptations certain fonts may help some people a bit but do not make all the challenges go away. One challenge is how people who are not dyslexic treat people who are.
UBS has previously linked to material by Aurora Betony with tips for a more Dyslexia-friendly church and tips for dyslexics on accessing the Bible. These are now available at https://churchesforall.org.uk/about-disabled-people-and-church/dyslexia/
As part of a wider exploration of neurodiversity and Bible translation I'm exploring more and will present some findings and more questions at the 2025 Bible Translation conference.