Digital Authentication and Dyslexia: A Survey of the Problems and Needs of Dyslexia People

It might be expected that people with dyslexia would have difficulties with password creation and maintenance, given their difficulties with language, often with spelling and correctly ordering elements. However, very little research has investigated this issue. Therefore, an online survey was conducted with 69 individuals with dyslexia and a matched sample of 90 non-dyslexic individuals. The survey found that the dyslexic individuals reported significantly more difficulty in creating and remembering passwords than the non-dyslexic individuals, and significantly more difficulties with CAPTCHAs and pattern authentication systems, but not with biometric authentication, including face recognition. The results show there is a great need to address the problems which individuals with dyslexia face with passwords and other authentication systems.