Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between dyslexia, homelessness, drug use and drug dependency. We analyzed data from the “Multiple Exclusion Homelessness Across the United Kingdom Survey,” a national survey that collected data from 443 respondents who have experienced some form of homelessness in the U.K. Our particular interest lied in the different experiences of drug use and drug dependency, comparing homeless people with dyslexia and homeless people without dyslexia. The study reveals that people with dyslexia are overrepresented within the survey’s homeless population. Furthermore, the findings indicate that there is an increase in dependency problems as well as significant mental health problems for respondents with dyslexia compared to the non-dyslexic homeless control group. The results show that dyslexic respondents were more likely to use methadone, more susceptible to self-harm, and reported an increase in suicide attempts compared with the non-dyslexic control group.