Barbara Wirostko, MD, FARVO, is a glau­coma clinician-researcher and Adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology and Bio­medical Engineering at the University of Utah, Moran Eye Center in Salt Lake City. Outside of her ophthalmological work, she runs a national nonprofit charity supporting young adults with dyslexia who are pursuing careers in science, tech­nology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In this Q&A, Wirostko shares how personal loss led her to create a foundation that has transformed hundreds of lives.

How did you get into this work? I did not “choose” to do this work—it essentially evolved out of need. In 2014, our son, Joseph James, died suddenly in a car crash. He was a junior at Montana State University (MSU), studying mechanical engineer­ing. We asked our community to donate in lieu of spending money on flowers. What began as a local grassroots effort has turned into a national volun­teer nonprofit, the Joseph James Morelli Legacy Foundation. Over 11 years, we have awarded close to $900,000 in 496 scholarships across 44 states.

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A dyslexic mum from Leamington is preparing to launch a safe, creative digital platform for children who struggle with words – whether that’s reading, writing, spelling, or expressing what’s going on inside – after securing backing from Innovate UK last year.

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Istill vividly remem­ber the look of hor­ror on my primary teacher’s face when she real­ised I hadn’t quite mastered the mech­an­ics of read­ing. I had been hap­pily ‘read­ing’ the story from the pic­tures, mak­ing it up as I went along, until she asked me to sound out spe­cific words. I hadn’t a clue. As a child with mild dys­lexia, it was a struggle and a ‘rude’ awaken­ing; it took me much longer to read than my peers. Yet, once I finally broke the code, you couldn’t get my nose out of a book.

Even­tu­ally, I became an Eng­lish teacher, and among my many roles in schools over the years, I have also been a teacher-lib­rar­ian. The joy of read­ing, a fas­cin­a­tion with books and a deep love for lib­rar­ies have always been part of my life. Humans are hard­wired to make sense of the world through nar­rat­ive; we con­sume stor­ies non-stop. However, there has been a sig­ni­fic­ant shift in how we con­sume them – through film, TV, pod­casts and audiobooks.

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• Tom Holland has been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia.
• He uses ‘play’ to overcome creative intimidation and develop characters, including for Spider-Man.
• Holland’s dyslexia primarily affected his spelling, and he credits his parents for their support.
• His openness about neurodivergence makes him a role model for many fans.
• ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ is his next MCU film, releasing July 31, 2026, where Peter Parker starts anew after ‘No Way Home’.

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Matt Baker “wouldn’t change a thing” about his dyslexia because the condition has “taught [him] you can achieve anything”.

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Assistant Chief Constable and NPCC neurodiversity lead, Matt Welsted speaks about his dyslexia and how organisations can support neurodiversities.

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