I have known student and qualified pilots with a certain degree of either Dyslexia and Asperger's syndrome. There is a large range of impairment from the barely detectable to being unable to function without assistance. In some cases that I have seen, there have been compensating factors. In undiagnosed persons, this can simply show up as having very poor academic ability whilst exhibiting excellent hand-eye skills, we probably all know people like this. Likewise, I have students who breeze through the paperwork with 100% results and struggle with the flying - which is the better pilot?
It's a pity if someone who has good piloting skills can't be 'helped' a little with the paperwork side but that's the system. For the PPL exams, I think from my experience, people who have been diagnosed at school with Dyslexia can usually pass them unaided with sufficient ground school and encouragement. Checklists can be learned by rote - indeed I make students learn checklists used when the aircraft is in motion as memory items. In the end, I do think it's right that students shouldn't have a scribe, on the other hand I think the PPL exams are far too burdensome.
TOO