Reading difficulty has been linked to anxiety in adults yet and has not been systematically studied especially in compensated adults with dyslexia. This study examined the relationships between anxiety ratings and physiological arousal while reading among adults with reading disability (RD) compared to skilled readers (SR). Nineteen compensated adults with RD and 20 SR adults were administered a battery of reading tasks and anxiety self‐report questionnaires. Physiological measures of arousal were recorded during text reading task. Adults with RD scored significantly lower than SR on all cognitive and reading related measures. They showed no differences on any of the self‐report anxiety measures. Interestingly, in the skilled readers' sample, physiological arousal while reading correlated with trait anxiety. No correlations between physiological and self‐reported data were found in the RD sample. These findings suggest a model of resiliency in compensated adults with reading disabilities that includes lower anxiety levels and a discord between anxiety reports and actual arousal rates. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.