What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that affects approximately 10% of the working population and 4% severely (British Dyslexia Association) that is approximately 1 in 25 people. You are therefore likely to know an employee, boss or colleague that has dyslexia. Awareness of dyslexia is therefore important because greater knowledge leads to greater understanding, better communication and eventually ways to overcome the problem.

Dyslexia can affect anyone, irrespective of age, sex or class. It is believed to be genetic in its origin, i.e. often hereditary. Dyslexia is often seen as an enigma due to its lack of visual characteristics and is therefore often referred to as a hidden disability. Other hidden disabilities include Asperger´s Syndrome (difficulty with social skills), Dyscalculia (difficulty with numbers) and Dyspraxia (difficulty with perception, language and thought).

What to look for?

The lack of visual characteristics often creates a myriad of misperceptions such as 'all dyslexics have difficulty with spelling'. However dyslexia can affect people in many different ways. In the workplace the most commonly reported difficulties are:

• Following written and spoken instructions
• Poor reading comprehension 'need to read something three or more times to understand it'
• Remembering and recording telephone numbers, messages and the content of meetings
• Reversing words, numbers or letters
• Poor visual memory, e.g. may find it difficult to copy from one page to another
• Filing and looking up entries in directories
• Dealing with maps, charts and tables
• Structuring and ordering memos, letters and reports in a clear and precise way. Paragraphs may be verbose.
• Presentation of written work or figures
• Typing on a computer or calculator
• Keeping track of appointments and meetings
• Organising work and meeting deadlines
• Poor numerical skills
• Poor time management

Psychological difficulties may include:

• Being overly sensitive to criticism
• Over compensating in problem area
• Boundary issues - unaware of people's personal space

It is also important to be aware of dyslexic strengths, as well as the weaknesses in order to see the benefit that a dyslexic employee can bring to your organisation. For example many dyslexics excel in lateral thinking, they are creative and innovative, and are aware of links and associations that may escape the more linear thinker. Dyslexics often have strong visual abilities, excellent practical skills and an untaught intuitive understanding of how systems work.

Raising Dyslexia Awareness in your Organisation

It is important to encourage HR, management and training staff to develop a greater awareness and knowledge of dyslexia so that they can support staff directly. If a member of staff discloses dyslexia it is important that assessment, recommendations, support and adjustment can be offered.

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