Being Dyslexic in an IM world.

The two-year work from home experience called Covid has been an exciting but challenging experiment.?We have been going through this experiment together, but it can affect people differently.?Being Dyslexic, I wanted to share my observations on how the seemingly minor changes in how people interact can impact people with dyslexia.?

According to Yale Center for Dyslexia, around 20 % of the population is affected by dyslexia.?They also say that dyslexia accounts for 80-90 percent of learning disabilities.?According to Yale, Dyslexia is an "unexpected difficulty in reading in an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader."?But why is this important?

Statistically speaking, 1 in 5 people around you have dyslexia.?On average, if you work on a team with ten people, two would have dyslexia.?But again, why is this important?

We live in a world that is becoming more dependent on asynchronous text communication; in both our personal lives and within the business realm.?Let me unpack that some.

Generally speaking, Asynchronous communication does not expect an immediate response.?It comes in the form of email, instant messages, Slack, etc...?For most asynchronous communication, the feedback loop to assure understanding between the people involved has long delays, which can result in details and nuances of the message being lost.??

For many organizations, most of the communication is presented in written form.?Organization information is sent out in an email or in group messages for everyone to read on their own time.?Chats are used during the meeting to foster multiple conversations simultaneously.?Slack notifications can be used to banter ideas at a feverous pace.??

As a dyslexic person, this trend to being more asynchronous is challenging.??Just because something is written down doesn't mean I read and understand it correctly.?It is difficult for me, and many others, to read linearly.?I don't always know if I am reading the right words.?I need context to make sure I am interpreting the correct words.?

In addition to slower and less accurate reading, it takes me longer to type responses.?It is not because I can't think of a response quickly, but the process of getting the thought into words takes much longer.?For instance, it is not uncommon for me to use google speak on my phone to get the proper spelling of a word while trying to respond to an IM.?(During the creation of this article, I needed to use google speak at least once per paragraph.)?If this is on a fast-moving IM thread, the conversation could have changed direction before I got a full response typed.?

(I have many times where I started to type a response but then deleted it 3/4 of the way because the conversation had changed.)

If you do not have dyslexia, you might be wondering what this has to do about you.??Or, you might be asking, what can I do about this.?Dyslexia is not something that can be "fixed?."A person can't take a pill to mask the symptoms.?But there are things that you can do to help.?Here are some of my thought.

First, show grace when using text to interact with a?dyslexic person.?Words will be misused, misspelled, or misread.?This will happen.??

Second, give people time to respond when using chat.?It will sometimes take me a couple of minutes to create a response.?A slow response is not a sign you are being ignored.?I had a person nickname me the sloth in the past because of my slow response time on Slack.?

Third, and most important, be willing to do more video calls.?If someone asked you to jump on a video call instead of sending an email, please find time to do it.?What might take 10 minutes to discuss on a video call might take me over an hour to write in an email.?If you were walking with a friend who had mobility issues and asked to take a ramp instead of stairs, I am sure you would do that.?It might seem like a minor inconvenience at the time, but it helps.??Please show the same grace when someone asks for a quick video call.??

We all have our preferred style of working.?We need to find ways to better work together in a remote world.?At times, this means adapting our working style for the benefit of others.?Even if you haven't been told, you are most likely working with someone with dyslexia.??My goal was to help give a glimpse of light into the challenges they might have.?With this information, I hope you can find better ways to work together.??