Late diagnosis 101: Do I have to disclose my dyslexia to my employer?

Dyslexia and modern working patterns don’t always have immediate common ground.

There might be clerical and administrative reading tasks that you’d find it so much easier to work through with text-to-speech support, or duties inherent in your role that you find make you time-poor because they require a lot of processing and bandwidth. You might find that you’re constantly being pulled up on your timekeeping and planning, and feel that it’s about time you explained that it’s not actually a case of poor organisation— it’s that you just need some support.

And any or all of this means it might be time to start thinking about telling your employer about your dyslexia. Let’s take a look at the situation:

Do I have to tell my current employer?

No— or not for most people, anyway. We’ll take a closer look at those scenarios below, but for many of us, it’s entirely personal choice. It can be advantageous, though, in terms of what we can access and what protections the law offers.

Understanding Dyslexia in UK Law

From October 2010, disability discrimination issues became covered by the Equality Act in the UK. Under UK law, an employer has a legal duty to make appropriate and reasonable adjustments to reduce the impact that a neurodiversity like dyslexia has on an individual’s ability to perform effectively within their job role.

Legally, employers must not discriminate against an employee with status under the Equality Act 2010 in terms of the recruitment and retention of employees, promotions and transfers, training and development opportunities, and the dismissal process.

Reasons why it might be a good idea to disclose your dyslexia

You’re only covered by the law when you’ve disclosed your dyslexia to your employer. Disclosure might feel risky, but it does open up a suite of legal protections that might make you feel far safer in advocating for the accommodations and reasonable adjustments you’d like to see become part of your day-to-day. You might also be eligible for funding via the Access to Work Grant, which can open up access to specialist equipment.

Some professions (i.e. healthcare) may need you to disclose to fulfil fitness to practice criteria. This puts a professional onus on the individual to take stock of their own neurodiversity experience and acknowledge any areas where they feel that dyslexia might impact key areas of their role and to take personal responsibility not to put themselves in these situations (for example, a home carer who struggles to read medication names but is responsible for administering them to the people in their care).

Some employers are also really neurodiversity positive. They might be grateful that you’ve disclosed as this gives them a better opportunity to help, as well as explore the efficacy of their neurodiversity pathways at work, and create a better working future for everyone. In 2023, more businesses are like this than we might think.

…And a bad idea?

Unfortunately, not all employers are neurodiversity-positive, despite their legal responsibility to be so. Some people will choose to not disclose if they feel that it’d put them at risk of job loss, risk a promotion, or work them up a redundancy matrix.

On the subject of these employers, we’ll simply say that it’s 2023 and they need to do better.

Don’t limit disclosure to a discussion of ‘weaknesses’.

You don’t have to go into these disclosure discussions apologetically. You’ve got dyslexia— it’s not about having to convince your line managers that you’re still capable enough to do your job. The only thing that’s changed is that you’ve opened up a whole new world of ideas that might help you be more productive, time-smart, and happier as you go about the duties you’d still have been dealing with otherwise.

And do I have to tell my next employer?

Again, it’s a personal choice. An application is a good place to disclose and it’s useful for diversity and inclusion conversations within that institution and process, but you may not feel fully comfortable doing it until you’ve received a job offer and starting date.

Both of these are fine— it’s entirely your choice if you disclose it after three minutes, three months, or three years.