Top tips to support Dyslexics in the workplace. Written by Abigail Fitch

Dyslexia effects how we recall , translate and understand information, we look at the world a little differently. Here are my top tips for supporting someone with dyslexia in the workplace.

• ?Have a readymade list of tools you can install before they join – read/write, dictate, grammarly , ask them what they would like and if there's anything not on the list that would help , ensure these are set-up on their laptop before their first day .

• We are not all the same, in fact someone who has been assessing dyslexics for 20 years, ?told me she had never seen two the same, you may have dyslexics in your team with different needs from each other

• Dyslexics of are often told " were you not listening " we were but have issues processing information, we may need it explained in a different way, and on some occasions more than once

• Multiple choice compliance tests or any other types of written tests are really hard for us, its taken me 3 hours to complete a multiple choice test before, that said it should only take 30 mins. Ask the company supplying these if they have different options and can provide read-aloud on these tests

• Don’t give help without being asked, we will ask if we need support, just let us know help is there if we need it. Often forced help can feel demeaning for us, just like you wouldn’t grab a blind person’s arm to cross the road, you would offer and wait for them to say they wanted your help, it’s a similar concept with neurodiversity

• Ask them if they would like access to work to assess them and provide tools – keep this link on your internal intranet

• If someone states they are neurodiverse ensure their line manager calls them before joining, ?to ask how they can support them this creates psychological safety before joining ( for some neuro-diverse people starting a new job can be worrying as there may be things, we worry we may not be able to do )

• Give us lots of notice and extra time to do written tasks or presentations ( make sure read-aloud works on your power points )

• If you need changes on our written work, make notes in the comment section, don’t re-write as this can lower many dyslexics' confidence

• When looking at projects to give us, give us things around innovation, solutions and creating strategy, these are areas we excel in. This not only adds value to your organisation but allows us to do what we are great at, which builds our confidence in the workplace :) Did you know we are really good at pattern recognition? Both in data and in everyday situations :)

• Let us create our own ways of doing things, having to use a set template, or only being allowed to do things one way is tough for many of us, tell us what you need and let us create our own template or excel sheets.

• Keep emails and written instructions short, if you can talk things through with us verbally and we can take notes

• Many dyslexics are amazing at identifying data trends and variables through pattern recognition on large amounts of data, however, we can't translate through a large number of sources. Ensure all the data we are analysing is on one or two sources and we are not cross-reverencing from lots of sources as this is something we can struggle with.

• Provide colored paper for printing not just white

• Get add on’s that change screen colors as many of us can’t read from white pages

• Colour the excel columns different colors, it helps us read data

• If asked to recall info in a meeting without warning, ?our brains will often pull the wrong answer and we feel panicked, if you are planning to do this, message us on teams 5 mins before, while in the meeting so we can prepare

• Never ask us to read aloud in meetings unless we offer, many of us have lots of fear and anxiety ??around this, if it’s a presentation we have practiced that’s fine as long as we have time to practice

• We are often labeled disorganised or scatty, we are not, we have issues storing, recalling, and remembering. Also, many of us have issues with understanding time, as in if something starts in 20 mins and have no way to understand what 20 mins are unless next to a clock, 20 mins can feel the same as 2 hours to us.

• Keep meetings short, taking in info is hard for us, and meetings over 50 mins are tough we get neuro overload.

• Make sure dyslexics are given extra breaks, an hour in front of a screen for you is 3 hours for us, 8 hours of work for you is much longer for us, we often experience burnout

• Don’t not give us the same tasks as everyone else, we notice this and it can often knock our confidence, many of us have imposter syndrome, we just need a little extra time to complete.

• Be mindful when giving feedback, after spending many years at school and work and not feeling like we are as good or capable as others, we often have low confidence, we are often very self-critical of ourselves, and can find feedback hard.

• Tell us when we do well, many of us do suffer from imposter syndrome, and hearing we have done something well motivates and reassures us.

• Be mindful in meetings, sometimes our ideas seem a bit crazy or off-topic, our brains make different connections, ask us how we got there and how we think the idea will work

• Dyslexics are often seen as quirky, we often feel like we don’t fit in, we are a little different and see the world a little differently, create a safe space where we feel like we belong, we often feel we need to act A typical to fit in, being able to be ourselves at work means the world to many of us

• We often translate and recall situations differently, it’s not that we are being untruthful, it’s how we took in the situation and recalled it.

• Dyslexia can affect our speech, we often get names or words wrong, or recall things wrong, I have been known to say a sentence backward before ?? be kind when this happens, we are comfortable with friends and family laughing, but at work, it can be embarrassing for us.

• Remember what we are great at, out of box thinking, empathy, seeing data trends, innovation, interpersonal and solutioning, ?focus on these points rather than what we struggle with.

• Do not say we suffer from dyslexia or call it an illness, these terms have negative connotations, we are just neurodiverse and that’s not a negative it’s just different, we make up 1 in 10 of the population!

• Create neuro diverse committees and teams or slack groups with a representative, it’s a safe space to voice concerns, the representative can inform the company of?concerns or things we are struggling with, in order to make changes to support us.

• Look at neurodiversity training for line managers and interviewers.

?( This communication has been written by a dyslexic person. If you are having trouble understanding?any of the words or sentences, please do not be afraid to ask )