Triumphed with Dyslexia

Celebrating #NeurodiversityWeek, I'm compelled to share a personal story, providing insight into both the challenges and triumphs that neurodiversity can bring. This is the story of my husband, Tobias Mist , who lived with undiagnosed dyslexia for most of his life.

The traditional academic structure was only sometimes supportive of his learning style. Hindered reading speed and comprehension often resulted in him falling short of completing deadlines, which led to a false reflection of his intelligence and a significant blow to his self-confidence.

After underachieving at school, he found himself in roles that he needed to be more apathetic towards and required little intellectual challenge, preventing him from reaching his full potential. While working as a personal trainer, he sustained an unfortunate injury that inspired him to return to education and pursue a career as a chartered physiotherapist. However, his journey was not easy.

We began dating in 2011 when he had already decided to return to education to re-sit his English GCSE, which was essential to pursue his goal of becoming a Physiotherapist.

His underwhelming capacity to read and assimilate the English language and the task of resitting his GCSE brought him immense anxiety. However, with dedication and hard work, he was able to improve on his original grade E and achieve a B at the age of 27. To this date, this is his proudest achievement. The confidence gained from this accomplishment led him to enrol in a Level 3 Access to Science course at his local college. He obtained an official diagnosis of dyslexia from an educational psychologist, where he discovered that his IQ was in the top 15 percentile. Still, his phonological awareness was in the bottom four percentile, indicating his reading age was in the bottom 8%.

After obtaining a full distinction profile in his access course, he enrolled at Herts University to complete a degree and achieved a 1st Class honours in Physiotherapy. I know what you are thinking (WOW… go him). I’m unsure I would have displayed the same tenacity as him.

8 years on, he works as a First Contact Physiotherapist at Primary Care Physio , who recognises his ability and is committed to developing him in his career.

One thing that will always sit with me is that it could have all been very different! It’s only because he preserved, against all odds, to have the Career he has today!

Throughout the 90's, the awareness of neurodiversity was limited.

Today, the support that individuals receive has improved significantly.

We have a three-year-old, and I truly hope to witness this continued positive change by the time she enters the workplace; we have a society that acknowledges and supports individual differences, enabling everyone to achieve their full potential. Tobias Mist , I couldn’t be prouder of all you have achieved and for the incredible role model, you are to Myla.

It's still an emotive topic in our household, as he still has some hangups about it. In essence, schooling was traumatic for him and immensely frustrating. Having recently spoken to him about it, he wishes he had the maturity and wisdom to see what was happening and get the support required.

I hope his story prompts you to think about your workplace and what could be improved, especially if that change sits with you. The crazy thing is that if organisations provided the necessary neurodiverse support and invested in their staff, the result would be better for everyone, with happy employees, staff retention and more profitable businesses.

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