Dyslexia in the workplace

How many employers know they have a duty to help dyslexia suffers in the

 

workplace?

 

British Government figures estimate that acute dyslexia affects around 4% of the UK’s working population and it is believed that some level of dyslexia exists in about 10% of the UK’s working population. Unfortunately it is only when an individual is already involved in a disciplinary process, where perhaps difficulties have been misinterpreted as performance-related issues, that dyslexia is identified. 

 

Organisations in the public sector have to have a Disability Equality Scheme in place which means that employers are required to identify and modify their procedures with regard to dyslexia.

 

Dyslexia itself comes under the remit of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) with respect to both the provision of services to customers and employees.

 

Dr. Andi Sanderson a consultant at a leading dyslexia consultancy, has suggested that screening techniques either by computer or paper based should be used to assist employers conduct an initial assessment where they suspect there is a problem. He suggests that to avoid discrimination, employers should make a job offer before introducing any form of dyslexia assessment. While any employee can operate screening packages, it is considered vital that any follow-on consultation should be undertaken by a specialist who is able to identify the strengths and any weaknesses of an individual and thus prepare a coping strategy specifically for that individual.

 

A wide number of various procedural and technological options are available once dyslexia has been identified with grant provision available so that employers incur only insignificant amounts in costs. There are a number of gadgets and software programs specifically designed for dyslexia and these are available to employees.

Among them are note-taking equipment/software and speech recognition packages.

Currently in use with the UK Probation Service is a CD-Rom by Ellen Morgan from City University addresses the needs of adults with dyslexia. Originally designed for those in higher education, “Wordswork” is an interactive programme to enable an individual to look at their own learning strengths and then us it to overcome problems such as spelling, taking notes, reading etc. 

However, Heather Hardie of the Adult Dyslexia Consultancy considers that it is often much better to ensure that people use the normal features on computers properly, eg cut/copy/paste and spellcheck. Touch type tuition should be used if possible. She also considers that “ongoing training needs to be in place to ensure that it is really helpful.”

Chairwoman Margaret Malpas of the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) says that often very simple and inexpensive changes can make all the difference, including the use of sans serif fonts at a minimum point size of 12 and also the use of coloured folders. She also suggests that text-to-voice software would make any manager’s life easy. The working life of every employee within an organisation can benefit when adjustments are introduced for one employee and thus the whole organisation can benefit.