Most people associate dyslexia with reading and spelling. That’s part of the picture, but it isn’t the whole story. Dyslexia is a difference in how the brain processes and remembers information, particularly written and spoken language. As the NHS puts it, the brain works differently to most people’s, and dyslexia “does not affect intelligence”.
It is one of the most common neurodevelopmental differences, and it often occurs alongside others such as ADHD, dyspraxia and dyscalculia. How it shows up varies from person to person, and can even depend on how a language is written and sounds.
Many of the barriers dyslexic people face today come from how school and work have been designed, with heavy reliance on reading, writing and timed written tasks. Looking at how our understanding of dyslexia has changed helps explain why, and points to better ways of running modern workplaces.
A brief history of dyslexia
The term “dyslexia” was coined in 1887 by Rudolf Berlin, a German ophthalmologist. For a long time it was understood narrowly, as a problem with reading, writing and spelling, and dyslexic children were often wrongly assumed to be less able.
Over the past century, research has made clear that dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence. Instead, it reflects a different way of processing information. That shift has moved the conversation away from a deficit model and towards a fuller picture of dyslexic people’s strengths as well as the barriers they meet. We go deeper into the science in understanding the differences in a dyslexic brain.
Why the modern world creates barriers
For most of human history, people learned by watching and doing. Mass literacy, and jobs built around reading and writing, are relatively recent. As written communication became central to education and work, people whose brains handle text differently found themselves at a disadvantage that had little to do with their actual ability.
That mismatch is still with us. Text-heavy processes, timed written assessments and long documents create barriers in many workplaces. Yet dyslexic people often show strengths in areas such as reasoning, big-picture thinking, creativity and visual problem-solving, as the British Dyslexia Association notes. Plenty of high-profile people have talked openly about being dyslexic, including Richard Branson, whose work with Made By Dyslexia we covered in our post on Branson and DyslexicU.
Changing the narrative
Much of today’s thinking about dyslexia still centres on what people find hard. If organisations only see the difficulties, they miss what dyslexic employees bring.
The answer is to design work that plays to people’s strengths. Dyslexic people often do well in roles that call for seeing the bigger picture, solving problems creatively or thinking visually. Employers who notice this, and adjust how work is set up, get more out of their people. Our post on the benefits of employing dyslexic people covers this in more detail.
Making your workplace dyslexia-friendly
This takes deliberate effort, but most of the changes are simple.
Reasonable adjustments
Text-to-speech and speech-to-text software, extra time for written tasks, information in different formats and flexible hours can make a big difference. Matching tasks to someone’s strengths helps too. Our guide to dyslexia in the workplace lists common adjustments, and AI tools are opening up more options, as we explain in how AI is becoming a powerful assistive technology.
Awareness and training
Managers and colleagues who understand dyslexia are less likely to judge someone on their spelling and more likely to notice their ideas. That understanding changes how people are hired, managed and promoted.
A strengths-based approach
Focus on what each person does well, and build roles and teams around that. The adjustments that help dyslexic employees, such as clearer documents and more choice in how people work, usually help everyone else as well.
Looking ahead
October, which includes Dyslexia Awareness Week in the UK, is a good moment for organisations to check how they think about dyslexia. Are your processes built around one way of reading, writing and learning, or do they let people show what they can do? Every employer can do something practical this year, however small.
How Enna can help
We work with employers to make workplaces more dyslexia-friendly. Our Neurodiversity 101 workshop builds a shared understanding of dyslexia and other neurodivergent differences, and our reasonable adjustments training shows managers how to put the right support in place. For individual employees, our workplace needs assessments identify exactly what will help.
You can also use our free dyslexia style guide to make your written communication more accessible, or book a call to talk through your plans.
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