I'm A Dyslexia Coach. Here's How To Get The Support You Need At Work |
I'm A Dyslexia Coach. Here's How To Get The Support You Need At Work
Worried your manager will misunderstand your dyslexia? The founder of Dyslexia in Adults shares her advice on starting the conversation and asking for support.
When’s the last time you forgot what you do for a living? Or how about being laughed at for losing track of a conversation?
I often describe dyslexia as walking around with a backpack full of bricks, being weighed down when everyone else is skipping along just fine. This is how dyslexia can feel, but is also a sense of shame and a fear of being laughed at.
Even after 7 years as a dyslexia coach, I still get shocked by the amount of self-doubt and shame I see in my clients. This issue isn’t an insignificant one. Nearly 20% of UK adults are dyslexic - approximately 1 in 5 of us. The British Dyslexia Association has also found that young people with dyslexia are 3 to 4 times more likely to experience anxiety disorders.
This burden of shame is hardly ever discussed. Yet, through my coaching, this is something I hear daily. We are told that dyslexia is something that sets us back and that we need to control, but at the same time we are expected to feel like it is our ‘superpower’. Most often the consequence of dyslexia in adulthood is that people are left feeling stupid, because they are misunderstood. The reality is, the world can make it very difficult to feel at ease with dyslexia, and that is before a career is ever mentioned.
Why........