How to manage dyslexia in the workplace
This week is Dyslexia Awareness Week, and managers are being urged to think more holistically about how the condition affects their staff.
It’s a condition that’s often brushed under the carpet, occasionally ignored altogether and, in the very worse cases, mocked. But the fact remains that dyslexia is a condition that impacts much more of the population than is often thought.
Official statistics suggest around 6.3 million people (around 10% of the UK population) suffer from some form of dyslexia, and 4% of these suffer from it severely. Of all those who suffer from dyslexia, 3.2 million are working adults. Charity Dyslexia UK, however, suggests that up to 17% of people may show some degree of dyslexia.
Interestingly, research from Julie Logan, emeritus professor of entrepreneurship at Cass Business School, estimates that 20% of UK entrepreneurs are dyslexic. Indeed Alan Sugar, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson are all famous and successful business people with dyslexia.
As Branson once said about his dyslexia: "I was hopeless at school. I could never comprehend things like 'net' or 'gross'. It wasn't until I was 50 that somebody showed me a way of remembering it. Then I realised I was making much less money than I thought I was!"
