BLOG: Dyslexia, a learning disability or a problem-solving superpower (with a few drawbacks)
A Blog by James York
As part of National Inclusion Week, Area Director for Thames Valley, James York, shares his own experience of living with dyslexia to raise awareness of neurodiversity.
Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.’ Albert Einstein
I don’t think this quote was aimed directly at dyslexics like me, but I can certainly relate to it. The world is full of all sorts of people, with all sorts of talents, but for some reason, which has never been clear to me, we are all taught, examined, and judged by the same set of criteria.
I was asked to write this article following a workshop on diversity in our business unit, wherein we had a discussion on types of neurodiversity, and I came to realise I was in possession of one of my own, Dyslexia.
Definition of dyslexia
The British Dyslexia Association say: Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. Dyslexia occurs across the range of intellectual abilities.
This definition aligns with how my dyslexia presents itself, from a very young age my reading, spelling, and writing skills were always questionable. I spent the early part of my childhood being told by frustrated teachers that I was lazy and wasn’t trying hard enough, and having my work marked down for poor spelling and grammar.
As a child…
When I was eight, my mum suspected something was awry and took me for an assessment with an educational psychologist, I still have the report and had a read through it before writing this article. Whilst they diagnosed me with dyslexia, the science in 1988 wasn’t very advanced and looking at the report, I couldn’t have made pleasant reading for my parents, it focused only on the negatives, pointed out all the things I was bad at, and what I should do to improve them.
Things had moved on in 2008 when I visited the charity Dyslexia Action to be assessed so I could receive concessions for spelling and grammar at university. The report I received focused on both the good and the bad, moreover it explained to me for the first time in 27 years, what dyslexia was.
Intellectual capacity – four main categories
In brief the report explained that intellectual capacity can be coordinated into four main categories:
- Verbal Skills - The use of language for reasoning
- Working Memory - Short term recall of spoken information
- Perceptual Organisation - Attention to visual detail, special reasoning, and non-verbal reasoning.
- Processing Speed - Speed of fine motor function and ability to process information
There are several sub tests that give the examinee a percentile score up to 100 for each category, where 50th percentile would represent the population average. A diagnosis of dyslexia requires a significant difference between the highest and lowest scores.
For example, my score for Processing Speed, which includes reading, spelling, and writing was in the 38th percentile. Whilst my score for Perceptual Organisation was in the 99.9th percentile, giving me a divergence of 52, which is a clear diagnosis of dyslexia.
Revelations
As the assessor began explaining my results so much became clear to me:
Revelation 1
Whilst my test clearly returned a result of dyslexia, my lowest score fell in the average range, so you can be dyslexic without actually being thick! In fact, it has no relation to overall intelligence whatsoever.
Revelation 2
Whilst the report told me that I wasn’t a great speller or reader (no revelation there), It also told me that I was pretty good at the three other criteria, which are all just as important.
Revelation 3
The assessor I saw in 1988 probably had good intentions, but his approach was flawed. Rather than focus on my weaknesses he should have reminded me of the things I was exceptional at and helped me use those to negate the negatives.
Revelation 4
Our education system treats everyone the same, with narrow and specific focus, but we’re not all the same, we are all good at different things, and all those things are equally important.
Perceptual organisation helps me in my role
In our industry, from the point we start a project, we solve about a hundred problems a day until the moment we hand it over, so I think my strength in Perceptual Organisation stands me in good stead and is largely more important than being below average at spelling.
It is also why I don’t tend to spend too much time looking at young people’s school results when deciding if we should hire them - they may, just like me, have just been asked to do the wrong tests!
The theme for this year's National Inclusion Week is take action, make impact. I'm hoping that sharing my experience will help aspiring employees see that having dyslexia isn't a barrier to a successful career in construction, or anywhere. In fact, we're a company who are Instinctively Inclusive and welcome neurodiversity. We know that having a diverse workforce enables us to think differently and provide better outcomes and solutions for our customers.