UKC

Where to begin:

I've thought for a long time I may be dyslexic, but I can read very well.  However my handwriting would shame a doctor and I cant spell or punctuate for toffee, I regularly confuse left and right and have poor balance/hand-eye coordination.

Certainly I go for verbal over written communication.

I,ve not really bothered looking for formal diagnosis, but I moved jobs and my new manager gives me a hard time over my poor drafting/proof reading skills.  For example I repeated 2013 twice and I got hammered for being sloppy, however I really didn't see it until it was pointed out. 

Does anyone with professional experience have any views/advice.

Cheers

I'm dyslexic with similar symptoms, I also find it difficult reading clocks, knowing the alphabet and have awful short term memory which can cause problems in a professional setting. I was diagnosed in my teens so it's been part of my identity for a long time all though it can be very frustrating. I try not to use it as an excuse for being a bit sloppy with my writting but sometimes I find it best to tell people like my managers so they know that my work sometimes requires extra editing and I'm not being diliberatly lazy. I'm lucky though and my boss is quite understanding.

With technical writing I also find it useful to have a list of common mistakes I make to refer to. Also if you have the time reading a document backwards is a good way to spot mistakes with individual words that your brain filters out when you read normally doesn't help with grammar though!

Allthough it can be a bit embarrassing to ask I occasionally get colegues to check important documents for me.

Thanks for the response.

I've not had a diagnosis but with my new manager I may need to.  As you say, its frustrating but I now feel I have been catapulted back to school where in the late 60's and early 70's in general teachers were less understanding

It is possible to get diagnosed as an adult, but even with a suspected condition you can request that you have appropriate accommodations made to your work.  For example it could be that you write whatever you need to for your job, and a colleague proof reads it.  I used to proof read for someone I worked with who was probably dyslexic. Personally I type everything which helps me as my hand writing is illegible unless I take a long time over it.  

You could request a meeting with HR and your manager, or send an email.  

https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/employer/reasonable-adjustments

You probably won't need most of these but it's a useful list to pick what will help you.  

I've had adjustments made for my adhd and autism and it's helped.  Employers have to do this.  

Talk to HR about it.  Dyslexia is recognised as a disability under the 2010 Equalities Act, where a disabled person is defined as having "a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities."  HR should be able to put you in touch with appropriate support and ensure reasonable accommodations are made.  Is the HSE, mentioned in your profile, a government body?  If so, they may welcome you getting in touch as government bodies used to (when I worked for one) have to report back to central government each year showing their level of compliance with the Equalities Act.

Back when I used to work for a non-Departmental government body (one of the Research Councils), I was the go-to guy when they wanted someone to talk about non-visible conditions that count as disabilities under the Equalities Act.  Mine was MS, others include diabetes, epilepsy and depression.

So talk to HR, you may find that they're more helpful than you imagined.

T. 

Seeking a diagnosis would not be a bad thing, but you may also need to prepare yourself for the possibility that you're just not very good at that sort of thing. If that's the case, you're in the company of many thousands, if not millions, of people. Standards of written work are often poor, even from people in industries where you would expect better. 

Learning to write and read properly in a professional environment is a skill that is not taught, but can be developed. Even if you do receive a diagnosis of dyslexia, you can still learn to improve the standard of your written work, but you do need to work at it. It is perfectly possible to be dyslexic and be capable of producing good quality written work. 

Bear in mind also the fact the worst person to proofread a piece of work is the author. It is also often the case that proofreading is better done on paper, rather than on a screen, so it may be worth your while printing your work and taking time to read it in a quiet environment away from distractions. Use a ruler or similar straight edge to ensure you only read one line at a time. Classically, proofreaders would read a piece backwards - this removes the sense of the piece from the reading, and so reduces the temptation to anticipate what comes next. 

While I don't write much for my job, when I write personally (used to have a blog) I found this pretty indispensable: https://www.ghotit.com/ it catches grammar mistakes very well. Another great feature, is having it read sentences out loud, I think most dyslexic people prefer verbal over written, so its a great way to game that preference. My experience is the listening out loud catches non spelling or grammar errors pretty well. 

I have visual dyslexia. I struggle reading for several pages at a time. I muddle the lines so I use a ruler sometimes this helps me. I especially struggle reading from a distance.

Cheers for the supportive responses.  

I just feel I need to do something as a few more adverse comments at our mandatory 8-week catch-ups could land me with a bad end of year assessment.

I've never had to in the past as most people noted it and got on.

I have Dyslexia, and was diagnosed relatively young.  I was very late to learn to read, but once I got past that I devoured enough books that I now rarely have any problems.  My handwriting is poor, and my spelling is awful, grammar and punctuation are patchy.  I got though a physics degree, PhD, and now run a company building and exporting scientific equipment.

My view is: Avoid asking for special treatment or help across the board. Do as much as possible yourself, and narrow it down to a few, small, easy changes you ask your boss for. Don't go to HR saying: "I'm dyslexic and I want special treatment, what can you do?". Go saying: "I'm dyslexic, and it's limiting my ability to do XYZ, but I've been experimenting with ABC and it makes a huge difference so please can we install it on my work computer".

The key thing for me is to use a computer for everything. I gave up working on my handwriting and learned to touchtype 10 years ago. I only hand-write anything if it is solely for my own use, and even then I avoid keeping handwritten notes about the place. If I still want it after a week, I type it up. For things like this post or emails to employees, I have a spell checker in my browser and in my email client, so I just correct the spelling.  For more important things (such as emails to customers, reports, etc.) I type them up in a word processor which has a good grammar checker, and copy/paste them elsewhere if necessary. A good grammar checker, used consistently, will pick up things like repeated words, wrong there/their/they're use, and wrong punctuation. For me the end result is better than most of my non-dyslexic colleagues. The one built in to Microsoft Office 365 is pretty good, and other options (paid and free) are available too.

There was also a stage for me of accepting that some things weren't going to get fixed by extra practice or by using a computer.  I'm aware of them, and I put in the necessary work to either avoid them or make sure they don't cause a problem. For example, I really can't read out loud. When someone asked me to give a reading at a wedding, and I knew it meant a lot to them, I got them to send it to me a couple of months in advance and memorised it so I could stand up and appear to be reading it. Another example is an elderly relative who really appreciates handwritten letters. I type them, fix the spelling and grammar, then transcribe them. You obviously can't be doing something like that all the time as part of your work, it takes too long, but for me it's a two pronged approach: use the electronic aids to get me 95% there and just catch the last few bits the hard way.

Hope that's useful.

It might be worth a chat with this manager, depending on how approachable they are. Possibilities include that they don't have much of a problem and are just pointing out ways to improve, or that there is actually a problem, in which case the advice from other posters applies.

Focus on the relationship with this person maybe, rather than worrying about the criticism. They have no right to be unreasonable, and in any case it's counter-productive!

I have a regular lengthy annual report to write, and my manager and I bat it back and forth between us until we're both happy with it. I do the technical part and he makes sure that a non-technical person would have some chance of understanding it. I'm sure we both get frustrated at times, however we both know we'll get there in the end. It's a working together thing.

Good luck sorting this out!

As with all medical advice, the best thing to do is talk to your GP. They can offer the best advice.

I do have dyslexia and do struggle. The best thing I have found, is to be clear with everyone involved, make sure they understand, and make sure they know you are working hard.

I would suggest the easiest way to make the situation as clear as possible would be to get a diagnosis.

Talk to your GP.

Maybe look at the dyslexia association web site.

www.bdadyslexia.org.uk

 Cheers

I don’t have anything to add, but what a great thread. 

Thanks to all, I feel I have some useful tips to employ in the new year and I feel less alone I shall follow up with looking for a diagnosis, either way it will help.

I don’t know if others recognise this, but I feel as if I’ve been catapulted back to school with all the grief I got back then for not writing properly and the myriad lines for spelling corrections.

Festive greetings to all.

It sounds like you may have a combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia.

Don’t let people being smug or superior over your spelling or grammar get you down.  It’s the equivalent of lording it over a one legged person because they can’t run.  

For proof reading try leaving a document for 24 hours and reading with “fresh eyes” or using text-to-speech on your computer to read it back to you.  Look into colour filter glasses - they work wonders for some people.  You need an expert to help you find what works I think with the glasses.

You obviously want to resolve things with your manager as amicably as possible and talking about it seems sensible.  However, a medical diagnosis of dyslexia or dyspraxia gives you specific level protections under the equalities act 2010.  Which may or may not help you depending on your employer.  

Great thread. I'm not dyslexic, but I work with some people who are and I sometimes proof read for them. I will tactfully suggest some of the tips on here.

I hope this doesn't sound patronising, but the standard of spelling, grammar and punctuation in the posts from dyslexics on this thread is far better than the average for an internet forum. Is this because you have to make the effort, rather than just chuck it out and hit post?

I could be wrong, but I think the equalities act doesn't require a diagnosis.  

That’s interesting,  it doesn’t leave any provisions open to abuse