Dyslexic people’s skills could be key to businesses’ future

DYSLEXIC employees could help fill skills shortages of the future, it has been claimed.

The unique way dyslexic people – thought to be up to 6.6m in the UK and 700m globally – view and interact with the world could help companies meet business challenges and work with new technology, according to a report by accounting firm EY and the charity Made by Dyslexia.

Cognitive flexibility, creativity, visualisation and complex problemsolving – all recognised as traits of dyslexic people – were named as useful skills. The report, called the Value of Dyslexia, involved more than 1,000 interviews with dyslexics to identify useful skills.

Made By Dyslexia founder and chief executive Kate Griggs said: “If we’re to prepare dyslexic individuals and enable them to flourish, we must ensure that educators and employers are enabled and empowered to recognise and support this valuable way of thinking.

“As this report finds, in education, a limited knowledge of dyslexic abilities and traditional approaches to exams can influence dyslexic individuals from reaching their full potential.

“This, coupled with a focus on dyslexic challenges, means that valuable dyslexic strengths are often missed. There needs to be a refocusing, now more than ever, of how dyslexic ability is viewed.”

Steve Varley, EY’s UK chairman, said that dyslexic people already have some skills that will be in high demand in the future, adding: “A business where neurodiversity is better understood and the strengths of dyslexic individuals are harnessed, could well become more innovative and better placed for the rapidly changing world of work.”