“Dyslexia should not be viewed as a disadvantage, but a strength. The strengths that dyslexic individuals show in terms of creativity, lateral thinking and leadership are vital for businesses now and the future world of work. Organisations need to actively recruit more dyslexic individuals into the business to complement their teams and to ensure the pressing skills needs of the future are met. “
– Jonnie Goodwin, Co-founder of Founders Forums and Head of Merchant Banking at Alvarium
What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is the most common neurodivergence, usually affecting someone’s ability to read or write accurately, not affecting the intelligence.
Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills in accurate and fluent word reading, writing and spelling.
For every ten people, one of them is likely to be dyslexic, making up about 700 million people in the world. Despite being almost 10% of the world’s population, 22% of them are unemployed.
Common Challenges:
– Spelling, Writing & Reading
– Expression on knowledge, thoughts & feelings
– Memory
– Planning & Organisation
– Time Management
Value of Dyslexia
In a report published by consultancy EY, they referred to data from the World Economic Forum (WEF) and charity Made By Dyslexia to highlight how individuals with dyslexia have the skills required to meet the change in demand in workplaces of the future.
Dyslexia is a genetic difference in an individual’s ability to learn and process information, therefore individuals with dyslexia have differing abilities. Above and beyond their challenges with spelling, writing and reading, their strengths include creativity, problem solving and communication skills.
Strengths
1. Creativity
Individuals with dyslexia are often creative individuals capable of creating new ideas from imagination. With their imagination, they are able to interpret things from a different perspective and provide fresh ideas.
2. Design
Individuals with dyslexia have exceptional spatial awareness and pattern recognition, which helps them design from a fresh angle. Their exceptional ability to visualise, plan and invent is what makes them ground-breaking individuals.
3. Communication
A common misconception is that individuals with dyslexia are poor communicators, but it could usually be a strength. They are able to craft and convey messages in a way that is clear, engaging and understandable. Furthermore, having to explain living with dyslexia in itself, it requires strong communication skills.
4. Problem Solving
Due to their nature of thinking out of the box, they are often finding new ways to solve problems, learn things differently, or makes things easier. They are able to see the bigger picture, making them great leaders, entrepreneurs and managers.
About Empauwer
Empauwer is a movement that seeks to connect the untapped talents of neurodiverse professionals to the hiring needs of organisations.
If you would like more information, please reach out to us here, or through email at info@empauwer.com. You can find more information on www.empauwer.com
Credits:
Farida Charania – CEO
Russell Yim – Sales & Business Development
Zed Wong – Marketing