Dyslexia Success Stories - Matt
Often people wonder whether it's worth finding out about dyslexia support in later life, with many not realising that challenges they are facing are actually associated with dyslexia. Recently I received this email from Matt, someone I had the pleasure of working with early last year. He said he wanted to share his story to encourage others to take the first step in finding out about dyslexia workplace support. I am extremely grateful to him for these kind words. This is what he had to say:
After many years of living with dyslexia and it giving me little to no problems (I had run my own company for a number of years and was very involved with various local groups) and as I'd never let my dyslexia get in the way, it was never really a problem. It was only after I had a change in career and to be fair, I spent a lot more time sending emails and having to write to people, that I had a massive loss of confidence. I thought that I was losing my memory - among many other issues that I could not understand. However, I was sure that this was related to my dyslexia and started to think about what I should do.
The answer to this question came quite quickly, I was looking though LinkedIn for people and found Janette Beetham. After reading about Janette's work helping people in the workplace with issues similar to mine, I sent a message asking if she could help me (after all, being in my 40's I was feeling unsure and wondered whether I would be a helpless case). I soon had a call back and we spoke on the phone. I explained my problems and the difficulties I was experiencing - and that I was sure I was in the early stages of Alzheimer's, dementia or something worse! In our conversation I was reassured that this experience was not at all uncommon for people with dyslexia when having a change of career or even just a change in working environment. Janette suggested that I had a workplace needs assessment and with this she would be able to suggest some tools and strategies which might help me cope more effectively. She explained the assessment would take place in my working environment and I would need to involve my line manager (in this case my MD). I said that I would need to get back to her after speaking to said person.
Well, it took a while for me to get the confidence to have the conversation. In time it happened, Janette came and we spoke for a couple of hours. Digging in to my history from school and my different places of work to my current employment. We also had a walk around the office and the environment I was working in. Following this there was a talk with my MD to discuss the problems I was experiencing and things the company could do to help. I was shocked and so grateful at this point that all of my issues were normal and quite easy to solve. No, she was never going to be able to get me to spell complicated words or even write amazing email, but what was to follow was incredible. With the aid of the talking function on my laptop and a pair of head phones, I was able to compose emails that made sense. Having previously asked colleagues to check my emails I was producing messages that didn't need to be checked and when they were coming back unchanged my confidence grew - and with new found self awareness and new strategies, in no time I was back to the person I had previously been.
I could go on saying how much Janette changed my working life. I would encourage anybody who has a company, who feels they could have staff that are struggling, to make contact with her. You will not only have more productive members of staff but confident ones too. Likewise, if you are a 'me', it doesn't matter what your age, it’s never too late to start the ball rolling to a better working life.
It’s the best thing I ever did!