Oh Happy Days!
Henry Winkler is apparently delighted with his honorary OBE for his educational work on dyslexia in the UK, after being told he wouldn’t achieve anything at school. Kara Tointon’s next step after winning the Strictly crown was to make a documentary – Don’t call me stupid! – about her experience of being dyslexic. Richard Branson and the rugby player, Scott Quinnell have both written Quick Reads about their lives which include their struggles with dyslexia. Adults with dyslexia are not short of a sporting, acting or successful entrepreneur to advocate on their behalf.
This is no surprise as, despite the BBC describing Winkler as ‘suffering’ from dyslexia, in fact it’s not a disease. Dyslexia is an experience that arises out of natural human diversity. It can be heightened by an over emphasis on the acquisition of literacy, personal organisation and working memory skills. Research by the British Dyslexia Association shows that dyslexia affects about 10% of the population, 4% severely. Although it means children with dyslexia are out of step with the dominant teaching style in schools and therefore struggle to achieve, it is also associated with strengths such as intuition; lateral thinking and making connections; verbal skills; social skills; problem solving; looking at the big picture and creativity.
NIACE encourages all adults to engage in learning of all kinds, but for many their experience of school was so negative, emotional and soul-destroying, that they are unlikely to ever want to return to learning. This will be particularly true for adults with dyslexia. But these adults cannot always avoid learning, especially at work where changing work practices and new technology constantly demand new skills. It is therefore critical that workplace trainers understand dyslexia and how it affects learning.
NIACE’s course to raise awareness – Dyslexia in the Workplace – continues to be popular with a range of organisations and has high satisfaction rates from delegates.
“It answered some questions I had not been able to get answers for before”, said an East Midlands Healthcare Workforce Deanery, University of Nottingham.
If adults choose to return to learning, it can change their lives, unlock potential and build confidence. However, if adults in the workplace are shoe-horned into training programmes that only serve to confirm their belief that they can’t learn, this will do more harm than good.
