How do I disclose my dyslexia

Legacy_user · 25 June 2018 at 9:01AM

Starting to look for jobs. Though have a dilemma with regarding disclosing my dyslexia. In the past, I have put dyslexia on job application forms and never heard anything from these potential employers. On jobs which I didn't disclose this, I got an interview or assessment. Similar jobs. One job was with the same employer 9-12 months later . I said I had dyslexia on the first time and then didn't on the second. Got an interview on the second occasion.

Does anyone know why I didn't progress further in application process when I disclose my dyslexia?

Then I will be worried once I have been given a job, when I disclose I got dyslexia, that I will get told off as " why didn't I mentioned this before?" Would I get dismissed for not disclosing my disability? I can't remember how my current employer knew my dyslexia

Now about a year after starting my current job, I was diagnosed with an eye condition keratoconus. Had surgery on both eyes. Again, worried about this as some employers are ignorant.

How should I approach both?

sangie595 · 25 June 2018 at 9:19AM

As I understand it, the surgery is generally successful in curing this condition? In which case, why do you need to discuss it?

You can't assume a correlation between your disclosure and getting an interview - it is equally possible that your applications were better, that the candidate field was different, or any one of dozens of other explanations. Dyslexia is much more commonly understood these days than it used to be. That doesn't mean that everyone will understand it - but many people will have a better grasp of it.

Why, and in what way, are you disclosing it? The only good reason to disclose it is if it has a relevant impact on your application or the job role. Do you actually need adjustments for it? Not everyone does - one of my colleagues, for example, has specially coloured glasses, and that is all he needs, so there is no reason for the employer to think anything other than "he has stylish lenses"!

[Deleted User] · 25 June 2018 at 9:46AM

ScarletMarble wrote: »

Does anyone know why I didn't progress further in application process when I disclose my dyslexia?

Ignorance, fear and mis-understanding. Maybe. But also knowing what the job calls for on the side of the applicant and being able to turn negatives into positives. Maybe the recruitment was more relaxed second time round.

Going back many years to the start of my career in hotels, there was a job in a private and niche hotel for Receptionist, 3 weeks later I was putting the keys away, (in those days keys on large fobs!) I mentioned numbers dyslexia and 2 days later was walked in to the HR office to be let go. A Receptionist needed to be OK around numbers. I later spent a decade working in the big chain hotels without issue. I also learnt to be as careful as what I could in early days of new job with anything that came out of my mouth!

It would be the equivalent of someone with OCD going to start in a warehouse that was messy with parcels perhaps not so neatly stacked. Then dropping the I've OCD in, not realising what that could lead to.

Recently I saw a Telesales job that called for "great on the spot mental arithmetic" - I know not to apply because that really isn't me. I know I need time when it comes to figures and even though I've done Telesales successfully (well ok maybe getting results from the collections practice rather then any silver tongued selling!) it's not an automatic given I'll fit every other Employer who has the same job title.

Savvy_Sue · 26 June 2018 at 1:12AM

As I said in an earlier thread, our application form invites you to disclose any special needs on a separate piece of paper, in a sealed envelope. That's not looked at unless we're inviting you to interview. For dyslexia, this would give you the chance to say briefly how it affects you, eg that you'd need extra time for any tests, or that you'd need to use a computer rather than hand-write answers.

If an employer isn't doing this, then it's a case of turning the dyslexia into a strength. For example, "I have dyslexia and this means that ... [my spelling is sometimes poor / my handwriting looks like a spider crawled through the ink / whatever your main manifestation is]. However, I do my best to ... [check my work thoroughly / use templates and pro forma letters where I know the spellings are correct / whatever solutions you have developed].

I know there are 'strengths' associated with dyslexia: creative approaches to problems, persistence in the face of difficulties etc.

shortcrust · 26 June 2018 at 6:39AM

I also wonder why you're disclosing it. Is it relevant? I'm assuming you're not applying for jobs as a proof reader (for example). I've worked with loads of people with dyslexia and I bet not one of them disclosed it or even really thought of it as a disability. If I recruited someone and later found out they had dyslexia I wouldn't think anything of it.

Is disclosing it perhaps actually a bit odd? It might just put the idea into people's minds that you might be 'hard work'.

How do I disclose my dyslexia

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