Hiding in the shadows: dyslexia

Sukhvinder Soor MIFSM Council Member & Accreditation Chair of IFSM

This is dedicated to a very close friend of mine, whom for this article I shall not be naming. It goes back many years in the world of compliance, fire, health and safety.

Living myself with dyslexia, I didn’t realise how much it could affect a single person in the workplace; I hope this light reading brings some awareness of dyslexia and how we may spot the signs and give support.

For the reason of this article, I will name my friend Steve. Steve had just been promoted to Compliance Manager in fire, health, and safety in the early part of 2017 within the transportation industry. The key duties of his role were to deliver and manage fire safety policies, construct key strategy documents, and deliver training and presentations.

I started noticing that Steve would make excuses not to attend meetings, at times in the meeting room I could clearly see him feeling uncomfortable when he had to present something. He would provide excuses; “my laptop is not working”, “can someone present or take notes for me, as I’m not too good with computers”.

At first, I remembered no one really questioned his methods of working or presentation skills, I believe one of the key indicators was that Steve would only write in shorthand.

I noticed Steve was always strong and willing to overachieve and he would always jump in to do any work, never afraid of hands-on tasks.

One late evening I had an open conversation with Steve, I can truly say that I have the upmost respect that he allowed me to share his journey and gave me a little glimpse into his world. I still recall our conversation to this day as it has changed the way I work with my colleagues.

I asked Steve, “Tell me about dyslexia, what can I do to support?” He replied, “I’m unsure how to answer, but I feel that my brain is wired in a different way. I feel that I process information and read information differently, sometimes I have to go over certain sections of a written text multiple times, each time reading something different. As you can understand, this can be rather difficult. Does this stop me from being who I am? Not really. Do I feel brave? I’m not sure. Am I strong? Yes, I’ve proved it many times”.

I asked if he’d spoken to anyone about it? He hadn’t; he explained that he felt people wouldn’t understand, or he’d be pushed aside, maybe not even get the promotion he felt he deserved!

I believe one of the hardest questions for me to acknowledge was when I asked Steve, whether he felt there was help and support out there for him. His answer was just a pause in silence, he couldn’t provide me with a response, just looked at me and I could tell that it was a no.

So, what is he doing now? Sadly, Steve had to leave this role of employment,

I personally think his workplace became sour for him and the organisation failed to support him.

Steve went onto a passenger services role; I see him occasionally and I’m pleased to report that he is now in a position where he is truly happy, and he is now also an ambassador for dyslexia!

What has this got to do with the world of fire and health and safety? Well, everything really! Do we really know our colleagues? Do we know how to support them? Do we feel with our organisations we have the educational support and tools?

Dyslexia is not a negative thing. You’re not stupid or lazy, it just means you have a different way of processing information. Don’t we all?