The bigger picture

Anecdotal evidence suggests there is a high incidence of dyslexia among landscape practitioners, who bring good spacial awareness and creative thinking/ problem solving to projects.

Ashley D Penn tells us why his unique way of processing information has found an ideal home in the profession.

I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was 11 years old. Until that point, I had always been told that I was either lazy or stupid. At first, the diagnosis offered an explanation as to why this might not be the case and described the difficulties I faced. These days I have come to understand that dyslexia can be as much an asset as it is a disability.

Having left school at the age of 16 with a handful of adequate GCSEs, I felt rather disparaging towards education. I was encouraged by the head of sixth form at my school to enter vocational further education. She believed that, given my predicted GCSE results, I would not be able to cope with A levels. I enrolled at Writtle College (now Writtle University College) on a course in amenity horticulture. T

his proved to be a major turning point for me in my education. Having such a strong background in vocational and land-based training, Writtle has attracted many students with dyslexia. The encouragement I received while at Writtle gradually increased my confidence until I felt comfortable enrolling in an undergraduate degree in landscape and garden design, which eventually lead on to a postgraduate diploma in landscape architecture.

Self-confidence is one of the biggest difficulties for many people who have dyslexia. This can impact upon both written and verbal communication in a professional context. My personal coping mechanism for verbal communication and presentations is to simply try and anticipate every question an audience might have; then make sure I have a contingency plan that covers those eventualities. In many ways, this overcompensation has fuelled my professional development to a point where I am now more than comfortable in presenting and teaching. In a similar way, my poor reading and writing skills lead me to seek out coping mechanisms such as speed reading techniques, and technical aids like online proofreading software. This proactive approach has, in turn, sparked an interest in writing.

Penn’s submission to the Asuntoreformi 2018 ideas competition in Finland. KOKO is a mixeduse development of housing, shops and services in a hybrid block.

© Jolma Architects

All too often, dyslexia is understood to be merely a problem with reading and/or writing. However, these two things are actually manifestations of deeper processes. For example, according to the various dyslexia evaluations I have undertaken in the past, my specific difficulties lie in the sequencing and decoding of information. This has obvious impacts upon my literacy, with sequencing affecting my spelling, and decoding slowing my reading speed. However, these difficulties extend beyond the written word.

One thing I still struggle with is process or service design. In any profession, finding an efficient workflow is important. In landscape architecture, working in multi-disciplinary teams, it is vital to coordinate the workflow in a way that allows each specialist to input at the right time. Writing a clear and concise method statement can help. By identifying the information needed and outputs required for each stage of the project, conflicts of sequencing can be avoided.

Dyslexia is often framed as a disability. This is perhaps not surprising, given we live in a world that highly favours reading and writing skills. However, there are some distinct advantages to being dyslexic. Projects like Made by Dyslexia highlight the many common skills dyslexics share. It is well documented that dyslexic people have good 3D and spatial awareness – as well as keen problemsolving skills. NASA is reported to actively seek out dyslexic applicants in its recruitment. On average, around 50% of its staff have dyslexia.

As well as the obvious 3D and spatial skills colleagues with dyslexia can bring to the team, other skills common in people with dyslexia include empathy, emotional intelligence, explaining and story-telling, simplifying, and visioning. One of the things I love about landscape architecture is engaging with people and finding out what they need and want. The empathy, visioning and communication skills some dyslexic people have can be really useful in stakeholder engagement, and communication.

Another aspect of landscape architecture that I believe my dyslexia benefits me in is communication. I have never been blessed with great graphic design skills, and visualising my ideas has been a constant struggle. However, I’ve noticed over the years that I am able to express myself in written word. It often surprises people to know that I am both dyslexic and a keen writer. But it is perhaps because I’ve struggled with reading and writing that I have had to push myself to communicate effectively.

Quayscape is Penn’s proposal for flood defence and amenity improvements along the river Lee, submitted to the Morrison’s Island International Design Competition, Cork, Ireland

© Jolma Architects

When working with team members who have dyslexia I think it is important to remember that each person’s skill set is unique. It can, perhaps, be tempting to think in terms of helping and enabling. Certainly, there are many policies that a practice can implement that will benefit all team members, such as early publishing of meeting agendas and materials, accurate recording of meeting minutes, following verbal instructions with written confirmation, and peer proofreading.

However, reframing dyslexia as a different way of thinking or processing can help identify potentially useful characteristics that can be a real asset to a team. One way I use my dyslexia to my advantage in my design work is to identify conceptual links between apparently disparate phenomena. So much of landscape architecture is about identifying, categorising, analysing and assimilating different layers of information. To do all of those things we need specialists.

However, I believe we also need generalists who are able to see a different ‘bigger picture’. It is often said that dyslexics are good innovators. That’s probably why so many entrepreneurs are dyslexic (20% in the UK and up to 35% in the USA). I think my dyslexia allows me to make connections that I might not otherwise make. I try to use this as much as possible at the concept design stage, even if I then need to rely on those specialists to see the design through to completion.

While dyslexia still presents some difficulties in my professional life, there are many areas that I think would be the worse for me not being dyslexic. It is many of these more ‘human’ skills that I believe will increasingly set us apart in an evermore technological world.

Ashley D Penn is a landscape architect and writer from the UK. He works for Jolma Architects in Tampere, Finland.