I usually post with questions about my young children, but this question is about myself. I am starting a new position and am usually very up front about my dyslexia. I am pretty certain I am a "stealth dyslexic" and my workplace has been pretty good at simply taking my word for it.
However, I have finally been asked to fill out a "reasonable accommodation" form to document my dyslexia and ask for specific accommodations. I have been using speech-to-text software (Dragon Naturally Speaking) and working from home a lot (a quiet environment where I can utilize audio books, etc.). Are there other types of accommodations (whether software or environmental) that are good for adult dyslexics in the workplace? If I am asked to provide proof, what are the best ways of finding professionals that can accurately diagnose stealth dyslexia?

Thanks!

Oh yea, some background on me. I am 34, have a PhD, and work in communication. A lot of my job depends on reading and writing (ironic I know). I believe I have stealth dyslexia because I fit this profile:
Difficulty with written output. In undergrad I had a counselor say "we have to get people to meet you in person, you are brilliant, but just don't come out well on paper". She was specifically talking about how my writing what so far below my verbal skills.
While I love to read and spend a lot of time reading, I often have to re-read passages due to word skips. I can also have a very good understanding of the context, but not remember small details of the story. A good example is the Bible - I can tell you what scriptures say and what they mean, but almost never where they are located (book, chapter or verse). I can tell you what an individual said, but never remember who said it. Those minute details just don't register in my reading. I can follow a story, but easily lose who the characters are and rely on the context to tell me who is speaking.
The physical aspect of writing is hard and my handwriting is hard to read. I also do something funny in forming the lower case "a" the exact way it shows up on the typewritten screen as opposed to the traditional way we teach children to form the letter "a" (with a straight line in the back and curve in the front).
Spelling is a big weakness and I seem to have no memory for how to spell a word. For instance, everytime I write the word "tomorrow" I have to say to myself "tom or row" as three distinct smaller words to form the large word. I used to work for NASA and still have problems spelling "astronaut". I will admit, I just spelled it wrong and needed to use spell check for it to be correct.
Organization is horrible and consumes way to much time.
Finding my way around is almost impossible without a gps system. Even when I get directions via google or mapquest, I have to retype them in large font with one direction per line. I also have to use "right" and "left", north, south, east, and west still don't register for me as well as miles. I need verbal and visual markers to tell me when I have gone one mile versus ten.
Sequencing takes a lot of time.

Why "stealth", I was able to cover my dyslexia for my entire childhood. I relied heavily on my memory skills and have always been advanced verbally. I was often asked to take test more than once in school because people could never understand why I didn't test better. I never tested low (qualified for gifted programs), just not in the ranges they anticipated.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated as well as any resources I may want to look in to.

Tags: dyslexia accommodations, dyslexia in adults, dyslexia work, gifted dyslexia, gifted dyslexics, stealth dyslexia

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Replies to This Discussion

Workplace accommodations can really vary depending on the nature of work.


Besides Dragon Naturally Speaking, some people like graphic organizers or mind mapping programs to scaffold ideas and depending on the severity of dyslexia, there are tech assists through gadgets like iPads that help with text-to-speech for web browsing, writing emails, or making phone calls. Note-taking and recording apps like Paperdesk also help reduce the need to write by hand.

For data entry work, we've also recommended highly specific software for Excel worksheet work (color coded columns or 3d visualization for instance to reduce visual errors between columns or rows), and on site training for specialized software and organization strategies.

Sorry - I don't think I saw when you originally posted this note!

Some general workplace accommodations links:

http://www.ldonline.org/article/Job_Accommodations_for_People_with_...

https://askjan.org/media/downloads/LDA&CSeries.pdf

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