This is something I have learned about dyslexia personally and there are even some people I need to entirely avoid because they genuinely make me forget how to write my own name!
Most of the time it’s not intentional, it just happens. Recently, after a ‘ Creating Successful Dyslexics’ presentation I was asked if I could give an example of what this looked like. I wasn’t hugely happy with my answer. And as we know, sometimes dyslexics take a while to process things, or to get to what they really mean or think. I’ve been reflecting on this question and my answer and I want to share what I have realised the real answer is because I genuinely believe it is game changing knowledge.
TRUST
If I don’t feel I’ve got a relationship with that person and there’s no trust there, they make my dyslexia worse. I have to trust that someone is not going to make me look stupid. Trust that they’re going to listen and see things from my perspective. Trust that they are not gonna use my dyslexia to their advantage. So the actual answer is simple. ‘People that make my dyslexia worst are people that I can’t trust.’
Sometimes that’s a gut feeling.
Sometimes it’s because of how they’ve responded or acted towards me in the past.
Sometimes it’s because of how I have seen them interact with others.
Sometimes I can immediately tell they don’t get dyslexia.
Sometimes it’s not about what they say it’s about what they don’t say, their body language and facial expressions.
I wanted to share this answer because it matters and the person who asked this question was actually an educator. She genuinely wanted to double-check that what she was doing wasn’t hindering or hurting the students she was working with
and to improve her practise if she needed to. The fact she even asked this question and the way she asked this question
Including her facial expressions, told me she didn’t even need to ask because she was already doing an incredible job.
But I think if you invest time in building a relationship with a child or a student or a work colleague, and they trust you, you’re going to be much more able to support them, help them and build their confidence and skills.
So there we have it, really want to help a dyslexic, build trust first.
That’s where I would begin. Let me know if this resonates!