To mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3rd 2019), Kate Pound (improvement manager) from the emergency care improvement support team (ECIST) shares a personal story. Kate also reflects on two events she recently attended for people with dyslexia. Follow Kate on twitter @KateSlater2
There are only two or three times a day when I don’t worry or face difficulties due to being dyslexic. This may come as a shock coming from a senior NHS leader and experienced nurse. But behind the façade, the real story is that I struggle and feel the fear deep inside me.
Recently I’ve attended two events looking at how we can better support and value dyslexia among our workforce. The first was the Made by Dyslexia event where the report The Value of Dyslexia was published. The second, the result of attending the first, was a roundtable discussion looking at how we turn the challenge of living with dyslexia into something positive.
The following are my two key reflections of these events:
Take an asset-based approach
We need to stop focusing on the gaps and start looking at the assets and benefits a diverse workforce can bring to the work setting. This can be done through reframing our mind-sets. As a manager I should stop thinking of what reasonable adjustments I need to put in place, and instead think about what I need to do to maximise the diversity of talents my team has.
Too often as people with disabilities we think about what we can’t do and avoid this rather than thinking what unique gifts do I have and how can I maximise them? Everyone in a team needs to be given the opportunity to reach their full potential.
As an example, my son has recently been diagnosed with dyslexia. He has also been profiled as in the top 1% for problem solving. My reaction to this was to get him to recognise how cool his brain is: “You can solve some of the world’s hardest problems, you will be an asset to a workforce”.
I think he is lucky to have positive role models around him who can encourage him and allow him to see the benefits of his differences rather than the gaps.
Create a culture of psychological safety
Within our workforce we need people to role model this behaviour and welcome differences as a way to build stronger teams not create weaker ones. Through my career this role modelling by managers has often been lacking. My experiences of bullying at school and negativity in the workplace led me to believe I needed to keep my dyslexia as my secret. It’s only really within the last five years that I have had the courage to talk about being dyslexic.
When I reflect on why I kept my secret from seniors it was down to one reason, I did not feel safe. At the roundtable discussions this was a particular area of concern; psychological safety at work is one of the key reasons why employees don’t disclose unseen disabilities.
Too often disclosure only happens after a team member is identified as struggling; and in some cases when a work capability assessment has already started.
Get it right and we’ll not only support staff with disabilities but given that psychological safety is seen as the foundation for creating an effective team, it will improve the whole workforce.
What can you do?
One thing you can do straight away is think about your role in creating a culture of safety among your workforce.
This means:
- Always start from a point of acceptance and kindness.
- Allows staff to grow and move outside their comfort zone, and know that support is at hand and they are not alone if things go wrong.
Within my team we are trying to do this as we build diversity to improve creativity and create psychological safety for all those we work with.
Emergency Care Improvement Support Team 