In the UK workforce’s struggle, a call to understand dyslexia

Unfortunately, the last several years have been a challenging time for young people entering the workforce.

According to Dyslexia Action, in the UK there are 954,000 young people aged 16 to 24, who are currently no longer in education and yet lack employment. These people are often referred to as NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training).

Students and parents of students with dyslexia may be overwhelmed by such numbers. Parents may look at spelling mistakes in their child’s writing and wonder if their child can successfully write a competitive job application. Students may simply stare out at the ever more competitive workforce and suspect that its odds are as stacked against them as all their schooling felt.

Hopefully, that’s not how every person with dyslexia will feel, but it’s entirely normal to feel this way on the bad days. After all, everyone has bad days.

Dyslexia Action’s response to these numbers, however, has been to come up with a plan to level the playing field. In addition to supports for students while still in education, Dyslexia Action recommends two important policy decisions to assist job seekers. 

First, they say, maintain the Access to Work grant. Second, train all Job Centre staff to be able to understand and support individuals with dyslexia in all aspects of their job search, including through the use of assistive technology, when necessary.

Read more at Dyslexia Action