An individual with dyspraxia has problems with motor skills, posture, speech, coordination, and organization. Children and adults are affected by the disorder, but knowledge and awareness of the condition are low among adults. Luckily, that awareness is growing and we are learning more about dyspraxia every year in the U.K.
Dyspraxia is a more common condition than you might think, affecting 1 in 10 adults in the U.K. The condition can affect the employment and working lives of people with it. It is common for people with dyspraxia to feel that their condition makes it difficult for them to find a suitable job, to keep it, and to be happy at work.
At Careers with Disabilities, we believe that everyone should have a fair and equal chance of finding the job of their dreams, regardless of their conditions or disabilities. Spreading awareness and information about a range of disabilities is one of the best ways to do so, in our opinion, and so we have added this page to our Disability Advice Hub to discuss dyspraxia at work in more detail.
Let’s start by looking at how employees with dyspraxia may be specifically affected by the condition at work.
How Dyspraxia Affects Work
Some main problems people with dyspraxia may find themselves having at work include:
- Operating computers
- Typing
- Handwriting
- Organization
- Communication with others in the workplace
- Memory
- Concentration
Of course, every person who has dyspraxia will live and work in different ways and this is by no means a criteria list for each and every dyspraxic person. The condition affects people in different ways and each person with the condition is a unique individual.
However, knowing the main symptoms helps us understand what people typically go through with the condition and it helps us understand what is the best kind of support to be provided.
If you are looking for work, check out our jobs for people with dyspraxia.
How People with Dyspraxia Can Get Support at Work
For something to be classed as a disability in the U.K., it must be “a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.” If your experience with dyspraxia fits into these two criteria, then you are eligible for disability support both in and out of work in the U.K. To see what kind of financial support you are entitled to, check out our guide.
If you have a diagnosis of dyspraxia, your next step will be to disclose this to your current or potential employer. While this may sometimes be a daunting thought, it is an important step to getting the support that you need at work. If your employer doesn’t know about your disability, then they can’t help you. If they do know, then they will be able to put reasonable adjustments in place for your job role, responsibilities, or physical working environment.
Reasonable Adjustments for Dyspraxia
Some reasonable adjustments that may help you as someone with dyspraxia include:
- Extra time for deadlines and projects
- Flexible working patterns
- Hybrid working models including working at home
- Spellchecking software, a bigger monitor, ergonomic keyboard, and mouse
- Written instructions in accessible formats
- Reduction of workload
If you ask your employer for any of these reasonable adjustments in relation to your disability, they must make them. If they cannot due to financial reasons, then you can take a look at the Access to Work scheme and make an application if you think your reasonable adjustment could be financially supported in this way instead.
What Employers Can Do
As an employer, dyspraxia might not be something you know too much about. This means that your first port of call will be to do some research of your own. Some sites we suggest for this include:
The more you can learn, the more you can help and support your employees. It is always worth it to take some time to educate and upskill yourself.
Once you know a little more about dyspraxia, you will better understand why certain reasonable adjustments will be important to your employees. Knowing this should make you quicker and more efficient when it comes to answering these requests, which is a huge relief for your employees. Making the process of reasonable adjustments easy and quick can take a lot of stress and upheaval away from employees with dyspraxia, which is a great thing.
Becoming Disability Confident
The absolute best thing you can do as an employer when you want to become more equal, diverse, and inclusive is to become a Disability Confident certified employer. Engaging in this scheme is the best badge of honour for any U.K. employer and it can help you connect with a wide range of diverse candidates. It will also help you understand how to best support people with disabilities in your workplace, in many different ways.
One of the very best ways to become a Disability-Friendly employer is to engage with our specialized services and packages for employers. These can help you gain access to everything you need in for quest for diversity and equality, including promotions and social media coverage, job advert screening, and listing yourself as a company on our site.
Being inclusive to every employee can change lives. It can also bring great benefits to your company.
Get started on your journey with Careers with Disabilities today, you won’t regret it.
