Dyslexic job applicant felt ‘worthless’ after recruitment process

4 comments

1. > “The maths in the test is no problem, it’s just the way it’s packaged up in double negatives, triple negatives.

   > “You couldn’t have devised a more awkward test.”

   > Mr Johnston, a qualified maths teacher and psychology graduate, requested that he be allowed to sit an alternative numerical test in which the word content was reduced, or be offered a waiver.

   This could have quite significant impact, as the tribunal agreed that the employer should develop a “word light” test.

   This immediately made me think of accountancy exams. Anyone who has sat one will know that they pride themselves on having as dense, and misleading, questions as possible because they feel that *parsing the information out of the text* is part of the skill required as an accountant, but this obviously makes it harder for people with dyslexia and other conditions.

   As a side note dyslexia covers a range of problems as it isn’t just “words swimming on the page”. Many adults know what dyslexia is (or is supposed to be) and still don’t realise they themselves are dyslexic.

2. I don’t understand giving people easier versions of tests. Surely it defeats the point? Having dyslexia may make you worse at certain jobs. That’s not discrimination.

   From the article: “The issue is seeing dyslexia as an inability to read; that viewpoint is the worst thing you can do because dyslexia is not the inability to read; it’s a different way of thinking; it’s a different way the mind is structured,”

   Straight from the British Dylexia Association:
   “Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty which primarily affects reading and writing skills.”

   I think these people are in denial.

3. >Mr Johnston had already been in the role on a temporary, agency worker basis for more than two years.

   So it’s not even like they didn’t know if he could do the job

4. Often, these tests can be a pretty demeaning process.