In the latest edition of The Archaeologist, Amy Talbot and Rosie Loftus have shared their experiences of how dyslexia and dyspraxia have impacted their working lives.
Dyslexia is a form of neurodiversity. Estimated to affect 15 per cent of the population, neurodivergent individuals process and interpret information in different ways with attention deficit disorders, autism, dyslexia and dyspraxia identified as specific examples. How can workplaces better support people with alternative thinking styles?
To help answer this, CIfA and Mentoring Women in Archaeology and Heritage (MWAH), of which both Amy and Rosie are co-admins, are working together to explore the potential impacts that dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions have upon archaeologists, from those who are diagnosed, or feel they are a candidate for the conditions, and from those who work with these individuals.
We have devised two surveys – one aimed at individuals and one for employers - which will help us to identify issues across the sector and inform actions that we can all take to support our neurodiverse colleagues. These surveys focus on dyslexia; however, we recognise that there are many other elements to neurodiversity, and we hope in future to have further conversations about this.
If you have experience of dyslexia, we would be grateful if you could spare the time to answer the relevant survey from the links below. Surveys will run until Monday 15 June.
