Hi everyone, we have someone who has been with us for 5 months and has just declared they have dyslexia. Have you used any tools in your organisation that really helped someone with dyslexia.
I'm particularly looking for something that can block out part of a computer screen, so that only certain sections are viewed. The paper version of this is when you cover the text with a sheet of paper so you can focus on the information you need to read.
any help is appreciated
Hi Gemma, Microsoft has some tremendous accessibility tools that can support this need. The link below show the Immersive Reader function that can block out parts of the screen and help.
You can also space out letters and change the page color which can also help.
You can also use the read aloud tools and dictate features
support.microsoft.com/.../use-immersive-reader-in-word-a857949f-c91e-4c97-977c-a4efcaf9b3c1
Hope this helps.
Chris
You can also get the employee to go through the access-to-work scheme. They will provide an assessment and any assistive technology and training to use it. Depending on the size of your company, or will be fully or partially funded.
Link
www.gov.uk/access-to-work
Immersive reader (windows) was designed to help people read more easily and has a lot of customisable features.
Macbooks and presumably windows can read sections of text and can read words as they are typed. MacBooks have a zoom facility which magnifies a section of text, I use this but only in basic form, I am sure it can do many fancy things.
Also worth thinking about different fonts which some will find easier to read such as Open Dyslexia.
There seems to be a few support organisations who can offer more detailed information
Thank you both, that's really helpful.
SLJ, we use macbooks so I will have a look at the zoom function, I didn't know that was possible.
I have also just discovered that Google chrome has a screen mask extension, so we are going to try that too
Hi Gemma, there is a webinar going at the moment about dyslexia in the workplace on LinkedIn. It will be recorded so if you are interested I can see if I can get you the recording over.
we have a few colleagues with dyslexia. I find it useful to get a copy of their report for our records (if they have one). Some external courses they attend can make reasonable adjustments if they know what is required. I have also used Access to Work in the past, which was particularly useful for colleagues who hadn't had a lot of support in school. They had some one to one support from an expert and we were advised which software etc would help.
Hi Gemma,
I'm dyslexic and use the Microsoft tools well. this includes Immersive reader, Outlook dictation , you can also change the backgrounds easily, if they have Irlens syndrome which is linked to dyslexia www.irlensyndrome.org/.../
