By Kate Griggs

The story behind Made by Dyslexia  

One in five people are dyslexic – that’s 20 percent of the global population. And despite knowing exactly how to spot it, 80 percent of dyslexics still leave school unidentified.  

Despite being a ‘classic dyslexic’, my first school didn’t spot my dyslexia. Instead, I was a ‘must try harder’ girl who HATED school because I felt like a failure. It was only after I was sent to a new school that my life was transformed by dyslexia trained teachers who finally helped me understand and value my dyslexic strengths.  

The same thing happened years later with my son Ted. I was genuinely shocked that after all that time his teachers still didn’t know how to spot and support his obvious dyslexic struggles or his amazing Dyslexic Thinking skills.  

I’ve made it my mission to change this. My first campaign led to the UK Government’s Rose Review of Dyslexia in 2008. In 2017 I founded the global charity Made By Dyslexia, which we launched with Sir Richard Branson to show the world the brilliance of Dyslexic Thinking and to empower it in every home, school and workplace. 

In 2022, we successfully campaigned for LinkedIn to add ‘Dyslexic Thinking’ as a workplace skill on its social platform. Within one week, 10,000 people had already added it to their profiles! In the same year Dyslexic Thinking was added to the dictionary too.  

ThisisDyslexiaLast year we launched our Lessons in Dyslexic Thinking podcast – interviews with some of the world’s most inspiring dyslexics – which returned for season two in March 2024. My work with Made By Dyslexia, the podcast and my books, This Is Dyslexia (a practical guide for adults) and Xtraordinary People (which helps kids understand dyslexic superpowers), are creating global momentum behind our dyslexia movement, which has only continued to grow.  

The power of Dyslexic Thinking in the workplace 

Dyslexic brains process information differently. We are naturally curious, highly creative, and with an ability to unconventionally connect the dots and think laterally.  

There are 6 Dyslexic Thinking skills, each with their own subsets. Most dyslexics are a combination of these: 

1. Visualizing – Interacting with space, senses, physical ideas & new concepts  

Dyslexics who are good at visualising in your organisation may be able to visualise complex user journeys or see project plans come together in their mind. They may excel at product development, visualising how parts fit together, and seeing a challenge from multiple angles in their mind.   

2. Imagining – Creating an original piece of work or giving ideas a new spin 

In an organisation, dyslexics who excel at imagining drive innovation. They come up with new ideas and approaches that no one else has thought of – because they see the world differently – and this helps to move businesses forward.  

3. Communicating – Crafting & conveying clear & engaging messages  

Often, in an organisation, these kinds of Dyslexic Thinkers are great at simplifying concepts, building narratives or selling a vision, that helps to encourage the rest of the organisation to make it happen.   

4. Reasoning – Understanding patterns, evaluating possibilities & making decisions 

A huge advantage of having a dyslexic in a team, or on a project, is that they make connections across complex issues, subjects, and data, which others don’t see. We come up with new innovative ideas to tackle challenges. Dyslexics often talk about having sudden leaps of insight that help us to solve problems in an unconventional way. We use our intuition – our brains think around a problem and connect the dots.  

5. Connecting – Understanding self; connecting, empathising & influencing others

Dyslexic Thinkers excel in empathising, negotiating, and expressing themselves orally. They’re also highly self-aware. These skills help make them great leaders who can build, support, and empower teams, people, and organisations.  

6. Exploring – Being curious and exploring ideas in a constant and energetic way.  

Dyslexics minds energise a workplace. We have a curiosity for finding out new things, learning new skills, and finding different ways to do things. The energy and passion we use to do it often inspires others.  

Why Dyslexic Thinkers are vital for our AI-driven future  

The light bulb. The iPhone. The aeroplane. Even the motor car was invented by Dyslexic Thinking. And it will be vital in shaping the future too. Dyslexic Thinking is a DIRECT match for the top 5 skills in the latest World Economic Forum’s Top Skills of 2023 report

  1. Analytical thinking 
  2. Creative Thinking 
  3. Resilience, flexibility, and agility 
  4. Motivation and self-awareness 
  5. Curiosity and life-long learning

The workplace is facing a fast-evolving blend of Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence, which are the foundations of our new, 5th Industrial Revolution world. Many big organisations are already recognising that Dyslexic Thinkers possess the exact ‘soft skills’ or ‘power skills’ that AI can’t replace.  

AI Thinking aggregates, while Dyslexic Thinking innovates, making it the perfect co-pilot for Dyslexic Thinking. AI aggregates content super quickly, sifting through huge amounts of information to compile a comprehensive draft to work from. This is a powerful tool for dyslexics who find reading large amounts of information both time consuming and challenging. We can then lean into our Dyslexic Thinking skills and immediately begin to interrogate and innovate with the information that AI has compiled.  

The WEF predicts that 50 percent of jobs will be done by machines by 2025. As businesses adapt to our AI-driven world, there’s no doubt that Dyslexic Thinking is vital for organisations to thrive alongside technology. That’s why our mission to empower Dyslexic Thinking in every school, every home and every workplace is so vital. Dyslexia is a superpower – not something to hide!

About the Author

Kate GriggsKate Griggs is the founder and CEO of the global charity Made By Dyslexia, host of the Lessons in Dyslexic Thinking podcast and the author of This is Dyslexia (Penguin) and Empowering Dyslexic Thinking at Work, a free access course on LinkedIn Learning.

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