To ask dyslexic team member to put a note on her email signature???

[FusionChefGeoff]

For the record I am NOT going to do this but I’m interested in other people’s views on this and decided to brave the AIBU format.

Ive been working with a fab new trainee for about a year now. It’s my own micro business and I’m training her from scratch, so to speak. She’s quite severely dyslexic, is very open about it with me and others we work with and we regularly have discussions around what I can do to make everything easier for her. Including redirecting some work that would normally sit with her job role because it’s unfair to expect her to ever get to the standard we would need. (To do with data management where we need precision and speed - and she just can’t see mistakes / typos)

Generally, attention to detail is important in our overall work and she and I have developed lots of strategies to support her which generally involves quite a lot of other people’s time checking with her.

However, there are still lots of mistakes in her emails to clients and I can’t justify having to sign off every email she sends it’s just not feasible. It’s also not nice for her feeling like she’s working in a straight jacket the whole time. Things that spell checks obviously aren’t picking up like apostrophes where they’re not needed or using the wrong homophones.

Ive worked with other people in the past who have an unobtrusive line ‘Forgive any spelling errors which my dyslexia may have caused” or something similar which I think ‘let’s them off the hook’ as it stops people judging them purely based on spelling.

If you’re dyslexic do you / would you use this approach? Or do you keep your dyslexia to yourself as it’s no one else’s business?

Genuinely looking for thoughts.

As I said I am NOT going to suggest this to her.

I would love any tips or ideas how to help her improve the accuracy and quality of emails - although generally she’s very good at using tools and software to help so maybe I just need to explore what she’s doing for emails and if she has anything else she can use more regularly.

Exactly, and OP reply on the issue seems to highlight that they know the set up isn’t right.

Antidote is the dyslexia software we use. But also any LLM will sort the emails.

We’re not allowed to use the likes of Grammerly or Google Translate (for email chains forwarded to us from our Belgian colleagues who sometimes don’t email back and forth between themselves in English). The reason is that we are data from sharing internal emails with an external company, who can do whatever they want with that data. OP may not want to share her company’s data, and it may be illegal if this colleague is breaking GDPR laws in relation to their clients, depending on what data she puts through the external tool.

As a dyslexic person, I would be NOT be happy to have it broadcasted on my email footer. It wouldn't sit right with me. I would, however, really appreicate a manager who suggested tools or solutions that would help without being condescending.

So much AI now to assist that she shouldn’t be making mistakes as much. Maybe she needs someone to explain software that can help. There’s also software that be downloaded to her laptop, I know a colleague uses dragon. Never seen anyone use such a signature.

@Coolwaterscoolcool I don't agree, I think it reflects really poorly on a business to have typos or grammar errors. I have disregarded services if there is an error in the website or ad. If a shop has an error in signage I also would not want to shop there.

If I was in direct communication with a person and they had a disclaimer saying they are prone to errors due to dyslexia I would understand and overlook this, but if it is representing the company as a whole it should be accurate, they need a system to catch errors if someone has difficulty.

can you use speech to text software for her?

then agree Grammey and reading text to speech software for her to have it read back.

Im dyslexic and I wouldn’t mind putting a footnote on there but know lots who would.

‘straitjacket’, OP.

There is not a hope in hell I'd declare my dyslexia in an email footer. And I'd be seriously pissed off if that was my managers suggestion to me. Tread carefully. You may cause a great deal of upset - there is absolutely no reason to have it declared on a document that could be forwarded to heaven knows where.

The post isn't about that, you've obviously read it so you know it's about ways to help someone with dyslexia in the workplace.

At work I occasionally get emails from someone who does have wording along those lines in the email signature. He writes as an individual so his own choice

TBH if I got an email with a couple of spelling errors in I’d just be happy it was a human emailing me and not an automated response. I think the email sing off is also potentially a good idea. I’m dyslexic and I have to send texts to parents as part of my job (maths tutor), I’ve had a few comments along the lines of “I’m glad it’s maths you teach and not English” which can be a bit frustrating. For serious emails where I need to get my spelling correct I run them through copilot then have the computer read it aloud to me. This takes a bit more time but is worth it.

She can copy and paste her emails into AI and it will proof read them for her, or she can just ask it to write them for her using verbal prompts.

I know what you mean. I get emails from a colleague with some errors in them and they feel more personal. They are also nice and short. Another colleague gets AI to write them and I rarely read them because they are so long and are worded like a policy document.

I would prefer an email with a couple of errors rather than a AI cut and paste email.

In some areas a personalised service with an individual who remembers your name and situation is worth far more than a perfect email.

As a customer I am more bothered about the persons competence at whatever I am engaging them to do. If they are designing my signage and adverts or proof reading my book I may take issue. If they are making me a wooden table or cutting my hair the grammar and spelling in the email is irrelevant (assuming I understand what is written).

Honestly, I think it says more about the person receiving the email if they judge the person based on spelling or grammar mistakes. Surely the whole point of communication is to convey a message so the recipient understands what is said.

Where i work emails form part of the official audit trail of correspondence, mistakes can lead to major issues. Written quality has to be high - its almost legal in nature, the nuances in the language are critical. The software really doesn't pick up things. Constant errors of the type op describes would mean someone probably wouldn't make it past probation. I do know of some people with severe dyslexia, all have a tagline on their email.

Op has been pretty tolerant & supportive of this employee

I'm dyslexic and also wondered about doing this but I work in a job where I'm meant to have above average language skills so I'm scared to! ( ai to read back my reports helps but in my work we can't use it for client data yet).
I find speech to text options don't help me because I need to write to formulate my ideas.
But let her know about emails. I often write mine in hurry and then get so much wrong if I'm stressed!
It's great that she's open about it.
The best tip I had was to read back my own emails backwards. That way I don't read I wanted to have written and it pick up the word errors

Ai is becoming more helpful though and I'm using copilot now in the last month

As her manager you have a legal duty to provide her with tools to assist, given the problems that she has with emails to customers etc.

A simple email auto signature with her agreement is commonplace. Most people in corporates nowadays (especially in public sector where I work) don't try to hide the fact they have dyslexia especially if the culture is openly supportive of people with disabilities, which is the decent thing to do.

She could also add a link to the British Dyslexia Society website to her autosignature where there are tip sheets on there to help people understand how it affects people day to day.

https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/resources

A simple Google query brings up information about software tools:

Top Software for Email Composition

• Read&Write (by Texthelp): A versatile toolbar that integrates with Windows, Mac, and Google Chrome. It offers word prediction, spell checkers, and text-to-speech to read emails aloud to catch errors before sending.
• Grammarly: A popular AI-powered tool that provides real-time, advanced spelling, grammar, and tone suggestions to improve writing clarity.
• Ginger Software: Specifically designed to assist with dyslexia, it provides rephrasing suggestions, spell checking, and text-to-speech features.
• Ghotit Real Writer: Specialized software that helps with writing and spelling by understanding context, which is beneficial for dyslexic users.
• Helperbird: A browser extension (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) that provides tools like word prediction, text-to-speech, and dyslexia-friendly fonts to assist with writing in web-based email clients.

Speech-to-Text (Dictation) Tools
These allow you to speak your email instead of typing it:

• Dragon NaturallySpeaking/Dragon Anywhere: A high-accuracy dictation software that learns your voice and vocabulary, allowing for faster email composition.
• Google Docs Voice Typing: A free tool that can be used to draft emails.
• Voicy: A tool that works directly in Gmail, Outlook, and Word to convert speech to text with automatic punctuation.

Dyslexia-Friendly Formatting

• Dyslexie Font: A font designed with unique character shapes to prevent confusion.
• OpenDyslexic: An open-source font designed to improve readability.
• Browser Extensions (e.g., Helperbird): These can be used to change the background color or font on web-based email platforms to reduce visual stress.

Key Features to Look For

• Word Prediction: Suggests words as you type to reduce the burden of spelling.
• Text-to-Speech: Reads your draft back to you to check for flow and errors.
• Spell Checkers: Designed for phonetic spellers to find the correct word.

As a dyslexic I would not have a problem with that being written on the bottom of my emails. But I appreciate not every dyslexic would feel the same. I would also say that asking a dyslexic to proof read their own word does not work (I can re-read something over and over, and not spot the obvious errors, until it's just been emailed!!!! Very annoying!), we also often can't tell if grammar checks are making mistakes, which they do!

Even people without dyslexia make mistakes like this. One of my colleagues with an English degree, first class honours often makes mistakes in her emails!

Giving her access to a tool that will help checking her grammar and typos seems to be the obvious solution.
Could be as simple as copilot (although I'd be concerned about it re writing the emails instead of just correcting). But it can be integrated with outlook for instance so quite helpful as you don't have to copy paste into a different platform.

I'm not dyslexic so I might be missing something, but I'm surprised that as a manager you think the best option is to lower the standards and provide her with so much external support to do her job.

It's totally fine at the start, but it goes beyond the reasonable adjustments any other business would agree to, so it's not helping her long term.

You should absolutely expect her to get to the standards expected for her role, and help her achieve this through reasonable adjustments (a bit more time, self-help tools, etc).
I'm also wondering whether it's the right job for her if a core part of the role is attention to details, and that is also a key feature of her disability. There are plenty of jobs, even office based, were this is less important.

This is really helpful for the op

op you need to remember not all dyslexics are the same - so one thing that might support one dyslexic would not necessarily help another etc

It might take quite a while before you find what could help them.

Why is a trainee self-employed?
I do hope you aren’t doing that to avoid paying things you should be.

if you’ve got co-pilot she needs to run emails through that and ask to proof or use AI to support them in the first place. Really, your place of work is probably a little backwards re tech if you haven’t already put something in place like that. AI has transformed the experience for colleagues with dyslexia. It is becoming less of a barrier because proofing is getting better all the time and you can minimise the time thinking about structure.

I think a disclaimer looks bad on the employing company because it’s basically saying we haven’t been arsed to sort out proofing (whether through tech or second pair of eyes) so we expect there to be poorly communicated emails.

I often have to remind people at work to stick to dyslexia-friendly fonts such as Ariel, Verdana, Tahoma or the specially designed Atkinson Hyperlegible Mono font which also helps people with low vision. Some fonts can be a nightmare for people with sight issues and dyslexia to read.

I’m dyslexic and I wouldn’t put that on my email signature, and nor would I appreciate the suggestion. I don’t think it’s a good idea at all and I’d think a lot less of the person suggesting it.

I buck the trend in that writing is one of my areas of strength so it’s not an issue for me. Data and numbers tho - don’t give me them if you want your business to continue trading because I have dyscalculia as well as dyslexia. I’m very open about that these days and make it clear that no, I can’t get better at it, your choice is either to insist I do the work and suffer the consequences (inaccuracy is inevitable as I literally can’t reliably recognise the numbers) or you give me work that plays to my strengths. I also purposely don’t go for jobs that require me to do significant financial or data work.

what I’d like you to understand OP is that there’s a lot of aspects of dyslexia that never get talked about. Everyone thinks it’s just about not being able to spell/write/read properly. You can help your trainee by learning about the other impacts (lots of websites out there). Two little known aspects I’ll point out tho are:

It is really tiring. Us dyslexic people are working SO MUCH harder to get to somewhere near the same results as you. Trying to operate in a world that doesn’t support our natural ways of being is exhausting. For instance, when I go to the office I’m exhausted by the time I get there usually, and then spend the whole day worrying about getting lost in the office and not being able to find my desk. Office lights are always a problem.

Regardless of whether they realise and/or admit it, it is very common for people with dyslexia carry a burden of shame from a life of being told they aren’t good enough, stupid, worthless, not trying hard enough. If you think of asking her to put an announcement on her emails in that context, is it still a good idea? Already she’s already having a daily feed of “I’m not good enough” input eg people having to check her work (just because that’s not your intention it doesn’t mean the impact isn’t there).

By the way I never found a software that could help me. Tried them all! Might help to review her strengths and the type of work you’re giving her rather than look for ways for her to do things just like everyone else.

I had no idea about this!

I knew that Verdana is the least taxing on the eyes to read (for everone not just ppl with dyslexia) but didnt realise font choice could help or hinder with dyslexia