Go-Ahead subsidiary Go South West is pioneering what it calls a “first of its kind” toolkit for dyslexic staff members, as part of efforts to support neurodiverse colleagues.
For colleagues that have been officially diagnosed with dyslexia, which can affect reading, writing and organisation skills, the toolkit on offer will include:
- Coloured overlays to help those who struggle to read text on white paper
- An online to-do list and task management app for work phones
- Paper to-do lists for those who find them preferable to digital communications
- The ability to record meetings if colleagues struggle with notetaking
- Additional time for paperwork at the end of shifts
Richard Stevens, Go South West Managing Director, says: “I welcome the new toolkit, it’s very useful for our colleagues. Sometimes it can be easy to overlook the struggles people with dyslexia face in their day to day.
“At Go-Ahead we want to ensure everyone is included and supported to do their jobs with ease. Thank you to the Go South West team for coming together and rolling out the new toolkit for colleagues.”
Adds Steve O’Brien, CEO of Dyslexia Foundation: “It is a great idea to address the needs of staff with dyslexia, the toolkit created is a good starting point from Go-Ahead Group and it will be interesting to see how this develops over the coming months.
“We encourage and support initiatives like this, Dyslexia Foundation promotes a positive attitude towards dyslexia and offers an environment in which to enable support and to talk about dyslexia.”
About 10% of the population is believed to have some form of dyslexia, which varies from mild to severe.
