I'm Made by Dyslexia

Did you know I am dyslexic? It is dyslexia awareness month (October) and I want to raise awareness to help more people feel confident in being able to discuss dyslexia.

As a young boy I remember being made to feel stupid and was ridiculed by people around me (colleagues, teachers) because I had certain difficulties that even I did not understand then. It's only when I moved to Singapore for my higher studies that I became aware of dyslexia and began to understand and learn to appreciate being dyslexic. I was insecure about my differences for years until I recognised that the key to overcoming my insecurity was to embrace it!

In the recent years, there has been a lot more awareness (Dyslexia DecodEd by Microsoft) especially for employers to educate everyone on traits and even more on skills of dyslexia, such as problem-solving, the ability to do complex things and find solutions.

Yes, I'm terrible at spelling and writing because I see letters and numbers very differently. Over the years I learnt to embrace it, and more importantly to educate those around me to establish that difficulties with spelling or language does not determine an individual's intellectual capacity. Let's focus on what I'm writing and not how I'm spelling it.

While dyslexia can make certain things a bit difficult, it also has great advantages. Learning to embrace dyslexia made me become more creative, flexible, competitive and determined.

Some of the strengths dyslexia brings to the world and procurement are highlighted within this remarkable article by Made By Dyslexia: The Value of Dyslexia.

If you're interested in learning more on this, I highly recommend This is Dyslexia by Kate Griggs.