Dyspraxia is very much a misunderstood condition. Many see this as a clumsy syndrome which affects hand to eye coordination, however this can also impact on memory coordination, processing lots of information at once and other areas of memory processing and planning.
As such Dyspraxia can have quite an impact on how you might perform in an interview. Below we provide you with a few tips that might help you to secure that job.
Take time to think about the questions, have a look at example questions online or try to write out some answers, using bullet points to remind you of the key points you want the interviewer to know.
Take some notes in with you – write down key information to help you answer questions, or information you have researched about the company. Also write down a few questions that you might want to ask the company. This will help reduce the anxiety of having to think on the spot as much and give you prompts to help you along the way.
It is reasonable to ask for the questions up front as an adjustment- this will help you be able to take time to prepare your answers.
If there is an assessment as part of the interview ask the interviewer if you can have additional time to complete this.
During an interview the employer may ask you about any challenges you have faced. You can use this question to explain that you have Dyspraxia and how it impacts on you, but add onto this all the things you have done to overcome this and how this has made you resilient in doing so.
Reasonable adjustments is something that an employer must do as a legal requirement for anyone with a disability, if the employer is not willing to adapt in an interview you may also struggle to get adjustments if you get the job. Consider if it is the right job for you if the employer is not willing to adapt from the start. Whilst it is not okay for an employer to refuse adjustments and you can challenge this, we would not recommend someone we support pursuing a job where adjustments are refused at an interview as it is unlikely the employer will be supportive and willing to adapt further down the line.
