Tips for employers – Dyspraxia

Supporting your employees to be able to manage their disabilities in the workplace and adjusting practices to give them an equal right is not only helping create an inclusive workplace but it is ensuring you are meeting your legal requirements as an employer

Adults with dyspraxia can struggle with coordination challenges, this can be physical coordination, including balance and hand to eye coordination or memory coordination and memory processing.

The most commonly known aspect of dyspraxia is concerns with balance, however this is just one part of the condition. By taking into account some of the areas mentioned below will support your employee to overcome any workplace barriers they may have.

Think about the environment

Is your environment cluttered and difficult to navigate, this can cause challenges for adults with dyspraxia who may struggle in cluttered environments to navigate these. By removing unnecessary physical barriers can make the physical environment more accessible.

Sensory environment

If your workplace is a noisy environment then consider where your employee is working, could their desk be towards the corner of the room? allowing your employee to wear headphones during the workplace will also help reduce the sensory overload they may experience. An overload of sensory challenges can be distracting to adults with dyspraxia making it difficult for them to process thoughts.

Overload of information

Prioritising and processing too much information at once can be challenging. Try not to give too many instructions at the same time, or follow them up in writing (bullet points ideally) to ensure that individual is not missing important information.

Managing meetings

It can be challenging for adults with dyspraxia to take in information in meetings, allow the person to take voice notes or provide them with key information before or after the meeting to give them more time to process. If you are expecting the individual to contribute to the meeting then give them information in advance of what you want them to contribute to allowing them time to think of their responses. Providing post it notes or alternative ways to contribute thoughts in meetings can be helpful, asking on the spot questions can be very stressful if the information is unable to have time to process the information.

These are just a few of things that you can do to help make the workplace more accessible to your employees with dyspraxia, however the key to success is always talking to your employee and asking them what support they might need.

 

Take a look at our employer page to find out more about how we can support neurodivergent employees in the workplace via our in work support.

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