Q&A with Andrew Hinder

Andrew Hinder is Chief Internal Auditor for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and an elected Council Member of the Chartered IIA. He explains how being diagnosed as dyslexic has affected him and what he has learnt about being dyslexic in the workplace.

Dyslexia is formally classified as a Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD). What does this mean?
A Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD) affects how you learn and process information. There is a broad range of neurodivergent conditions that are classed as SpLDs, including dyslexia. Unfortunately, having dyslexia or any other SpLD can sometimes lead to assumptions that you are stupid! Of course, there is no link between dyslexia and intelligence, but being dyslexic can make learning more difficult because it creates challenges with reading and spelling. On the plus side, many people with dyslexia have strong visual, creative and problem-solving skills and many successful people including Richard Branson, Cher, and Steven Spielberg have been diagnosed as dyslexic.

When did you find out that you were dyslexic? 
I was in the first year of my A-levels, which is probably later than for many people. My first economics essay had to be handwritten because the teacher wanted to prepare us for exams. While he was impressed with my answer, he was appalled at my spelling. He recommended that I should be assessed.

Were you surprised?
I was at first because I had never really thought about it before. However, on reflection it made sense. I was good at solving problems and looking at things in different ways, but always struggled to get the exam grades that I thought I should, because I struggled with spelling and remembering things like names when introduced to people.

How did the diagnosis change you?
It helped me to understand myself better, but there were no other changes. I was given additional time for my A-level exams, but when I went to university I didn’t tell anyone and didn’t apply for additional support. I tried to be like everyone else. About halfway through my second year, I realised that no one, apart from me, cared whether I was dyslexic or not, so I took the additional time for my final exams and for all subsequent professional exams with the Chartered IIA. If I did it again, I would be far more open to the support on offer. It would have made life a lot easier.

How can colleagues support people who are dyslexic at work?
There are a few common things that dyslexic people find harder, but everyone is different. I struggle with handwriting, spelling and taking readable notes. Fortunately, I can now do 98% of my work on a laptop, which greatly reduces the impact of these challenges. Other technologies, some of which are built into every word processer, can help with proof reading, such as the “read aloud” function in Word.

Artificial intelligence can produce transcripts of meetings and even first versions of draft reports. For those with more specific challenges, there is a range of software available. The Civil Service has a network that helps colleagues to select these and many large organisations will offer similar support.

It also helps if you can choose how you receive information. I have a strong preference for charts over long stretches of text. I don’t have an issue with speed reading, however I find it hard to spot my own mistakes because I read what I think I’ve written, not what I have.

Are there any advantages to being dyslexic in the workplace?
There are definitely important advantages to having someone who is dyslexic in an internal audit team. Creative thinking and problem-solving are two of my strengths.  Being able to look at an issue differently from other people and to think beyond the way it has been done in the past is where internal audit can add real value to an organisation. I have managed several teams and have often found that many of the top-performing people in those teams demonstrate these positive attributes because they’re dyslexic.

There are various reasons why dyslexic people may be strong at problem-solving and creative design. It may be partly to do with how their brains work, and partly because they have had to think creatively to get round the challenges in a world that generally sees things differently.

Both of these are important. An article on the website DyslexicHelp – Dyslexia's Hidden Strengths: Exploring Unique Abilities – highlights abilities including problem-solving, resilience and stronger visual thinking and spatial reasoning that are common to many dyslexic people. I know that I certainly had to be creative at school when teachers dictated notes.

Presumably, having an open conversation about preferences for receiving information could be just as important for the people who use internal audit reports, since there are likely to be board members and audit committee members who are dyslexic?

Building awareness in internal audit teams should help to ensure that reports and other interactions with management are accessible and flexible. Like other internal audit teams, we are trying to shorten the length of our reports generally, but it could be a good idea to discuss and make more specific adjustments where necessary. Supplying information in more accessible formats will benefit everyone.

Where can people go for further information about dyslexia?
First, ask whether your employer has a relevant network. If they don’t, there are several voluntary organisations that can help, including the British Dyslexia Association, The Dyslexia Association, or Patoss.