Promoting Dyslexia Awareness

Dyslexia Awareness was the theme for a packed Education & Training Dept fringe meeting at CWU Annual Conference.

In opening the event Trish Lavelle, Head of Education & Training, acknowledged that the CWU had not always got everything right first time, but that over the last few years a lot had been learnt and the CWU E&T Dept was ready to provide the support to anyone with dyslexia who might attend activist training.

Trish Lavelle & Marc Pastorelli

In telling the story of an activist called "Dave", Marc Pastorelli, gave moving evidence of these improvements in dyslexia support. Dave had gone through school as the class clown, never making any great academic achievements. No-one had ever thought to ask why - and no-one was surprised when he left school with no qualifications. Dave went from job to job and when he plucked up the courage to admit to his workmates he might have dyslexia someone laughed and suggested that "dyslexia was just a posh word for thick!" But things changed for Dave when he joined BT and became a CWU rep. Attending activist training at Alvescot, he was offered dyslexia screening and support from Solihull College. This gave him the confidence to achieve his activist qualifications - culminating in his successful application to the Trade Union & Labour Studies Degree at London Metropolitan University.
"For a person with dyslexia, knocking on the door of education is the hardest part," said Marc, "but once you're there it's fantastic! And if it wasn't for CWU Education "Dave" wouldn't be here talking to you now!"

Billy Butterworth

Billy Butterworth, spoke about how dyslexia support had to be expanded way beyond activist training and be offered to all CWU members who needed it - and Billy reminded his audience that, statistically, all branches would have members who would need this support. "It's not about not being able to read," said Billy, "It is about having difficulty processing information - and there are all sorts of adjustments to the workplace that can be made to assist with this."
Billy asked the audience to think about how the employer communicated with their workforce - or how we, as union reps, communicate with our members. He asked people to be conscious of dyslexia when dealing with members who are repeatedly late, or are disciplined for failing to follow instructions, or who had had a number of accidents at work. Could there be a root cause to the problems that the member was suffering. If identified, this might not just get the member out of their current predicament but also ensure they did not get into similar problems again. Billy spoke of his recent attendance on a BDA dyslexia assessors course and asked us to consider whether, in the same was as we undertake health & safety risk assessments, we should undertake assessments to make the workplace more dyslexia friendly.

Billy Hayes

The General Secretary, Billy Hayes, spoke about why we as trade unionists should help people with dyslexia. He spoke about all the famous people who had overcome dyslexia - but he pointed out that the wealthy had an obvious advantage over working class people with dyslexia. Wealthy people can have one-to-one tuition, they can pay for additional resources and aids - working people all too often cannot afford this. Billy also reminded us about union reps who were excellent and dynamic speakers but who struggled to express themselves in writing. "One thing the union gives you," said Billy, "Is self-confidence. The belief that you are as good as the people running the country - and anything that increases that confidence is a good thing. That's why it is so important for us to support members with dyslexia to achieve their potential."

There followed a lively debate where some of the audience thanked the E&T Dept for assisting them to overcome dyslexia, while others asked how they could assist members in their branches to do the same. Some even expressed the wish to move beyond their branches and provide help to wider society. In summing up, Trish Lavelle said the meeting had highlighted how ULRs were identifying new ways in which reps could help our members, and through closer co-operation between ULRs and other parts of the union we were seeing real developments towards greater support to all our members with dyslexia - and indeed, as these skills developed they may indeed be of service to wider society.