New campaign calls for useful reasonable adjustments

Dyslexia Awareness Week Scotland will address ineffective support for dyslexia in work

Dyslexia Scotland has unveiled a new national campaign to help ensure Scots with dyslexia can access the support, resources and reasonable adjustments that help them work and learn as equals alongside their peers.

The campaign responds to concerning research by the charity and the University of Glasgow, which revealed that less than half of workers with dyslexia in Scotland are provided with reasonable adjustments at work and, shockingly, a quarter of those who receive them do not find them helpful.

According to Acas, the UK public body that helps resolve workplace disputes and improves employer-employee relations, reasonable adjustments are changes an employer makes to remove or reduce a disadvantage related to someone’s disability. They are tailored to an individual’s needs, and employers have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments where required.

Dyslexia is the most prevalent learning difference that affects around one in ten people in Scotland and can be considered a disability under the Equality Act 2010.

The employment rate for disabled people has consistently been lower than that of non-disabled people in Scotland. Inaccessible recruitment procedures, digital barriers and non-inclusive workplaces are among the factors that prevent disabled people from securing or staying in employment.

Dyslexia Scotland’s campaign supports the Scottish Government’s ambition to halve the Disability Employment Gap by 2038.

The Right Tools for the Job campaign features recommendations from people with dyslexia about the adjustments and approaches that help them work and learn at their best. Throughout Dyslexia Awareness Week, Dyslexia Scotland will lead a programme of social media content, events and resources that encourage educators, employers and service providers to create more inclusive environments while enabling people with dyslexia to self-advocate for their rights and needs.

Chief Executive of Dyslexia Scotland Cathy Magee said: “Dyslexia Scotland believes that work and learning should be neuroinclusive. That means creating environments where systems adapt to people, rather than people having to adapt to systems.

“But until that happens, people with dyslexia need to be able to ask for – and receive – reasonable adjustments that help them work and learn within the systems we have today.

“We’re urging the dyslexic community to speak up and ask for the things you need to help you make your best contribution at work and in learning, and to changemakers to create the conditions for people with dyslexia to thrive.

“During Dyslexia Awareness Week, we encourage everyone to follow our campaign, come to our free events and download our materials. Every positive action is another step towards a dyslexia-friendly Scotland.”

The charity, which works with schools, employers and communities across Scotland, hopes the campaign will increase the number of people accessing effective reasonable adjustments in learning and the workplace.

Dyslexia Awareness Week Scotland 2026 runs from 28 September to 4 October.