Dyslexia Scotland Ambassador Mamta Singhal was barely expected to succeed when she was identified as dyslexic in the 1990s. But the award-winning engineer recently became Vice President of the IET, one of the largest engineering institutions in the world. She speaks with Dyslexia Voice about the tools that have helped her work at her best in the sector.
What first drew you into engineering and what keeps you excited about the sector today?
I think for me engineering is a very visual profession and with the challenges I had with reading, it was perfect for me. I just love the fact that you could solve problems for the world and that’s what we do. I’ve never been bored of my job so even when I started as a graduate I just loved it.
You recently became Vice President of the IET. What does that involve?
I will be involved in the governance and strategy for the IET. With 157,000 members in 148 countries, it’s one of the biggest institutions in the world. I started off as one of their WES Young Women Engineer of the Year prize winners in 2007 and have been involved ever since.
In my role now as Vice President, I want to ensure we’re an inclusive organisation in how we think and how we behave, with diverse representation of people and cultures.
The name of the Dyslexia Awareness Week Scotland campaign this year is The Right Tools for the Job, about being able to ask for and get what you need in education and work. What support or adjustments have made the biggest difference to you in your career?
I’m a student of the ‘80s and ‘90s where dyslexia wasn’t understood like it is today, and I probably wasn’t expected to succeed in any way. When I was assessed for dyslexia, my parents were told, “she’s either going to be a multi-millionaire or she’s going to end up in jail.” But I got help from home and I do think the education system failed me.
When it comes to asking for what I need, things like just giving me a bit of space help because I study very well when it’s quiet – I can’t have a lot of distractions.
I need a spell checker but now they’re built into our world – I’ve got such easy access to my phone and my laptop and it’s all right there. Those improvements to technology have helped me and it’s brilliant to think about the engineering work that I help is actually helping me in my work.
The tools or supports that help me most are actually quite simple in a lot of ways. I need my quiet time. I need to plan, so at the beginning of a day I like everything to be laid out and I know how long everything will take. I think it’s important that co-workers understand that sometimes I might learn in a different way – I take information in through pictures and diagrams rather than people just talking at me. Once I have information in that way I can pick up things very quickly.
Another thing that helps me is communicating one-on-one rather than in big groups. Having templates for work helps me progress quickly. I‘m sure a lot of other people with dyslexia will relate to being very bright overall but we just learn very differently to the non-dyslexic workforce. I’m allowed these adjustments because it helps me work well.
I would also say a good mentor is a valuable tool – it’s been very powerful for me to get someone who guides and advocates for you, whether in industry or at school. Even having a family member or a friend you can use as a sounding board makes so much difference.
How does the IET and other organisations help people with different needs and strengths to work to their best?
The IET has fantastic Equality, Diversity and Inclusion experts who help everyone to belong. One really practical thing we’ve got is great meeting rooms in London where you can get tucked away if you need quiet space to work. The IET is realising that lots of engineers are neurodivergent. Engineers typically process information very visually – they’re also generally not good spellers. But that’s okay. When we look at the skills for the future, I’ve always thought anyone with an engineering brain has got a very bright future because you don’t need to be fantastic at spelling – you can build an important career around your other skills.
If every employer in the engineering sector could make one change tomorrow to help people do their best work what would you suggest and why?
Be a genuine listener to people, to their needs. Sometimes your brightest workers or students are struggling just because they need to do things differently. You might miss out on their talent if you don’t leverage those skills that they bring. Every boss can be a listener and help everyone to be their best.
What’s next for you?
I’m trying to plan things around educating the future generations. I don’t have children of my own, so I’ve often thought what legacy could I leave in the long run. I want to help students that were a bit like me growing up in the outskirts of Glasgow that were kind of written off but how do I go about it? I really don’t want anyone to go through what I went through because I could have dropped out of engineering and wouldn’t be where I am today. So I’m talking with the two universities I graduated from about what we could possibly do together.