International Day of People with Disability is on 3 December and aims to increase public awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with disability. To mark the date we caught up with Amy Brown, Customer Journey Expert for the Mortgages Tribe, who was diagnosed with Dyslexia at 18, and more recently, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
This is her story of sharing her disability in her own words.

It started with a conversation during an internal event with our Executive Director, HR, Nick Gotsis where I mentioned my own experience with neurodiversity. Up until that point I hadn’t really told anyone at work. But given its genetic, and that around two million Aussies have Dyslexia, and one in 20 people have ADHD, it’s important we normalise the conversation, and remove any stigma for those who live with these conditions. Research suggests that Dyslexic thinking skills are vital to the future (more info on this in the links at the end). 

I was only diagnosed with Dyslexia at university. I’d managed to get through high school with good grades and did really well in creative subjects like art and design, which is quite common for people like me. 

Comprehension is where I struggle. That, and remembering things. I often need to print something out and read it over and over for it to stick. Failing that, a stack of post it notes and meeting reminders tend to do the trick.

I was managing fine and had almost forgotten I had Dyslexia until the pandemic hit, and we had to make the shift to work from home. We all have different learning styles that reflect who we are, which is why remote working brought a number of challenges. Instead of being able to scribble freely on a whiteboard in a meeting room, I suddenly had to stare at a computer for hours and share my screen on video calls. Having everyone see your work with red wiggly lines under the words was not a great feeling. 

It wasn’t all bad. Remote working allowed me to set up my room exactly how I wanted it so I could create a quiet space and have time to focus when needed. But as the weeks and months passed, I realised there was something else going on. I would often zone out on virtual meetings, and struggle to concentrate. I wanted to know what was happening with my brain, so I researched more about Dyslexia and found there was a link to ADHD (they’re called co-morbidities).  

After being tested and diagnosed with ADHD, I now see a psychologist who specialises in ADHD and helps me better understand how my brain works, and how I can play to my strengths rather than worrying about the things I’m not so good at. It’s very empowering. For example, I have a huge amount of empathy (very common among people with ADHD), which helps me build great relationships at work, problem solve and get stuff done. I’m also super organised (think Monica from Friends) – and I now know this is because I’ve had to find tricks to remember things, which means I’m great at managing projects. I know I don’t have to be perfect at everything. I just have to be me.

That one conversation back in August has led to a number of wonderful opportunities within ING to improve the support available to people with neurodiverse conditions. 

I’m working with the local HR team to look at how we manage reasonable adjustments for people with disability and other accessibility needs including adaptive technologies. I’m also connected with ING’s global HR teams who are looking at career pathways to get more people with neurodiversities into specific roles in the bank. For example, people with Dyslexia often excel in areas such as cybercrime or fraud because their brains work differently, and they often see things like data trends and patterns in different ways.  

During ING’s recent D&I Week, Nevo Zisin inspired me to speak out about this different angle on diversity by saying: “If you can’t see yourself in the future – you can struggle with seeing a positive future.” 

Dyslexia and ADHD exist very differently in each neurodiverse person; this is my story. Now is the time to understand more about the 20% of our population who live with neurodiversity so that we can keep the conversation going and realise all of the incredible strengths this group of individuals can bring. There's so much more to us than a few spelling mistakes and hyperactivity. 

I hope this provides optimism for anyone who has experience with neurodiversity – whether it’s yourself or someone in your family. 

There are so many opportunities, and it starts with a conversation. 

You never know where that will take you.