I struggled at school. Big time. Not because I didn’t want to be there. I loved it. But because reading and writing was that much harder for me. I spent years playing catch up with the other kids. I vividly remember sitting with my mum for hours on end as she tried to help me read and write. I found it torturous. Both my parents were teachers, and from my mum’s experience of working with children with the same struggles, she was certain I was dyslexic. But I was never officially diagnosed.

Then, when I was about 13, I discovered Dungeons & Dragons. It changed everything. You see, I have always loved creating worlds, stories and adventures. So I read every rule book out there (there are lots!) and became a ‘Dungeon Master’, spending many summers creating adventures for my mates. I inadvertently taught myself how to read and communicate – precisely because I had found something I wanted to read about. It was this love for storytelling that ignited my creativity and started me on the path to my current career.

I expect there are lots of dyslexic and neurodivergent thinkers in advertising and marketing. The creative industries in general are places where individuality and nonconformity are not just encouraged but celebrated. By hiring neurodivergent people, creative businesses can access a diverse mix of minds that think differently, solve problems differently and create differently. It’s what can make our industry so passionate – and at times chaotic!

A big one for me is that words sometimes disappear out of my head mid-sentence, and I struggle to remember what I was trying to say. Or I can read a whole page of text and not remember what I’ve just read. It’s why I’m a constant note taker. I used to get so nervous that I would forget words in pitches or client presentations, so I would try to drill them into my head beforehand. My spelling is terrible, too. I spend a lot of time making sure I have spelt things correctly, but still miss things. My team is always going into a presentation after me to correct my typos and grammar!

At the same time, my spatial awareness and sense of direction is off the scale. It is almost photographic in memory. I can spend a day wandering around a city I have never visited and can recall nearly everything about it. I never get lost, which blows my wife’s mind. But on the flip side I am absolutely terrible with remembering people’s names. Go figure.

Dyslexia might be defined as a learning difficulty, but it’s not a bad thing. It’s not a problem. To me it should be seen as a rare and valuable trait. You can’t learn dyslexia. Dyslexia thinking is a gift and parents should try to help children feel comfortable with it. They will have their struggles at school, that’s a given. But let that child free in a way that benefits and interests them and they will fly.

There’s certainly more that could be done to encourage open conversations about dyslexia, even in our industry. I get the impression that many dyslexic people still mask it or feel embarrassed to open up about their dyslexia at work. During my career I’ve often struggled (and still do) with self-doubt. I’ve looked at other people and thought “I need to be more like them.” That can do more harm than good.

We all need to be more open about our cognitive wiring. On LinkedIn there is now a dyslexic skill that you can add to your skill set. It’s just one example of how education around neurodivergence is improving. Having the ability to say “I am dyslexic” out loud is very powerful.

I do a lot of work with schools and am heavily involved with an incredible Scottish initiative called Daydream Believers. It looks to assess children on the process of learning rather than the outcome by focusing on creative, ideation and problem solving skills that can be applied across the curriculum. It encourages collaboration with others and lets kids explore different ideas, instead of having to answer questions or tasks. Thanks to the initiative, we’ve seen more neurodivergent kids flourish.

It's a sign of changing times that my son Finn was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 7. Dyslexia is regarded as a neurological condition that is genetic in origin. This means that individuals can inherit the condition from a parent and it affects the performance of the neurological system. I see so much of my own struggles that I had in him now, but he views it differently to how I did all those years ago, and rightly so.
To Finn, it’s a Superpower.