Life as a Dyslexic Scientist

Most people with whom I work would not know it but I am dyslexic. At school, when I was 7 and a half, I had a reading age of about 6, yet a vocabulary and understanding of a 9 year old. You might think that is not too bad, but most kids, expected to go on to university, would have a reading age of about 10 at this stage. My concerned mother found a local child psychologist, who was interested in reading skills and asked him for some guidance. I was diagnosed with a dyslexic profile when I was 8 and a half. I was found to have a high IQ and be very articulate but struggled to link things together on paper. My mother explained to me that if she was to list a bunch of numbers and suggest I say them back to her backwards, or even normally, I could not remember any more than a string of 3 digits. The way I remember it as a child, was letters swimming around the page, finding I was much slower at doing anything which the other kids could do in minutes or seconds and maybe feeling a little stupid at times, which was not helped by a deep fear of reading aloud.

Following a change to a school where I could get good learning support, I was soon reading at normal level and within 4 years I spoke and wrote in 2 languages in addition to English, read sheet music and frequently worked my way through 12 to 20 novels a year, often reading 3 at once. My mother divulged to me later that she had been so worried that I would never be able to go to university or find a job, she had planned to change career when I finished school and open a coffee shop where I would get be able to get a job as I was a keen baker.

So, how did I become a scientist? Well science has always been in my blood so to speak, as I grew up baking (lots of chemistry) and in a household of mathematicians, physicists and engineers. I also loved going to science festivals to watch chemists turning one thing into another, and biologists explaining cell structures and how organs worked, and fell in love with the subjects by my early teens. When I was in high school my Support for Learning classroom had pictures of famous dyslexics including Albert Einstein and Alexander Graham Bell, and 13-year-old me thought “You know what, if they can do it, so can I!”

I went on to study a Bachelor’s degree in pharmacology and a Master’s degree in drug delivery before starting my PhD a couple of years ago. I will admit it was always pretty tough studying, as it took me twice as long to absorb things and twice as long to construct essays, but I will always be grateful for the provisions put in place for me both at school and university. I was always so utterly determined I was going to do what I loved that I gave it everything and continue to do so now.

So how do I make it work as a dyslexic scientist?

Writing essays:

• I bullet point my work and then fill in the gaps to get my head together.

• I double and triple check things, as spelling and order of numbers does occasionally cause me issues, particularly if I am writing while tired.

Studying (or day to day work):

• Most dyslexics are quite visual:

- I draw elaborate diagrams in different colours with arrows to remember particular areas

- I draw out tablet formulations before I make them

-When reading papers, I tend to go through and dissect individual sections on word to make it easier for my brain to process.

• Saying things aloud is preferable to just reading, movement can also help:

- I walk around the room talking to myself

- I give myself a pop quiz with flash cards

- I make up songs to remember drug names

I will say that having dyslexia has been positive for me in some ways. It made me a very thoughtful and careful writer as an adult. Some research into dyslexia suggests an association between it and greater creativity and curiosity (for more information please see the work of Yale School of Medicine and some recent journal articles, here and here). As such it perhaps made me a more imaginative and inquisitive child. I was always making up stories, asking questions and drawing everything that popped into my head, which probably allowed me to develop my creative visual side. That may have been part of what allowed me to become an efficient researcher.

I will finish on a word of advice to all dyslexics (and to be honest anyone reading this) – believe you can do it, never give up and never ever worry about looking silly or stupid!

Alice x

P.S. For more posts about being a female scientist check out my good friend over at Caffeinated Reactions's Ladies Who Lab posts (the first one can be found here).