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With Dyslexia Awareness Week taking place from the 2nd – 8th of October 2023, neurodiversity specialists Lexxic and the Business Disability Forum are excited to be partnering for a special event.

Join us as we hear from panellists representing a range of professions, roles and backgrounds about their unique strengths and experiences of dyslexia within the workplace.  

We will discuss their journeys to where they are now, the strengths that have propelled them and the bumps they have experienced along the way. 

We will also talk about the people and practices in the workplace that have had a positive impact on their experience, and what more employers can do to support and empower dyslexic employees. 

Meet our event panellists:

Panel Co-Chair | Helen Musgrove
Director of Psychological Consulting at Lexxic

Helen and her team of psychologists partner with employers across the UK and internationally to create more neuro-inclusive workplaces.  Helen became a business psychologist following a career as a Senior Civil Servant tackling some of the UK’s biggest social policy challenges.  She is passionate about celebrating neurodiversity and breaking down the barriers neurodivergent individuals can experience at work.

Panel Co-Chair | Lucy Ruck
Taskforce Manager at Business Disability Forum (BDF)

Lucy joined Business Disability Forum in 2014. Since joining the organisation, she has been responsible for managing the formidable Technology Taskforce. The Technology Taskforce consists of like-minded organisations, who come together to share best practices, with the aim of ensuring tech is accessible for everyone.

The Technology Taskforce also has created a wide range of resources, including a large selection of Best Practice Guides and Case Studies, about how our Members and Partners have become more Disability Smart by using technology. To find out more about the Technology Taskforce please visit the website.

In 2018 Lucy also took responsibility for the Customer Taskforce and the Northern England Network, bringing her expertise and energy to these groups. In 2021 she also took the lead on the Procurement Network, to ensure that we are supporting our procurement colleagues to think about how they can make their processes more inclusive.

Lucy is a regular speaker at events, including AbilityNet’s TechShare Pro, GEIS Summit for Hong Kong Social Services, AXSChat, and many more. 

Lucy has previous experience of working within private, public and 3rd sector organisations, predominantly within their ICT departments. Her background knowledge brings an excellent mix of technical understanding, with communication and customer service skills. Whilst working at a Local Authority, Lucy was also the Chair of the Staff Disability Network.

Lucy has a lived experience of disability for 30 years, after an accident that left her as a right leg, below knee amputee.

Roshni Thakrar
Legal Counsel at M&G

Having achieved my goal of working as a lawyer in the City, I felt I always worked really hard to achieve my goals and faced many challenges and setbacks, along the way. After receiving some feedback, last year, I decided I wanted to get an assessment and it transpired that I was in fact, dyslexic.

Obtaining this diagnosis was a relief to better understand myself and what made me as well as providing some rationale to why I had struggled in some aspects of my learn. I am now learning to better advocate for my needs as well as others. This includes co-chairing our neurodiverse network at work, speaking on podcasts, as well as my own, Prim Rose Light on neurodiversity. I am very committed to helping shine on what more needs to be done as there are a lot of challenges to overcome, but also shining a positive light on the unique skills we all possess and how we can tap into our superpowers.

Ben Corbridge
Chair of Neurodiversity Forum at Barclays Bank

Ben was diagnosed as dyslexic at school, then university, and more recently here at Barclays. His particular neurodiversity manifest itself in a poor short-term recall memory (especially of names), and poor written English.  However, it does give him excellent visualising, idea generation and problem-solving skills in exchange. He has made good use of these skills to mentally visualise complex workflows when problem-solving and designing new products.

Ben is proud to be neurodivergent and believes it now to be a real advantage in his life, despite some of its trickier aspects. He is resolute about raising awareness and celebrating neurodiversity.

Fraser Hirst
Talent Acquisition Specialist at Enterprise

Hi, I’m Fraser. I live in Glasgow and am responsible for Enterprise’s Talent Acquisition Marketing across Scotland. Really enjoy how personable my role is and the different connections I’m able to make. As someone who is dyslexic, I feel that I am able to lean into my strengths on a daily basis.

Alison Shomade
Diversity & Inclusion Advisor at Shaw Trust

Alison is a HR professional of 15 years and throughout her career has turned her hand to a variety of jobs which have led her to working at Shaw Trust as a D&I adviser for the past 2 ½ years.

She was aware that she learnt and approached things differently from her colleagues and was diagnosed with dyslexia in 2019. The skills she learnt whilst navigating through school and work are her strengths that she uses daily, including her creativity and collaborative approaches to her work.

Henry Procter
Senior Project Sponsor, Department for Transport.

My dyslexia was first diagnosed at university when my tutors said they found it difficult to follow my writing. I went on to complete three degrees and have become good at managing challenges and maximising strengths. A key achievement has been co-founding the DfT Neurodiversity Network in 2019, which recently won the DfT Confidence Award. For the last seven years I have worked in Project Delivery at DfT, sponsoring major infrastructure projects. Before this I spent time at a financial research company and ran the commercial arm of a student union. For the last 20 years I have regularly practiced yoga and in February I completed a yoga teacher training. I now share yoga including amongst the neurodiverse community.