Supporting An Invisible Disability In The Workplace, by Marielle

Lately, I have found myself thinking about how deceiving the name “Nonverbal Learning Disability” (NVLD). I had certainly never heard of it when I was first diagnosed, even though I resonated and related so deeply with the symptoms. Most people don’t know what it is when I tell them. The name makes it seem self-explanatory, but NVLD is so much more complex than just the surface level idea of not being able to learn from nonverbal content. However, I have more recently found that even the concept of a “learning disability” can be deceiving, because it is often associated with education and school. I have been out of school for 3 years and now can prominently see how it impacts me strictly in a professional setting.

One thing I have found particularly frustrating is that, even working in social services, people focus solely on the job and not on how to support the employee to complete the job. In general, at times, the lack of flexibility in helping employees learn a job at their own pace is astonishing.

Imagine that you are an athletic coach, and you have two athletes- one who has been playing the sport for 10 years, and one who is only a couple years into playing the sport. In a tournament, it is likely that these two athletes are playing in separate matches that are equivalent to their known skill level. However, in a general practice with these two athletes, the coach should be helping the less experience athlete improve, rather than focus on how they are not performing with the same exact skill and success as the more experienced athlete. Now imagine that you have two athletes of the same age that are both novices, but one seems to be advancing a bit more quickly than the other. Ideally, you would provide equal support to both athletes, rather than solely praising the one advancing more quickly and penalizing the one who needs more time to learn the skills to be successful in the sport.

Now take this example and equivalate it to a situation in the work place. Instead of being an athletic coach with athletes of varied ability, you are a supervisor with a team of employees with different learning speeds and skill levels. All can be successful at their job if you give them each what they need and make them feel supported. Unfortunately, many companies only seek bodies to perform a job the exact way they need it done; they claim to be excepting of all, but then allow the employees to fail rather than working with them to succeed.

If you break your foot and need a wheelchair at work, that is a visible disability with a clear accommodation – make the office space wheelchair friendly.

Having an invisible disability , such as a NVLD, can make it feel impossible to communicate what you need, especially when the disability is related to communication.

I am writing this not just as a way to express my frustration and disappointment with certain work environments, but as an attempt to reach out to other employers who may be reading this. If your employee discloses to you that they have a NVLD or any other learning disability, they are likely taking a leap of faith in the hopes that you will understand. Please be patient, ask questions, and overall, be supportive.