ADULTS
What should I do if I have concerns that a Colleague has learning difficulties?
It is important that adults feel they are in control of their lives. Individuals with possibly undiagnosed learning difficulties may well already feel less in control of their lives. The effect of a learning difficulty is that you often cannot predict your own performance, and you become very unsure of your abilities. This can give you high levels of performance anxiety (see the question in this section about performance anxiety) cause you to feel you have to work much harder than your peers, and still make mistakes or feel you achieve less. The consequence is you often feel very anxious that there is something not quite right and that you will be ‘found out’. Such individuals often have low self-esteem and little confidence, can take feedback very poorly and tend to be somewhat reactive and irritable. Someone proposing they have learning difficulties can be the last straw and feel very exposing.
You can of course make a direct suggestion to your colleague to have a look at a web-site such as this. On the other hand, if they do not seem able to accept they may be struggling or having difficulties in some way, then this may be an issue about performance feedback.
A conversation with us at Learning Insights may be helpful for you. You will not be asked for any personal information about yourself, your circumstances or the colleague you are thinking about. We can talk confidentially and anonymously if that is more reassuring. We will talk with you in broad and general terms, in a completely de-personalised way, nevertheless hopefully furnish you with enough information to help you decide on what you can and cannot appropriately do as a next step.
Do read some of the other questions in this section, and do not worry if you feel you have only poorly formulated thoughts or questions. If you do choose to follow this up, go to CONTACT US.