Anais Cramesnil De Laleu.
Anaïs Cramesnil de Laleu, Performance Director, Atomic 212°.
A 2023 report from Made By Dyslexia found that only one in five dyslexics believe their workplace understands their strengths. In an industry obsessed with speed, precision, and presentation, dyslexia often feels like a weakness that needs to stay hidden. People with dyslexia, like myself, will often reread every email before hitting “send”. They will over-prepare for every presentation. They will spend late nights revisiting slides or briefs. They will try to grasp every nuance and be fearful of misinterpreting a client’s request. But generative AI is changing all that.
With around 10% of the world’s population estimated to have dyslexia (although the number is probably higher, as many remain undiagnosed due to limited screening, awareness, and stigma) in professional environments – particularly media and marketing – dyslexia is not a fringe issue. It is a mainstream reality.
AI enhances many of the characteristics of dyslexic thinkers. Now, dyslexics (and everyone else, of course) can jot down messy notes or speak into ChatGPT, and it translates the jumble into clarity. It doesn’t replace our thinking but amplifies it in the right ways.
Neurodivergent employees can be up to 30% more productive when their strengths are properly supported (Deloitte Insights, 2022), yet many spend that energy trying to fit in rather than standing out.
Being diagnosed with dyslexia at six meant growing up with a difference that wasn’t seen as another form of intelligence, but as something to be corrected. Back then, “dyslexia” wasn’t a word people understood. It was often followed by a sigh, a lowered expectation, and a label that didn’t fit. Back then, “handicap” was the word people used, which said more about “the system” than about me. For most people, it was easier to label it as limited than to question an education model built for only one kind of mind.
School teachers often stated “bright but careless” or “in your own world”. Dyslexia means you grow up rereading the same sentences over and over, exploring all the possible interpretations when only one would be accepted. Words feel slippery: you can see their shapes, feel their rhythm, but they rarely land where they’re supposed to. Dyslexia teaches those with it to live in ambiguity long before they even have the language to describe it.
Fast forward three decades: I’m a Performance Director at a large media agency in Melbourne, managing multi-million-dollar campaigns where, finally, a technology exists that allows those with dyslexia to feel equal to others.
While spell checkers have helped for years and learning English (I dare anyone with dyslexia to master spelling things in French!) made life easier, AI has unlocked something far deeper. It helps structure thoughts by brainstorming alongside an AI that can consider every angle – almost like a co-pilot that thinks in parallel with you – and translate complex briefs into clear, actionable frameworks. It helps read between the lines of emails, articulate strategic visions, and refine ideas that once lived chaotically inside your head.
As Kate Griggs, Founder of Made By Dyslexia, says: “Dyslexic thinkers have the skills needed to collaborate with AI and turbocharge innovation in this new age.”
AI-powered writing assistants help us refine ideas without overthinking. Smart transcription tools capture and summarise meetings, freeing up time to focus on listening and strategy. Visual-generation platforms turn abstract strategies into tangible creative directions.
Generative AI is the great equaliser here. A recent study by the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Digital Accessibility found that AI-assisted tools reduced cognitive load by up to 40% for dyslexic users tackling complex written tasks. Microsoft’s AI for Accessibility program echoes this, showing that adaptive AI can boost confidence, accuracy, and independence, allowing neurodivergent employees to contribute fully, without being slowed down by tasks their brains naturally process differently.
There is, however, a fine line between using AI as empowerment and relying on it as a crutch. If neurodivergent employees feel pressured to use AI in secret just to “keep up”, we’ve missed the point entirely. Accessibility should never depend on silence.
We also need to be mindful of bias. If AI tools are trained on neurotypical communication patterns, they may flag unconventional phrasing or unique expression as “errors”, further marginalising neurodivergent voices, especially in hiring or performance evaluation systems.
AI should never become another tool for exclusion, where only those who hide its use can stay competitive. We need open conversations about how it can support, not standardise, diverse ways of thinking.
AI can help neurodivergent thinkers perform better, but we also need to create workplaces that embrace different minds openly, rather than expecting people to quietly engineer their own workarounds. AI might give a level playing field. But technology alone won't change culture. That takes leaders willing to talk about how their brains actually work, and organisations willing to listen.
Atomic 212˚ is a Foundation Partner of Inclusively Made, joining some of Australia’s leading brands to increase authentic representation of people with disability in marketing campaigns and make inclusion business as usual. www.inclusivelymade.com