Employee with dyspraxia in an administrative role, age 26
An employee with dyspraxia in an administrative role: paper filing, archive handling, and complex Word document formatting take her two to three times longer than an unaffected colleague. Her manager may read this slowdown as a lack of rigor. A discreet email signature with a QR code leading to her profile: the manager understands, redistributes the manual tasks to those for whom they cost less, and redirects work toward the employee's strengths.
This case applies to adults with dyspraxia in administrative roles, secretarial work, executive assistance, or accounting, within stable teams.
The moment
End of quarter, accounting department. The manager, Karine, is preparing the quarterly team review. She looks at each employee's metrics. Celine, 26, an accounting assistant, has a paper invoice processing rate of 60% of the department's average. Karine hesitates over whether to flag her for "needs improvement."
She looks at other metrics: Celine has a very low error rate on bank reconciliations (0.3% versus an average of 1.8%). She's well liked by her colleagues, and she handles client relations by email well. She just struggles with paper filing and physical archiving.
Karine clicks on Celine's email signature. She's always noticed the small "learn more about how I work" line without ever clicking it. She scans the QR code. She learns that Celine has developmental dyspraxia diagnosed at 9, that handling objects and paper filing structurally cost her more than they would someone else, but that she more than makes up for it on precise digital tasks (reconciliations, checks).
Karine reorganizes the team: paper filing goes to Sophia (who enjoys it and is fast at it), reconciliations move to Celine (now 70% of her time), and the complex client portfolio stays with Celine. The team's productivity rises 12% the following quarter. Celine's annual review is excellent.
- You write it
- The QR is in place
- The reader scans
- Understood, without explaining again
Where to place the QR code for this case
Email signature: a discreet text link, "learn more about how I work," or just a small QR icon. Each recipient (colleagues, manager, HR) can click at their own pace, with no need for a group announcement.
Also keep a PDF profile on the employee's personal drive (accessible when onboarding a new manager or colleague). Also add it to the team's user guide format if the company keeps that kind of document ("working with each of us").
Avoid mentioning RQTH (French official recognition of disabled worker status) in the signature (unless the employee explicitly chooses to): dyspraxia doesn't automatically involve an RQTH, so the signature stays discreet. Avoid displaying anything on the physical desk.
For cross-functional projects with external teams (auditors, consultants, contractors), sharing the QR code at project kickoff allows task allocation to be planned in advance, without having to discuss limitations partway through the project.
Pre-written text templates
The three templates below are written by the adult concerned. Operational vocabulary dominates, and strengths are highlighted alongside areas of attention, so the profile isn't read as just a list of limitations.
For the "About me" section
"Celine, 26, accounting assistant for 3 years. Developmental dyspraxia diagnosed at 9, in occupational therapy until 15. My strengths: precision on repetitive digital tasks (bank reconciliations, checks, data entry), strong client relationships, memory for complex cases."
For the "How to help" section
"You can: assign me precise digital tasks rather than paper filing, provide me with a dual monitor setup and an ergonomic mouse, allow slightly longer deadlines on manual tasks (filing, physical archiving), recognize my strengths in performance reviews, give me client relations, where I'm well regarded."
For the "What to avoid" section
"To avoid: giving me priority responsibility for the quarter's physical archiving (it will take me 3 times longer than a colleague), commenting on the "sloppy" formatting of my Word documents in a meeting, comparing me on pure manual-handling metrics without accounting for the rest, telling me to "try harder to be physically careful" (dyspraxia isn't carelessness)."
Conditions relevant to this case
This case starts from adult developmental dyspraxia. It also applies to adults with multiple specific learning disorders (dyspraxia combined with dysgraphia, or dyspraxia combined with dysorthographia), and to adults with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome who face similar manual difficulties (pain, hand fatigue).
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View the casePrepare your profile for this situation, without having to explain it again every school year.
You write down the essentials once. The grading teacher, the AESH (a teaching assistant for students with disabilities, in France), the substitute scan and understand. You stop repeating yourself.