Unmasking Dyslexia
Background
The 1st Annual Africa Dyslexia Dialogue was a 4-hour event held at Radisson Blu Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos on November 22, was designed to bring together educators, policymakers, businesses, professionals, families and individuals involved with dyslexia to help dyslexic children and adults develop and harness their strengths to overcome their obstacles in school and in the workplace.
The aim of the conference is to create awareness and foster an understanding of dyslexia in Africa; provide a platform for key stakeholders to discuss challenges, successes and opportunities in building an environment that enables dyslexics achieve their full potential; foster a multi-stakeholder dialogue that explores financing options to enable inclusive environments for dyslexics in schools and workplaces and introduce participants to Dyslexia Nigeria.
The panel discussion at the very first dialogue was titled ‘Identifying and Enabling Dyslexics at School and in the Workplace’ and highlighted the unaddressed issues of dyslexia including mental health implications, what can be done to make schools and workplaces more dyslexia-friendly, and the types of financing available to support teaching dyslexics in schools.
Panelists
Mr Richard Opoku
Project Director, Special Attention Project (SAP), Ghana
Mrs Oluwarantimisirere Oyesiji
CEO, Closerlook Caregiver Foundation
Mr. Olufemi Martins
Program Director of Bunmi Adedayo Foundation (Moderator)
Dr Ronke Agoro
Public Health Practitioner and Mental Health Advocate
Mr Oluremi Agboola, Head SME Asset Unit, FCMB
Project Director, Special Attention Project (SAP), Ghana
Keynote Address
Dr Adrienne Tikolo
Founder and Managing Director, Dyslexia Nigeria
Dyslexia in Numbers
Oladoyin Idowu
CEO, One World Africa Foundation
Guest Speaker
Mr Martin Opeyemi
Director, School Registration, Lagos State Ministry of Education
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“The dyslexic brain has exactly the skills we need for the workforce of tomorrow” – Sir Richard Branson
The dialogue holding every year will help shed more light on the prevalence and extent of its effect in Nigeria and in other parts of the continent.
The dialogue has created awareness for the government and a need for data to be gathered to find a way to address dyslexia and identify dyslexics in society so that provisions to accommodate them in schools and in the workplace will be made.
The dialogue has shown that it is the right platform to create awareness and foster an understanding of dyslexia in Africa and provide a platform for key stakeholders to discuss challenges, successes and opportunities in building an environment that enables dyslexics to achieve their full potential.
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