Focusing on what you are great at

19 June 2023

Marking Learning Disability Week 2023, Sean Higgins, a Test Equipment Engineer based at Leonardo’s site in Yeovil, explains how he battled undiagnosed learning disabilities and the resulting mental health strain for more than 30 years of his life, while still pursuing his engineering career.

For most of my life I’ve not known I have learning disabilities. I have had to find solutions around my challenges, which is probably how I ended up in an engineering career. I love problem solving and usually take a more unconventional approach to work than most people do. I would say I have a very non-linear way of thinking. But quite often, combining the seemingly unrelated thoughts results in the best solution!

Because I did not know about my learning disabilities, I felt embarrassment and shame that I could not understand certain things that other people seemed to just ‘get’.

After being asked by a teacher or colleague “do you understand now?” for the third time, I would just reply “yes, thanks”, and then have to just try and work it out myself in my way.

It takes a huge amount of energy covering up – also known as ‘masking’ – and the not knowing why I struggle in certain areas has had a large impact on my mental health.

It still sticks with me that when I went to a university lecturer to ask about a homework problem, he said “if you don’t understand First Principles now, you won’t get anywhere”. Well thankfully I proved him wrong; I became a Chartered Engineer in 2006 and spent 17 years working on a particle accelerator solving high-end scientific problems with creative engineered solutions.

The real challenge is fitting my unconventional brain into conventional roles. A family relocation four years ago resulted in me working in a new engineering industry and environment. Working in a more commercial environment away from scientific R&D (where ‘out of the box thinking’ is so often required), combined with the outbreak of COVID-19 and being forced to work from home, resulted in everything coming to a head.

This led me on the route to getting diagnosed for dyslexia, dyscalculia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)*. When waiting for my results on dyscalculia, I was asked by someone “do you think it will make a difference?” It made a huge difference to me! There was now a reason why I struggle so much with maths and time (dyscalculia is like dyslexia with numbers). It was quite a revelation going onto YouTube and hearing other people with dyscalculia talk about their lives.

And this conversation is really important when it comes to allowing people like me to reach their full potential.

The challenge for companies is that job roles are a result of a business need, and often good all-rounders are needed, rather than the requirement to excel in specific areas. Using a football analogy, a goalkeeper could play as a striker but they probably won’t score many goals. It is not playing to the goalkeeper’s strengths. Allowing people to fit into roles that suit their skillset is the ideal for neurodiverse people.

I am thankful that Leonardo allowed me to take a secondment in a department providing test facilities for aircraft transmissions, which I thought better suited my skillset. The secondment went well and I have now moved into the role permanently, which is a win-win for me and Leonardo. In this role, the work is varied, and sometimes immediate solutions need to be found in the case of unplanned equipment downtime. Unlike my previous role, which was almost entirely based sat in front of a computer, and was a struggle for me, my new role offers a mixture of office and test facility based, so a simple thing like walking from location to location helps me release both physical and mental restless energy.

My experiences have led to me playing an active role in Leonardo’s Enable Network Group, which is one of seven such groups set up by the company. The group is focused on supporting UK colleagues living with visible and non-visible disabilities, including those who are neurodiverse – as part of the company's commitment to enabling everyone to succeed and making the most of their talents.

Being part of Enable has been very empowering and I have been able to share experiences and ‘life hacks’ with other members during organised ‘Virtual Coffee Breaks’ or emailing the wider group. Enable also helped me, allowing me to procure noise-cancelling headphones, since in my previous role I was based in a large open plan office and the noise distractions were overpowering.

I know there are areas I am always going to struggle with, so for me it’s about making sure I fill my life doing the things I am great at.

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty which primarily (but not exclusively) affects reading and writing skills for about 10% of the population, Dyslexia is about information processing. Dyslexic people may have difficulty processing and remembering information they see and hear, which can affect learning and the acquisition of literacy skills. Dyslexia can also impact on other areas such as organisational skills. It is important to remember that there are positives to thinking differently. Many dyslexic people show strengths in areas such as reasoning and in visual and creative fields. It usually runs in families and is a life-long condition.

Dyscalculia

Dyscalculia is a specific and persistent difficulty in understanding numbers which can lead to a diverse range of difficulties with mathematics. It will be unexpected in relation to age, level of education and experience and occurs across all ages and abilities. Maths difficulties are best thought of as a continuum, not a distinct category, and they have many causal factors. Dyscalculia, which affects about 6% of people, falls at one end of the spectrum and will be distinguishable from other maths issues due to the severity of difficulties with number sense, including subitising (the ability to look at a small number of objects and instantly recognise how many objects there are, without needing to count), symbolic and non-symbolic magnitude comparison, and ordering. It can occur singly but often co-occurs with other specific learning difficulties, mathematics anxiety and medical conditions.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

ADHD is a condition that affects people’s behaviour. People with ADHD can seem restless, may have trouble concentrating and may act on impulse. Most cases are diagnosed when children are under 12 years old, though sometimes not until they are adults. The symptoms of ADHD usually improve with age, but many adults who were diagnosed with the condition at a young age continue to experience problems. People with ADHD may also have additional problems, such as sleep and anxiety disorders. In the UK, ADHD affects 3-4% of the population.

Creating an inclusive and supportive environment through Network Groups

At Leonardo, our network groups are the place for like-minded people and their allies to come together, help shape engagement and lead associated educational initiatives with all our people to deliver an inclusive and consistent experience for everyone in the UK.

Learn more about Leonardo's Network Groups