Rutland County Council leader with dyslexia reveals she was labelled ‘thick and stupid’ as new neurodiversity policy is introduced

A council leader has backed her authority’s new neurodiversity policy and shared her education success despite being labelled as ‘thick and stupid’ at school.

Speaking at Rutland County Council’s employment and appeals committee earlier this month Coun Gale Waller (Lib Dem) shared her own personal experience during a discussion of a new neurodiversity policy the authority is introducing.

She said: “I am old enough to have grown up at a time when many of these conditions were not recognised and people were not treated well and I spent my childhood and teenage years being told I was thick and stupid and why was I thinking of doing exams when I could go and work on the track at Vauxhall?

"Vauxhall Motors was the big employer in Luton where I grew up and the reason they said that was because I couldn’t write sentences. The reason I couldn't write sentences was because I was and am dyslexic.

“Now it didn't stop me getting a degree from a Russell Group university in the end. The fact I am neurodiverse isn't a barrier. It wasn't a barrier in the end, but it should never be a barrier.”

Coun Waller worked as a teacher and in local government before being elected as a councillor.

She said she considered neurodiversity and disability in a positive sense and that it allowed people to contribute in different ways. She said having a policy would bring benefits to the authority.

The new policy says: “Neurodiversity is an umbrella term used to refer to the different ways in which an individual's brain processes and learns information. We are a neurodiverse organisation, as we have both neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals working here.”

Conditions such as autism, dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyspraxia come under the neurodiverse umbrella.

The council’s head of human resources Fiona Rowntree said a network group from the council had prompted the new policy and had given a training session to the council’s leadership team about the range of neurodiverse conditions.

She said: “We have a wide range of individuals with neuroinclusive conditions within the workforce, many of them not formally declared but certainly known. And it's quite common for job applicants to come though and present for interview or for assessment with neurodiverse conditions. So it’s really important that we manage work with people in the right way.”

She said the policy outlines the approach the council will take and the reasonable adjustments the authority will take to help someone.

Coun Andrew Dinsmore (Con), who was elected to the authority in the July Barleythorpe by-election, questioned why the policy was needed and if there had been any issues. Ms Rowntree said there had been occasions when job applicants had responded after interview to say they should have been treated in a certain way.

Coun Dinsmore, who said ‘I’m obviously not against neurodiversity in any way,’ responded : “Is there a risk with this? My concern is will it be weaponised?

Ms Rowntree said there was ‘always a degree of stepping into the unknown’.

Coun Matthew Farina (Con) said the policy should have been introduced years ago and said many who had conditions had kept quiet about their conditions although social conditions had now improved.

The policy was approved.