IQ myths, AI hiring risk, chefs: 8 questions answered

Eight questions came up this week. They range from a diagnosis doubt to a kitchen ticket board. Doing well at school does not rule out dyslexia.

An AI hiring tool that rejects your CV can still break the law. The guidance explaining that got deleted this year. Some questions below come from this week's articles.

Others are what readers type into Google every week. Here are direct answers to all eight. Each comes with a source and a date.

Does a high IQ or doing well at school mean I can't be dyslexic?

No. DSM-5 dropped the IQ-achievement gap rule in 2013. That was for a learning disorder diagnosis (APA, May 2013).

The UK's SASC confirmed this in May 2024. The same model, it said, is neither valid nor reliable.

Assessors now look for an uneven skill profile. They don't look for a low overall score. Being smart and being dyslexic are not opposites.

Many undiagnosed adults reason their way out of getting checked. Good grades can feel like proof against dyslexia. So can holding down a demanding job.

Strong reasoning skills often mask dyslexia for years. They don't cancel it out.

This matters most for people who've never been checked. A manager or an accountant may assume they're "just bad at spelling." The uneven-profile model shows why that idea is wrong.

So what for you: "too capable to be dyslexic" isn't a real category. Read the full IQ-and-diagnosis myth-buster for the detail.

Should I switch from Teams to Otter.ai for meeting notes?

Check what you already have first. Every paid Teams licence includes free meeting transcription. But it's a messy transcript with no AI summary.

Otter.ai Business costs up to $239.88 a year, about £190. Copilot or Teams Premium may already include similar AI notes for free.

Self-employed and freelance workers can claim Access to Work too. The scheme isn't limited to regular employees. A freelancer can apply the same way.

So what for you: ask IT what's already licensed before you pay yourself. If nothing is licensed, Access to Work can fund a transcription tool.

Is dyslexia legally safer to disclose in the UK or the US?

UK Equality Act 2010 tribunal awards carry no cap. Lloyds Banking Group paid a dyslexic employee over £470,000 in 2024. That followed a discrimination ruling against the bank.

US ADA damages are capped by employer size. The cap runs from $50,000 to $300,000. The law that sounds stronger on paper doesn't always pay more.

US employment is also mostly at-will. That makes dismissals harder to challenge. UK employees get day-one protection against discrimination.

So what for you: at similar pay, the uncapped UK protection tips the balance. Access to Work funding adds to that.

Can an AI hiring tool legally reject me because of dyslexia?

No. The EEOC deleted its own guidance on this in January 2025 (Bloomberg Law, February 2025). The page still returned a 404 error as of March 2026 (National Law Review).

The ADA itself didn't change. The Department of Justice's own AI hiring guidance is still live at ada.gov. Screening software that hurts disabled applicants is still illegal.

That includes tools flagged by dyslexia-linked spelling gaps. Employers stay liable even when a vendor built the tool.

A CV with odd spelling or a different layout can trip an automatic filter. That filter doesn't know why the pattern is there. A human reviewer, told in advance, usually does.

So what for you: you can still request an accommodation. Or you can file an EEOC charge. Read the full breakdown of what changed and what didn't.

How do I stay accurate when I have to answer fast in a meeting?

Build in a pause before you answer, on purpose. A UK study of 400 employees found dyslexia traits predict real-time errors. That held even after ruling out ADHD and workload (Smith-Spark & Huang, November 2025).

JAN and ACAS both list an agreed pause point. It's a standard accommodation for verbal pressure. So is a same-day written recap of what was agreed.

Repeating a number back before you agree helps too. It catches most mixed-up numbers.

This applies beyond formal negotiations too. Budget approvals and client calls carry the same risk. So do quick corridor decisions.

So what for you: agree the pause with the room first. Do it before the pressure moment, not during it.

What adjustments can a dyslexic chef actually get?

As many as 1 in 2 UK hospitality staff may be neurodivergent (Burnt Chef Project, 2024). A dyslexic chef at Greene King won £24,005.63 in 2025. His employer had refused him a Bluetooth earpiece.

That earpiece would have let him hear orders aloud. Instead he had to read tickets, and got some wrong (Moore v Greene King, 2025).

Natasha's Law requires full allergen labelling on prepacked food. This has applied since October 2021. A wrong label risks an unlimited fine (Food Safety Act 1990).

Both the earpiece and label-checking software are low-cost gear. Access to Work funds this in full for new starters.

Self-employed chefs can claim Access to Work too. The scheme covers freelance work as well. A trial shift is a fair moment to ask about ticket format.

So what for you: the fix is usually one low-cost tool. It's tied to one task, not a general workaround. Read the full dyslexic chef breakdown for all four tasks.

I think I might be dyslexic. What's the first step?

Start by naming what's actually happening. Re-reading emails three times before sending is one sign. So is dreading being asked to read aloud.

Losing the thread in a fast meeting is another. These are common signs, not proof of low ability. They're not proof of low effort either.

A UK assessment costs roughly £690 to £882 in 2026. That report is what qualifies you for Access to Work funding. Informal adjustments can be quietly dropped.

A formal report is harder to ignore. You don't need a diagnosis to ask for support now. Adjustments can start once your employer knows about a difficulty (Equality Act 2010).

A formal report simply makes the case stronger.

So what for you: if these patterns sound familiar, book a check. The dyslexia assessment cost guide covers what to expect. You don't have to disclose anything at work yet.

Does using AI tools at work count against me in a performance review?

Not if you use them the way employers already expect. Spellcheck is a normal example of that. Assistive AI and dictation tools count as a reasonable adjustment too.

That's true under the Equality Act 2010 and the ADA. The real risk is staying quiet about it. A manager who doesn't know may misjudge your unaided writing speed.

This applies whether you're diagnosed or still deciding to get checked. Legal protection follows the real difficulty, not the paperwork. Waiting for a diagnosis first isn't required.

So what for you: put your AI tool use in writing once. Treat it as an agreed adjustment. Then it can't be quietly held against you later.

What this means for you

Every question this week traces back to one fact. Dyslexia doesn't lower your intelligence. Discrimination doesn't become legal just because a page gets deleted.

None of these problems are solved by working harder at reading. They're solved by the right tool instead. Or the right paper trail, or the right assessment.

If one of these eight questions was yours, act now.

The call: pick the question that matches your situation. Take the next step today.