Living with dyscalculia

Dyscalculia is a specific and persistent difficulty in understanding numbers. It can be distinct from simply struggling with maths and is thought to effect about 6% (that's about 4 million people) of the UK population. 

Laura Parker, a Senior Content Designer working in the public sector, tells us what it's like living with dyscalculia. 

Estimating 

Planning car trips, arranging transfers, and estimating when something will end or how long I have to get somewhere feels like an impossible puzzle. 

I am the person who leaves hours between things, like layovers, to account for any mistakes I'm likely to make. 

I need to pay more attention to how long a journey takes. What I think is a 20 minute train journey can sometimes turn out to be 2 hours.  

Quantities 

I once took too much of a medicine because I misread the dosage label. I was okay, but I'm extremely anxious about medicine nowadays. I wait to be around people before taking medicine now. 

Telling the time 

I can't tell the time quickly. A clock face can look distorted or backwards. 

Instead, I imagine blocks of 15 minute segments in my head and put them together (a bit like Lego) to form an hour.

Reading the time, or any number really, makes me feel sick. 

Memory and executive function 

I can't keep numbers in my mind and have to write them out to say them. I can't recall my times tables and use my fingers to count (if I don't have my phone nearby). 

Remembering PINs, phone numbers, birthdays, directions, shopping lists, and game scores takes a lot of work. And I feel shameful and rubbish asking someone to repeat numbers to me several times. 

Measurements and counting 

I don't understand the significant difference between 100,000 and 1 million. I have to count the zeros or copy the number into a search engine. During Covid 19 I relied on people to interpret the data for me because I didn't understand the statistics. 

I once worked a till job and was so bad at calculating change, I was moved to shelf-stocking. I use my card for everything now and avoid cash. 

Calculations 

I confuse symbols a lot, like + and x. And the numbers 2 and 5. I can't do mental arithmetic and have to rely on calculators or Google. 

Reading numbers in graphs and tables makes me feel dizzy. I need help finding the number I last looked at and generally get lost and give up. 

I once didn't spot a mistake on my payslip and underpaid tax by a lot. I'm still paying for it now. 

Here are 3 things I tell businesses to start doing to make their service more accessible:

1. Review your service and audit where numbers show up. Numbers show up more than you think. 

2. Make sure numbers like dates, times and amounts of money are easy to understand. Numbers like these can cause the most problems but are often overlooked. 

3. Do user research (usability testing, interviews, focus groups) with people who struggle with numbers. 

👉 Follow Laura on LinkedIn for more insights.