Can you be a dyslexic doctor? Dyslexia at medical school

Hey! I'm a senior medical student at King's College London. I am also dyslexic. This seems to confuse people sometimes, and I think many people wonder:

- Can you be a dyslexic doctor?
- How do you manage medical schools exams and essays?
- Wait, what even is dyslexia?

A little about dyslexia

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that affects approximately 10% of the global population. Primarily it affects skills involved in the accurate understanding, reading, spelling and writing of words. However, dyslexia does not only impact these skills. It can impact information processing, including memory and organisation. This can be written, heard or remembered information. That is not to say that people with dyslexia are affected negatively. Different does not mean worse.

----- Who am I? -----
I am Connor, a fourth year medical student at King's College London.

----- Social Media -----

[ConnorDibblin]

SO excited to watch this one with you all when it premieres Sunday 11am GMT. Remember you can give it a cheeky like before it even goes live! 😍

[ZZzzZZ]

I can’t wait for more content. I really hope that dyslexia can become my feature rather than a source of frustration and depression

[kirstywilliams]

This both fills me with hope and dread!! I've recently been diagnosed with dyslexia at 26 years old. I am in my 3rd year of psychology at uni, hoping to become a psychiatrist as my end goal. I didn't do my A levels in school, I hopped straight to college to study Art! 👎🏻 Now I'm having to study my A levels to get into med school. I'm hoping I'm "bright" enough to get in! I got good grades in school, but not great. (A, B, C, C, D) Science being a D 😱😱 so I'm going to have to work super hard in a subject I HATED. I mainly suffer with retaining information as a pose to written skills, and I struggle with verbalising my thoughts and writing sufficient notes (memory doesn't serve me well in writing down everything my tutor says).
So yeah, I'm feeling rather deflated, but I don't want to give up. Especially after watching your video, so thank you!

[Confident-Village]

I've been looking for a video like this!
I'm currently a 3rd year nursing student, dyslexic as well, who wants to go into medicine
I was told so many times I am not good enough and so forth
Thank you for this video!

[alexthelion]

I'm so excited to see where your channel goes and who it reaches, I'm a medical student who's frustrated everyday, being interested in the course but not able to grasp alot of the material.

[HussainBukhari]

Such an important topic to raise awareness of.

Covered so well and quality is top as always 🙌🏼

[PrincePalmUwU]

Hey its me again, going back to this from 2y's ago and looking at different careers and videos giving me a boost in dedication. 🥰 Thank you so much. I finally made my decision in becoming an Dental Hygienist with LD. I won't let this label allow to put me down. My issue now is the TEAs exam... I don't know what videos to study and so forth. 😅 Thank you again. ❤️

[ericnamswife]

Thank you so much for this video!! I always thought that because I’m dyslexic that medicine wasn’t an option, but my opinions changed!!!!

[CarolineBlackwellCary]

I absolutely love this, I am a dyslexic problem solver….engineer! Love seeing that it doesn’t stop people, by all means getting to master black belt in statistics is hard.

[farzanamiah]

So glad I’ve came across this video as I don’t know many medical students that are dyslexic. I’m currently a grad medical student and I’ve been diagnosed with dyslexia today. I ended up doing the test privately as my teachers/lecturers did not believe I was dyslexic despite constantly struggle with spelling, writing and pronunciation of certain words.
There need to be more awareness from teachers about dyslexia for students that are not just under achieving but also over achieving too.

[ZZzzZZ]

Thank you for this. I made it through 2 years of med... I don’t know how I did. Now I am in the throes year and I want to quite because I am failing all my written exams... I am so happy I found you 🙏🏽🎈

[liapat]

I might be getting diagnosed with dyslexia soon and I really want to be a doctor when I am older. Thank you so much for this video it makes me feel so much better.

[CarolineBlackwellCary]

Interesting what you mentioned about university….I always assumed there were more engineers who were dyslexic. I am certainly compensating, was only diagnosed when I was 18. Guess it can make you more determined also.

[catherinesullivan]

This is really interesting. I’m dyslexic but worked as a journalist for 15 years, rising to become an editor. I developed a lot of coping mechanisms during my career. I’m now applying for graduate entry medicine. The UCAT was horrible because my reading speed is below average. I will be retaking it next year as I don’t think I will get in this year, but have just been reassessed so hopefully I will get extra time.

[brittanystorey]

Hello I am 26 and I am trying to get into university, I was always told when I was in grade school that I could never do anything in medicine because of it. You have inspired me to go ahead and try to get into health sciences! Thank you!

[claireturner]

Hi Conner. I found your you tube video very informative and helpful. I was diagnosed with dyslexia when studying physiotherapy but dropped out as I don’t think I had enough support regarding using different learning strategies. I’ve worked in hospitals for some time now and have the confidence to apply for a physician associate masters. Medicine was always the route I wanted to take. As my assessment was done several years ago I have mislaid the report. If I get offered a place I’m thinking of paying for an assessment again so that I’m set up at the start of the course in Sept 23. My question is can you recommend a learning strategy to use for coping with the high volume of information medical students need to learn? Thank you!

[edgargonzalez]

Wow … this is wonderful. I just started medschool, I am dyslexic too.

Please let us know how you are doing all of this…

[scanella]

I found out I was dyslexic when I was 26 (around the time I decided I wanted to go to medical school... I didn't know because I was dyslexic because I thought it was people seeing letters backwards. When I found Out i am dyslexic my whole childhood made sense. But the take home for me was that it's more of a difference in processing information (verbal, written etc). The big thing that got me in my researcy was that dyslexics think in pictures and I didn't realize others did not think that way.

Anyway I did a career change. I'm in medical school and I'm struggling to keep up with the fast paced content because I learn differently but somehow I'm doing alright grade-wise so far. Will take any advise others have.


And I think the low number of medical students being dyslexic has to do with standardized exams telling people they are not the standard

[nicholasgomez]

Can you make a video of how you studied for mcat CARS section ? Tips for reading passages and how you approached then

[solenegilbert]

Dr.Dibbin we must talk whenever you get a chance!