This post is written by Helen Jeffries, Deputy Director, Refugees (Ukraine Response) at the UK Department of Health and Social Care, and autism advocate.

  • The problem: Neurodivergent people (= people with non-typical brain-wiring) look just like everyone else so their different needs are easy to overlook.
  • Why it matters: 15-20% of the world is neurodivergent (a term that covers dyslexia, ADHD, autism, Tourettes and a range of other conditions) so almost every team will have a neurodivergent person in it.
  • The solution: Listen to what neurodivergent colleagues say and ask for–be open to simple adjustments that can make them more productive.

Neurodivergent people have different brains – they might see solutions and patterns that their colleagues miss; they may be hugely creative or have the courage to name the difficult truth everyone else is tiptoeing around. Some of the people who’ve made the biggest impact on our world today are autistic, dyslexic, have ADHD, or other neurodivergent conditions. So having one or more neurodivergent people in your team is a huge benefit, surely? Well, not necessarily. All too often the benefits of neurodiversity go unrealised because we privilege the ability to fit in above all other qualities. I’m going to write about autism because that’s my lived experience but similar issues apply to the full range of neurodiversity.

My autistic brain is particularly good at spotting patterns–I think visually, which means that I can see trends and potential meanings in data that others might miss. I’m also very good at hyper-focusing on a given issue: giving it my full attention and absorbing all the facts about it. But at the same time, my lateral thinking means that I spot linkages between the subject of my hyper-focus and all kinds of other bits of culture, media and history that can make for fresh creative insight. My brain is also very used to cutting through huge amounts of background information to the heart of the matter–and my autistic communication style means I’m not afraid to name that heart of the matter even if it feels uncomfortable. So if you give me a wicked problem (one that’s really complicated and almost impossible to solve) I am likely to see possible routes forward that everyone else has missed. I might do that by making an analogy, linking two previously separate sets of data, or making the issue into something visual. All of that can be really useful. But sometimes the only thing that my colleagues notice about me is that I find people and background noise exhausting, I get overwhelmed by strong sensory inputs, and I sometimes forget the small talk and say something too bluntly.

All too often the benefits of neurodiversity go unrealised because we privilege the ability to fit in above all other qualities.

So–what’s the answer? To release my potential, I’ve learned what small adjustments to my workspace and working pattern can make things better. Reasonable adjustments for autism are comparatively little known as yet, so I’ve had to work these out for myself. There may be lots more options, and not every possibility will work for every person. Broadly though, I’d say there are four big categories where a bit of tweaking might help.

Interpersonal

Autistic people tend to end up hiding their autism at work in order to fit in. Doing that for long periods is exhausting. So it helps if an autistic worker can have breaks away from people, and if autistic workers have an option not to do work socialising–ideally without having to negotiate a really difficult set of social circumstances to achieve that option!

Communications

Many autistic people think visually and literally, which can make spoken communication really tiring–like constantly having to speak a second language. It also helps if colleagues can be forgiving if the autistic person’s speech is sometimes a bit blunt. Converting spoken information into a visual form (= writing it down!) can also really help with visual processing.

Management

Managers often imagine they know about autism on the basis of knowing one autistic person, whereas we’re all different. Actually listening to an autistic staff member rather than making assumptions is hugely important. There are almost bound to be unexpectedly high and low aspects of ability in an autistic person and the most important management adjustment is not assuming that because someone can’t do one simple thing that they can’t do anything.

Sensory

Many autistic people have hyper-sensitive senses, so offering adjustments to the working environment can be transformative. Imagine the difference between trying to work in a nightclub (the common autistic experience of a standard open-plan office) and a library where sensory inputs are muted.

So, given that you almost certainly have neurodivergent colleagues, and 1% of all people are autistic–would you be able to raise awareness of the reasonable adjustments that can turn someone like me from an unproductive stressed worker into a solver of wicked problems? I really think it might help your organisation get the maximum benefit from neurodiversity both in terms of staff productivity and business transformations.

Table - Potential reasonable adjustments that could be offered

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