What Does a Neurodivergent-Inclusive Workplace Look Like?

Neurodiversity includes everyone. Neurodivergent people face more barriers to employment than neurotypical people. Ableism creates many of these barriers.

Neurodivergence covers many neurotypes, but it’s worth noting that 42% of young adults on the autist spectrum never had paid employment in their early 20s. That’s why it’s important to create neuro-inclusive workplaces.

Consider job interviews. Many neurodivergent people don’t perform the same way socially as neurotypical people do. People misread us and assume we’re disinterested, anxious, incompetent, or arrogant.

This article shares some ways to ensure workplaces are neuro-inclusive.

Neurodiversity is the diversity of human minds. Acknowledging and accepting neurodiversity means accepting and celebrating that there is no one right way of thinking, learning, and behaving.

Neurotypical minds are significantly different from neurodivergent minds.

Neurodiversity is the foundation of the neurodiversity paradigm. The neurodiversity paradigm is a perspective that follows the social model of disability, which states that disability results from the way a person interacts with their environment.

Under this framework, disablement is an action — something that is done to someone. The social model of disability, like the neurodiversity paradigm, is a social movement created by disabled and neurodivergent advocates who seek full societal inclusion.

Neurodiversity has always been in the workplace. All humans are neurodiverse, and neurodivergent people work in every field at every level. There remains, however, high unemployment rates for neurodivergent people due to discrimination and known and unknown bias.

The obvious advantages to hiring neurodivergent employees are the unique styles of thinking illustrated by atypical minds. Diversity of minds means diversity of thought, including the generation of original ideas.

Theresa Haskins, an associate professor at the University of Southern California and CEO of Haskins Consulting Group, says including neurodivergent employees requires managers to be flexible in their approaches and adaptable to change.

Many neurodivergent individuals are logical thinkers, skilled with concepts and systems. The high connectivity of neurodivergent brains also means that neurodivergent individuals commonly express natural skills in conceptual thinking, analytical thinking, fairness, honesty, and attention to detail.

Hiring neurodivergent employees also increases our quality of life. Employment helps us thrive and improves our self-esteem. This can help reduce neurodivergent suicide rates, which are higher than neurotypical suicide rates. Inclusion saves lives. Neurodivergent people are loyal to people who treat them well.

“As someone who is dyslexic, for example, I feel like I had to “entrepreneur” my way through school, which has taught me valuable skills that I still use in my career each day,” Marcus Soutra, president of Eye to Eye said. “Those struggles gave me a certain empathy that allows me to read situations in a way others may not be able to and understand myself and the unique strengths I bring to the table.”

Employers can support neurodivergent employees by framing neurodiversity as a natural biological fact that includes all humans. This means using inclusive and neurodiversity-affirming language whenever possible. Employers can also provide diversity and inclusion training to help employees learn about unconscious biases.

It also means coworkers should welcome a neurodivergent employee’s strengths as assets to be encouraged and nurtured, no matter how unique or “unusual.”

Haskins recommends the following:

At Eye to Eye — an organization run by and for people with learning disabilities — Soutra encourages what he calls a 20/20, 20/20 policy. Twenty days of structured time off, 20 days of flexible time off, 20 hours of structured work and 20 hours of flexible work.

“We’ve found this mix of structure and autonomy works well for all employees and makes them more productive and comfortable,” Soutra said.

Employers who include neurodiversity in the workplace should avoid perpetuating misinformation about neurodiversity and neurodivergence — including using “neurodiversity,” “neurodivergent,” “neurodivergence,” and “neurodiverse” interchangeably. None of these words are synonyms.

“Neurotypical” is not a slang term, nor is “neurotypical” a disparaging term. “Neurotypical” was created by neurodiversity advocates at the start of the neurodiversity movement in the 90s to identify the way of living from which neurodivergent people diverge.

In her book “Neuroqueer Heresies,”Dr. Nick Walker, an autistic professor of psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies, says that “neurotypical bears the same sort of relationship to neurodivergent that straight bears to queer.”

Autistic professor of organizational psychology at Vanguard University of Southern California, Ludmila N. Praslova writes that neurodivergent people make great leaders. Still, many people believe that neurodivergent people can’t be leaders. Society brands neurodivergent leaders — including Charlotte Valeur, Charles Schwab, Elon Musk, Greta Thunberg, and Richard Branson — as rare exceptions.

Praslova explains these views of “neurodivergent leaders as rare exceptions” result from subtyping, “a mechanism that supports persistence of stereotypes by clustering group members who defy the stereotype into subgroups, such as ‘educated immigrants’ or ‘prominent autistics.”‘

Look beyond stereotypes when hiring and promoting neurodivergent employees. Neurodivergent people work at every role and at every level, though a majority are employed in roles below their skill level, experience, and expertise.

Neurodiversity means differences in minds are no more pathologies than differences in skin color, sexuality, or gender expression. There is no such thing as an abnormal mind or abnormal behavior, so employers should avoid using pathologizing terms from the medical model of disability when talking about their neurodivergent employees.

Avoid using “deficit,” “disorder,” “condition,” “unusual,” “odd,” “weird,” or any other term that might make a neurodivergent person feel abnormal.

Many neurodivergent people have logical, orderly minds and do not function in chaos. Senior Director of Associate Experience at Red Hat, Sam Knuth, observes that employers can include their neurodivergent employees by starting and ending meetings on time, clarifying the responsibilities and expectations of each person’s role, writing meeting agendas in invitations, and clearly documenting responsibilities and deadlines.

“While neurodivergent employees sometimes approach work differently, these differences do not mean they are less effective or productive than their neurotypical peers,” Haskins said. “In fact, research shows that autistic employees outperform their peers at work when it comes to quality and attention to detail.”

Disclosure can be challenging because disclosing neurodivergence and disabilities often results in discrimination. A person must, however, disclose to receive accommodations. Talking openly about neurodivergence reduces stigma, promotes trust in healthy environments, and helps people find and create healthy environments. This enables people to come to work as their authentic selves.