As someone who was diagnosed with Autism (Asperger’s) and ADHD later in life, my career history reads more like a business directory than a CV. I spent years struggling with overload and anxiety at work. Not surprisingly, that led to regular burnout and more-often-than-not, a new job once I’d recovered.
It was an exhausting cycle I couldn’t seem to break, and it was only when someone close to me suggested I had Asperger’s traits (and after a quick Google) that everything suddenly made sense.
In recent years, and as a woman in tech, I’ve become increasingly passionate about telling my own story with the aim of driving awareness and creating positive change for others.
So what can employers do to help their neurodivergent talent? The solution lies in lending people the specific tools and support they need to excel (I’ll come back to this), but it’s also about breaking down the misconceptions that prevent progress. Here’s three myths debunked:
Myth #1: Neurodivergent people are all alike
Neurodiversity is a broad term that covers various conditions. For me, it’s autism and ADHD, but for others it’s dyspraxia, dyslexia, dyscalculia, and/or Tourette’s syndrome.
Perhaps the biggest misconception is that neurodivergent people are ‘all alike’. Just as no two people are the same, neither are any two neurodivergent people - and that includes those with the same diagnosis. Our needs and expectations are entirely unique and not only that, they can evolve over time.
It’s a point that highlights the importance of managers and HR leaders reaching out to neurodivergent employees and asking individuals what they need to thrive. And not just asking them once but keeping the dialogue permanently open.
Myth #2: Employees must have a diagnosis to ask for reasonable adjustments
Reflecting on my experiences before diagnosis, I’d never asked my employers for the reasonable adjustments I clearly needed because I didn’t know I needed them myself, and this is a common problem.
Something that many people still don’t know is that an employee does not need a formal diagnosis to ask for reasonable adjustments.
Employers have a legal obligation to offer adjustments if the person has or may be considered to have a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act. Given that diagnosis can also take years, employers should be offering, and making, adjustments throughout the employee’s lifecycle as traits appear and as they require additional support.
Myth #3: Neurodiversity is a superpower
There’s good intention behind this but to many of us, neurodiversity is not a superpower. Certain autistic traits such as being highly focused can come across this way, yet neurodiversity still presents additional challenges and hardship - and on top of this, there’s also a gender imbalance.
In the tech industry, men with high functioning autism often thrive in development and coding roles that do not involve a lot of social interaction. But for neurodivergent women in the same roles, there is a greater expectation for us to fit in with the status quo or adapt to our male colleagues’ ways of working. This is also why women typically mask more than men, and it’s something that needs to change.
Rather than looking at neurodiversity as a superpower, employers should be looking at individual strengths and working to fit in with the employee, not the other way around.
Four ways employers can help
1. Be flexible to specific and evolving needs. Ask the employee what they need and enable them to work in a way that suits them
2. Provide a quiet space away from stimuli where people can go to decompress
3. Consider neurodivergent employees when reviewing company benefits (access to company-funded counselling has been invaluable for me)
4.Create awareness of broader support services that are available.
