11 tips to creating an inclusive workplace that supports neurodiversity

Maria Hamilton is Engagement Manager at Auticon UK, a global IT consultancy that exclusively employs autistic adults as IT consultants.

Speaking on this further, she said;

”You'll learn the most from the individuals who are neurodivergent themselves. Taking an open-minded approach to understand them, rather than stereotyping them against a label, enables you to work better together.“

In our session, ‘How to create an inclusive Early Careers recruitment strategy’, our guest speaker Ellie says;

“We've seen that diverse talent is quite forthcoming in what they want to be able to engage with us about. Topics like equality and sustainability and what we call people characteristics are really key in their ambitions and motivations. They want to connect with us as an employer in a very authentic way to talk about these topics. Long gone are the days where we can stand in sports halls and handout flyers. It's about how we connect with them in a really authentic way and talk about the topics that are important to them.”

Offering some key advice, Jamie, who is visually impaired, highlighted the need to provide support from day one;

“I’d love to get to the day when businesses make the likes of Texthelp available to download for everyone across the business…Imagine a day where accessibility and those tools that we all need are available instantly to download to support you, and you don’t have to sit and wait weeks or months for your adjustments to come through. It’s a game changer.”

Echoing this, Calum said

“One of the things we do, at Texthelp, is to make sure that our new-starts have all the tools and equipment needed to do the job they’ve been hired to do. We don’t wait until their first day to have these conversations - they take place during the recruitment phase. We also introduce our inclusive tools and make them available to everyone regardless of identified need or condition, because not everyone identifies with having a need or a condition. But, everyone will recognise a barrier that prevents them from doing their job. We want to remove as many barriers for people as quickly as we can.”

In our keynote session: ‘A highlight on Dyslexia, with Jay Blades MBE and Martin McKay’, our guest speaker Jay said highlights the importance of community at work;

“ The workplace is a network and a place that should be another form of care and community for anybody that has a disability such as dyslexia. Create that environment where they can open up”. 

In our session, ‘Using technology to help a neurodiverse workforce thrive’, Texthelp’s Paul Fox challenged this myth;

“Many everyday examples of assistive technology that are in use today were once considered too niche, too expensive, out of reach, or too much hassle. I mean, look at correcting eyesight. We wear spectacles. Spectacles moved to contact lenses. We moved to single-use contact lenses, right up to the point now we have laser eye surgery and indeed lens replacement. Access ramps that I mentioned a short time ago, nobody would contemplate not having them in place when designing a new building…But at one time, that was seen as too much hassle.”

“I like to visualise things, see things, touch and feel things to get my head around them. So if I can’t do that then I struggle to get my head around what it is the conversation is about. So for me, when I thought about that concept, the superhero, the superpowers, and the kryptonite, it was really how I could understand how people struggle, and why people struggle. It’s not always of their own doing, it’s what other people put in their world. Often, their superpowers, the things they may be good at, they may not even be aware of because they spend so much time having those powers eliminated by something in their environment... If it happens long enough, you can become completely immune to your strengths and your abilities - your superpowers.”

Continuing the conversation, Aidan Healy, CEO of Lexxic reflecting on the modern workplace;

“Most of the time when I ask people about their working world, they say ”How have we ended up here, with so many emails, instant messages, meetings - it’s so overwhelming”!. So, you have to think, “well who designed this system?”. We know that the majority of people in the workplace in Senior Leadership positions tend to be middle class, white males, historically. If we are to reform the world of work to be more inclusive and solve some of these big challenges, we need to think differently. Bring in different perspectives.”

Adding to this thought Ruth Ellen Danquah, Chief Innovation Officer at Exceptional Individuals said;

“I think we need to challenge the idea of ‘cultural fit’. There is still a tendency to think, “ Will this person fit in?”. But this doesn’t really give much value. Looking at a ‘cultural add’, and how this person can drive innovation is key.”

During the panel, our guests shared some practical advice to improve the working environment. Jess Gosling, Co-Chair of UK Civil Service Neurodiversity Network (CSNN), summed it up well when she said;

“The ultimate thing is having a team and a culture and an organisation that’s curious...There’s no perfect way to ‘cut the cake’ but being curious and open and caring, that’s the key.”

Gain more advice by watching the recording session.

Leila McKenzie-Delis is the CEO of DIAL Global. Recently they released a report, The McKenzie-Delis UK Review March 2022. The purpose of this report was to better understand how organisations are reporting, measuring and taking action to become more inclusive and diverse employers. 

Some key findings:

• 88% of participating UK companies say they encourage honest discussions around disability in the workplace
•  2 in 5, or 39%, provide further support in the form of mentoring, coaching, buddying, and many other interventions that we would want to see.

Barrie highlighted what it means to be a neurodiversity champion;

“For me, I feel that it's a person that has some lived experience, because then when a member of staff comes to see them, and says, "I am dyslexic," that person will know that champion will understand them and their thought process...Within that role, they have to have the knowledge to listen, understand, support and take action.”

Kevin Grogg is Assistive Technologies Service Owner at EY. For him, inclusive technology helps them to create an environment that puts employees in the driving seat. He explained;

“What we do every day in assistive technologies is…make suggestions because the individual is always in control. I will say from my experience, I'm happy to make suggestions, but let's work together and see what we can do to help you help yourself. And that's really what we do is we enable individuals to help themselves. But we're always here in the background if anybody needs to come to us or needs to come back to us. “

“At Texthelp, we openly celebrate differences. We take time to learn about each other, sharing lived experiences and simply creating safe spaces for people to connect around the globe. An example would be our Culture Club…Initiatives like this are great, but it’s so important that they’re built in an environment with inclusion at the heart. And this really begins with transparent leadership….From the beginning, our CEO has stepped forward and illuminated his own story. Our people understand why inclusion matters to us and they’re not afraid to share their own stories because of this.”

Priyaneet Kainth, Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager (Consumer Healthcare) at GSK, shared how an inclusive culture is carried on through an organisations people;

“When we talk about creating an inclusive culture, it’s not just the CEO’s responsibility or the leaders, it’s everyone’s responsibility... It’s each one of us…We all have the authority and power to speak up and share our different perspectives.”

Diane Lightfoot, CEO of Business Disability Forum highlighted a key reason to take action;

“Disabled people are also women, or black, or LGBTQ+, or any of the above. None of us fit in one box…Quite often we see organisations prioritising gender representation. Great, you need to do that, but make sure that includes disabled women and neurodivergent women as well. Disability is part of the human condition, and can be acquired by any of us at any time.”

Marcia Brissett-Bailey, Chair of the Cultural Perspective Committee at British Dyslexia Association shared;

“It should be a way of working. It should be organic…It’s so important, and sometimes we have to be uncomfortable to be comfortable…It’s ok if we get things wrong along the way, as long as we’re trying…We need to engage the whole organisation and bring everyone to the table….You don’t feel like you belong if you’re not invited to the table…We need to start working on bringing the top down to the bottom, and creating safe spaces for everyone to share what they feel could be different in the organisation…To do something different brings a different flavour and a different movement.”