“Autistic people often experience their senses more intensely than others, with this meaning that they can feel overwhelmed at times. Traits include attention to detail, being direct, honesty, the ability to find patterns, memory and information processing ability,” he says.
Dyspraxia, also known as developmental co-ordination disorder, is commonly associated with difficulty in movement and spatial awareness. Traits include big picture thinking, problem solving, tenacity, creativity and empathy.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is associated with an inability to focus and also hyper focus, plus a need to channel excess energy. Traits include visual skills, problem solving, passion and enthusiasm.
Tourette syndrome is a neurological condition characterised by sudden twitches, movements or sounds that people do repeatedly, also known as tics. Traits include strong verbal skills, tenacity, creativity, empathy, and hyper focus.
Dyscalculia is difficulty with arithmetic and understanding numbers, and is often described as “math dyslexia”. Traits include strong visual thinking, verbal skills and long-term memory.
Dyslexia is associated with literacy difficulties. Traits include strong visual thinking, verbal skills and long-term memory.
Timpson describes how when he was Cabinet Office Disability and Access Ambassador for the insurance, investment and banking sectors he undertook colleague research to establish the disabilities where colleagues found it difficult to access workplace support and adjustments.
“This led me with colleagues to found Gain, www.gaintogether.org, as a not-for-profit industry hub to support neurodiverse colleagues, colleagues with neurodiverse partners and/or children, plus firms looking to attract, develop and retain neurodivergent people,” he says.
Gain’s strategy, operations and hub are built around three pillars:
- Supporting employers to better attract, induct, train, develop and retain neurodivergent talent – identifying gaps in their business model and finding solutions.
- A safe community for neurodivergent colleagues where news, views, ideas, best practice, learning and more can be shared.
- A resource centre where employers can meet specialist agencies and companies that can aid them to close business gaps and better support their neurodivergent customers and employees.
Challenges of being neurodiverse
So, what are some of the challenges and advantages of being neurodiverse?
Timpson says the “invisible nature of neurodiversity and fear of disclosing that you are neurodiverse can and does result in people being unable to truly bring their best self to work, and this in turn risking mental health issues such as anxiety, burnout and depression”.
He feels that building a more inclusive culture “not only enables colleagues to be their authentic self, but makes great business sense in terms of talent attraction and retention, plus, and importantly, better engaging the one in seven consumers in the UK who are neurodiverse”.
“If firms are inclusive by design, cognitively diverse and accessible for their neurodivergent employees and customers, they become so for all – it's simply good business sense, policy and practice.”
