Kirby describes how a “lack of knowledge or a fear of saying the wrong thing often ends up with people not having conversations at all about how to best support somebody. This can lead to delays in making adjustments, and then people lose confidence in their abilities and can impact on relationships. Anxiety over performance can lead to a real impact on competence too”.
She quotes Tim Gallwey, who created the formula “performance = potential – interference”, and says that this is a useful framing to consider.
Kirby says the potential of a person who is neurodivergent “is the same as a person who is not neurodivergent”.
She believes that each one of us has talents and strengths, and that if we can optimise our strengths and minimise our challenges we can be our best self. It is often the barriers to employment – either getting into a job or staying and progressing that stop an individual.
“In finance, that might be somebody who is in the senior leadership team who is dyspraxic, but it could also be the person working in the canteen or working in administration who could be a great hire too.
"The challenge happens when the hiring and retention and progress pathways exclude people who have specific patterns of strengths or challenges, and that's why ensuring inclusive processes means you don't miss out on the talent that is out there,” Kirby says.
Benefits of a diverse workforce
Peter Hamilton, head of market engagement at Zurich and the government’s Disability and Access Ambassador for Insurance, believes there are really clear benefits from having a diverse workforce that reflects the profile of the customers Zurich are looking to serve, whether that is across areas such as gender, ethnicity or disability.
Having a neurodiverse workforce brings additional benefits. “It’s tapping into a valuable talent pool often with a very different skill set,” he says.
“Insurance is an obvious industry where the ability systematically to see and make sense of patterns is a really valuable and differentiating attribute," Hamilton adds.
"[Neurodiverse people] often evidence systematic approaches, logical analysis, pattern recognition and high concentration levels, making them really well suited for roles in areas such as analytics, data governance and complex software development, though it’s important not to rely on overly simplistic categorisations – every candidate brings different skills.”
Katherine Knowles was diagnosed with autism aged 36. She founded and runs insurance brokerage company Cura with her husband Alan.
