2.2 Enhancing your awareness
In Week 1, you learned about the link between diversity and innovation, and how a range of perspectives within a diverse team can lead to different ways of thinking. A neurodivergent individual can bring precisely that advantage – a different way of looking at problems and challenges that your organisation can benefit from.
Due to the wide range of individual variation within the spectrum of neurodivergence, it is difficult to summarise a generic list of skills and strengths. However, Genius Within have created this useful infographic:
Turner and Andrew (no date) provide some examples of potential reasonable adjustments for neurodivergent workers, including:
- Considering the sensory environment in which any interviews or assessment days take place (this could mean avoiding interviews in rooms with harsh artificial lighting or noisy air-conditioning units)
- Structuring breaks into long meetings for a worker with ADHD
- Providing a second computer screen for a dyslexic worker
- Agreeing a later start and finish time for an autistic worker to avoid the rush hour
- Varying a dress code for a dyspraxic worker
- Providing coaching or a mentor system.
In the next section, you’ll explore racial diversity in the workplace.