Neuroinclusive Resources

Definitions (Praslova, 2023)

Neurodiversity

The range of natural diversity that exists in human neurodevelopment (Singer, 1998; Blume, 1998).

Neurotypical

A person or people whose neurodevelopment falls within the range socially perceived as “typical.”

Neurodivergent

A person or people whose neurodevelopment diverges from the range is usually considered “typical development” (e.g., a group of autistic people is a group of neurodivergent people). Specific individuals can also be autistic, dyslexic, etc.

neurodiverse

A collective term for groups including mixed neurodevelopment (e.g. a group of ADHDers, autistic and neurotypical people is a “neurodiverse” group).

neurominority

A group sharing a form of neurodivergence (e.g. Autistic, dyslexic, ADHD, Tourette’s) (Walker, 2012).

neurodiversity paradigm

Where difference and intersectionalities are celebrated, full acceptance or none, acceptance and strengths-based support.

Models of Disability (Ladau, 2021)

  • Medical Model

    The “individual model” centers on disability as a person-based issue with a diagnosis or impairment. While this model has its positives, it perpetuates negative attitudes toward disability as a problem needing a cure.

  • Social Model

    In response to the medical model, people are disabled by their social environments—systems, and attitudes that create barriers. Author Emily Ladau makes an excellent point when she says that neither the social nor medical model can exist independently.

  • Charity Model

    Disability as tragedy or something to overcome.

  • Cultural model

    Disability as a rich culture with lived experiences and how it shapes the person.

  • Economic model

    Disability as productivity or as a marketing audience segment.

  • Human rights model

    Disability as a human rights issue, considering all social factors impacting disabled people globally, including legal matters.

  • Religious model

    Disability as atonement or punishment of sins, a special blessing, or “healing.”

“Indeed, the history of disabled people in the western world is in part the history of being on display, of being visually conspicuous while being politically and socially erased.”

— Rosemarie Garland-Thomson,
professor of English and bioethics

via Emily Ladau’s Demystifying Disability

Handdrawn sketches of myriad notable disabled advocates from around the world.

Additional Definitions & Resources

What is AuDHD?
In the neurodivergent community, the presence of both autism and ADHD is referred to as “AuDHD.” See below for a few medical definitions (Smith & Kirby, 2021).

What is autism?

Autism, or Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC), is a developmental condition that affects communication and social interrelatedness. Different people have different challenges and strengths; one person is not necessarily similar to another.

What is ADHD?

ADHD is a developmental condition that affects attention, impulsivity, and activity levels. There are three types: predominantly hyperactive, predominantly inattentive, and combined (both features).

What can we do?

  • Provide a psychologically safe work environment with a sincere openness to neurodiversity inclusion and accommodation

  • Host inclusive virtual meetings (Rivera & Joffe, 2023)

    • It’s okay to keep cameras off! This creates an inclusive meeting space. See this insightful blog post from advocacy organization, Disability:In

    • Enable captions in virtual meetings; Zoom provides auto-captioning but this needs to be manually activated. Before captions can begin, the meeting’s language needs to be confirmed

    • Send out agendas in advance

    • Follow-up email with accessible documents attached

    • Use the chat and offer verbal-optional engagement activities (Kahoot activities, surveys, etc.)

    • Allow for flexibility—most neurodivergent people have co-occurring sleep disorders

  • Please don’t finish someone’s words or sentences

  • Provide explicit, written instruction on assignments; due to cognitive load, tasks given verbally might not be retained 

Professional development for neurodivergent colleagues

  • The Great ADHD Reset: I’m a graduate of the eighth cohort of this professional development program. Two proudly ADHD women, Margaux Joffe and Cathy Rashidian, lead the Great ADHD Reset program. I’ve enjoyed it so far and highly recommend it to those looking for a place for community and developing professionally via strengths-based coaching. Please get in touch with me if you’d like to discuss my experience in the program.

Tips for neurodivergent employees

leverage Digital tools & automation

  • In Microsoft 365, there’s the “Power Automate” app. For example, you can set a push notification to send to your work phone when your manager sends you an email to alert you to check your inbox.

  • Scheduling meetings via tools like Calendly

  • Remembering passwords

  • Email filters for organizing inboxes, adding tags

  • Reminders using Outlook Tasks

  • Microsoft Planner helps map out tasks

  • If your team uses tools like Monday.com or Basecamp, you can set automations for project management workflow

Find a work or study buddy

Pair up with someone to help bring you to the present. If not in person, coordinate a virtual working session. Alternatively, you can try Focusmate or Caveday.org.

Break it down

Sometimes it is how you’re looking at it! Try breaking down a larger task into multiple parts to allocate focus time.

Block your calendar

All it takes is a few last-minute calendar additions to make a potentially productive day stagnant. You can try to block your calendar for at least a few hours each week to take care of priority and/or tactical matters.

FUel your soul

One of my favorite quotes from the Great ADHD Reset with Margaux Joffe and Cathy Rashidian is, “Don’t do ADHD alone!” It is so true. Having community with one another is paramount to giving yourself dignity, grace, and love. We can only deal with what we can at any given time. Don’t lose sight of the bigger picture.

References

Bradley, L., Shaw, R., Baron-Cohen, S., & Cassidy, S. (2021). Autistic Adults’ Experiences of Camouflaging and Its Perceived Impact on Mental Health. Autism in Adulthood: Challenges and Management, 3(4), 320–329. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2020.0071

Ciampi, M. (2017, April 23). Bottoms-Up: The Innovative Thinking Style of the Asperger’s Mind. Different Brains. https://differentbrains.org/bottoms-up-the-innovative-thinking-style-of-the-aspergers-mind/

Fayyad, J., Sampson, N. A., Hwang, I., Adamowski, T., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Al-Hamzawi, A., Andrade, L. H. S. G., Borges, G., de Girolamo, G., Florescu, S., Gureje, O., Haro, J. M., Hu, C., Karam, E. G., Lee, S., Navarro-Mateu, F., O’Neill, S., Pennell, B.-E., Piazza, M., … on behalf of the WHO World Mental Health Survey Collaborators. (2017). The descriptive epidemiology of DSM-IV Adult ADHD in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders, 9(1), 47–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12402-016-0208-3

Heinrich, A. (2023). Accessible Social. https://www.accessible-social.com/

Jellinek, M. (2010). Don’t Let ADHD Crush Children’s Self-Esteem. Clinical Psychiatry News, 12.

Ladau, E. (2021). Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally. Ten Speed Press.

Ohl, A., Grice Sheff, M., Small, S., Nguyen, J., Paskor, K., & Zanjirian, A. (2017). Predictors of employment status among adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Work (Reading, Mass.), 56(2), 345–355. https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-172492

Praslova, L. N. (2022, June 21). An Intersectional Approach to Inclusion at Work. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2022/06/an-intersectional-approach-to-inclusion-at-work

Rivera, C., & Joffe, M. (2023, March 1). Neurodiversity & the Art of Self-Advocacy at Work. https://www.linkedin.com/events/neurodiversity-theartofself-adv7033926732919300096/

Smith, T., & Kirby, A. (2021). Neurodiversity at Work: Drive Innovation, Performance and Productivity with a Neurodiverse Workforce (1st edition). Kogan Page.

Taylor, L. (2022, January 20). Why Are Many Autistic Women Missed or Misdiagnosed? | Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-neurodivergent-therapist/202201/why-are-many-autistic-women-missed-or-misdiagnosed