Stiff Old Corporate is Dead – the Neurodivergents Have Arrived

It used to be a white male world. That’s just a fact! Then in business, women like Karen Brady and the other amazing speakers you’ll see, each year, at the Women in Business and Tech Expo, continued to pave the way for equal pay and equal representation in the board rooms. 

 

But the white men weren’t only getting all the luck in business. It’s official, there is a whole lost generation of women and people of colour out there, myself included, who picked up a string of other less helpful labels when the only one that would have been helpful was – neurodivergent. 

 

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Neurodivergence is not a fad. Not hip and trendy. It’s merely a word used to describe someone who’s brain processes, learns and/ or behaves differently from what is considered typical i.e. normal (for want of a better word) or neurotypical. And it certainly doesn’t only affect white males. 

 

1-3% of the population are diagnosed autistic, 3-5% of the population are diagnosed with ADHD, 1% of the population with both. 10% of the population are dyslexic. 3% of the population have OCD and 1% of the population have Tourettes. To name but a few neurodivergent conditions alongside statistics easily found online. And any self advocate of these conditions would argue the prevalence figures are higher. 

Even as is, that’s 20% of the world population that are neurodivergent. That means there are the same amount of neurodivergent people in the world as there are LGBTQIA+ people.

An interesting correlation, when 3 out of 10 neurodivergent employees are NOT out as being neurodivergent to their managers. And do you blame them? A staggering 80% of autistic adults are out of full time work. Not surprising then that 75-80% of autistic people have been diagnosed with a mental health condition in their lifetime.

 

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Don’t get it twisted. NHS diagnosed autistics – you’re not talking about Rainman here. You’re talking about people like me – an ex senior nurse that trained at Great Ormond Street Hospital and once looked after some of the sickest patients in intensive care post open heart surgery. You’re talking about people with PhDs. People that are highly skilled with their hands. Inventors. Engineers. Scientists. And others who will never be independent, but desperately want to make their own money and be of use despite profound disability.

Because of course, neurodivergence has its super powers – the ability to spot answers within minutes to problems others have been struggling with for hours, weeks even – thanks to strong pattern recognition and big picture thinking. Or the ability to work through a process logically and systematically at twice the speed of others who might easily get bored or make mistakes. Or even the ability to walk around mathematical drawings in their mind. As well as the ability to deep dive into a research project of interest. To name but a few.

 

But it also comes with its disabilities – the probability that late diagnosis has led to a pain or autoimmune condition thanks to the body’s needs being ignored for too long. The inability to care for oneself by forgetting to even eat or relieve oneself in the bathroom. Problems with sensory processing making commuting or certain work environments unbearable. Social communication difficulties that leave a person isolated and alone even in a crowded room. The inability to stay present and safe. And the list goes on. But ask yourself how much of the time is it the environment that’s disabling a person? And importantly what can be done about it at YOUR place of work. 

 

We have stopped believing that a person’s colour or genitals defines whether they can be the best in business. We have stopped believing that the gender a person was born with versus who they show to the world now, or who they take to bed, makes a difference when it comes to how well they work or how high they can climb up the corporate ladder. 

 

So when are we going to ask a person in an interview, any person, what they need to be able to do their job?

 

(Nicci Lou skipping in to work)

 

Do they need partitions bringing in to make their own corner office? Light bulbs changing? Do they need to work remotely four days a week (after-all some argue that remote workers are more productive even without their neurodivergence having them complete tasks quicker than most). Do they need to pace in meetings or to use a standing desk? 

 

When are we going to stop seeing neurodivergence as something ‘wrong’ or ‘broken’. 

 

With neuro affirming language and support, maybe one day we’ll be able to say goodbye to masked or unknown neurodivergents unknowingly trapping themselves in a life of physical pain or mental anguish. After-all it’s not ‘how autitisic’ a person is that determines the outcome of their life. It’s their support and depressive score. 

You wouldn’t judge a fish on how good it was by how it climbs a tree. Or how good a Mac is by how well it runs Microsoft Word. What if they. What if you were never a broken horse. What if you are a zebra. A rainbow striped one that farts glitter.

If you want to chat, eat candy and hopefully get sparkled come to G48 at the Excel 2024 Women in Business and Tech Expo. Find out how to become an author of creative works and published online for free or how to feature in my upcoming book “how to unmask”. Because the world needs your voice.

 

(Us 3 Neurodivergents in a van in Switzerland)

 

Or perhaps you’d like to see how to unmask yourself and live more authentically. Maybe like me – who spent last year travelling through 18 countries with two neurodivergent children – you’re up for tickling a life’s dream off too. Either which way I’d be honoured to meet you. 

 

Nicci Lou – Confidence Coach, AuDHDer, Queer, Mother to NDs, Beach Lover

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