Why it’s time to examine the neurodiversity class ceiling

Because employers have so much to gain

Dan Harris, Founder and Chairman of non-profit Neurodiversity in Business encourages the audience at the IT Leaders Summit to ask some challenging questions about their businesses.

The concept and prevalence of neurodiversity has become a politically charged issue of late. Lots of people seem to have an opinion about what looks like an increase in the numbers of neurodiverse people. Depending on which prism you view neurodiversity though this is due to vaccines, over-diagnosis or an overly munificent welfare state rewarding the feckless.

Speaking at the IT Leaders Summit 2024, Dan Harris, Founder and Chairman of non-profit Neurodiversity in Business (NiB) was blunt in his assessment of this politicisation.

“The prevalence of neurodiversity is constant in our population,” he said. “It isn’t going up or down in relation to media interest, vaccines or any other medical aspect. ADHD is not a new celebrity fad. It exists in our population and despite the fact that some parts of our media don’t like it, it exists and it’s real.”

Neurodiversity is the reality for around 20% of the population, and therefore the workforce. There are a plethora of conditions which are bracketed as “neurodiverse” which can give the area the appearance of complexity. However, at its heart neurodiversity is straightforward.

“Neurodiversity is a beautifully simple concept. It’s just cognitive diversity,” Harris said.

Many tech companies have made a public push to employ more neurodiverse people. Nonetheless, according to Harris there is still a stigma attached to neurodiversity. He cited an example of feeling comfortable enough to ask to leave work early to collect a child from a class, but not to leave because a meeting was proceeding in a way that made it difficult to process information or confirm accountability.

Perhaps this is why research that NiB commissioned last year found that 42% of neurodiverse employees said they were likely to leave their current employers within the next 12 months.

The same research found that whilst 92% of organisations have a diversity and inclusion policy, only 23% said that policy had a focus on neurodiversity.

The problem with relying on self-disclosure

According to Harris, part of the problem is that employers tend to wait for neurodiverse employees to self-disclose. If they do they’re often very supportive. But the problem is that people don’t feel comfortable self-disclosing.

So what should employers do? Harris said:

“We advise them to listen. If we rely on self-disclosure I’ll be here in 20 years' time. One of the ways we encourage as a first step is for a CEO to announce that they want to become a neuro inclusive employer but also be humble and acknowledge that it’s a journey they’re at the start of.

“It’s an inexpensive thing to do but disproportionately impactful because it starts off the culture change. We’ve seen disclosure rates rocket after these watershed moments.”

Harris also advises that organisations consider the neurodiverse talent within their own ranks before rushing to hire externally. A big hiring push is likely to result in entrenchment of the existing balance and further marginalisation because the profile of an autistic software developer is likely to be white, well-educated and male.

It’s also likely to upset the neurodiverse talent which you already employ.

It is perhaps harder but much more worthwhile to examine the neurodiverse glass ceiling embedded in your workplace. As Harris says:

“Our recruitment practices and interview techniques are still predicated on 1950’s management science. Often the people who excel in interviews are the ones who can talk a good talk.

Neurodiverse folk are disproportionately likely to be incredibly honest. If someone in an interview is looking away from you it might be because eye contact is painful for them. If they’re fidgeting it might not be that they’re disinterested in what you’re saying it may be that they have a different sensory profile. Fidgeting might help them regulate.

“It’s about assessing people as individuals rather than on preconceived notions of what good body language looks like and how we should communicate.”

Private diagnosis

One of the factors fuelling the media and political pushback against neurodiverse people – and those with ADHD in particular – is the increasing use of private clinicians to diagnose it.

Speaking to Harris after his presentation, he argued that instead of focusing on the increase in privately obtained or self-diagnoses we need to focus on why it’s happening.

“We need to talk about privilege. The assessment waiting lists are five to seven years depending on where you live so were you to be living with ADHD and trying to manage it would you want to wait that long?

“I’m very aware of my privilege in that I was able to seek a private diagnosis. A significant part of our population do not have that privilege. Until there is equitable access to assessments we should as a society not just be accepting of private diagnosis but also self-identification.”

Harris acknowledges that self-diagnosis is controversial. He continued:

“Until we remove those gaps in access to assessment, I feel it’s morally the right thing to do.”

A panel discussion on creating the best environment for neurodiverse talent to flourish in your business is one of a rich variety of keynotes, discussions and workshops taking place at the Women and Diversity in Tech Festival on 5th November.

Please click here for further information and tickets.