By creating a place of acceptance and understanding, a workplace can help autistic talent to thrive and unlock the amazing potential that your autistic employees and managers can bring to your organisation.

A ‘neurodiversity-friendly workplace’ is one that is designed to accommodate and support the diverse ways individuals think, learn and interact. It is a workplace that recognises and respects neurological differences as much as any other human variation such as gender, race or sexual orientation.

Most importantly, employers must remember that reasonable accommodations are a question of law not convenience.

This blog post is aimed as a resource page for employers in Ireland to assist them to create and sustain an autism-friendly workplace.

Creating an inclusive workplace begins with a cultural change

While neurodivergent individuals have many strengths, they also face many challenges and bias in the working environment.

According to research published in 2020 by the DCU Centre of Excellence for Diversity and Inclusion, it’s not unusual for autistic people to choose to keep their neurodivergence hidden in the workplace.

For many, it can understandably be challenging to be identified as ‘differently abled’.

It is the responsibility of employers and people managers to stay well-informed on the types of accommodations available - environment, technology, team communication, management approach and legal responsibilities - regardless of the number of known autistic people in a workplace.

The term neurodiversity refers to the infinite range of differences in individual human brain function and behavioural traits.

This means that workplace policies don’t adopt a ‘one size fits all’ approach, but instead create flexible work cultures where neurodivergent employees can work with their brain, instead of against it.

Flexible work cultures treat each person as an individual who will be listened to and supported in trying to create the right conditions for them to achieve their potential.

cultural change requires leadership and planning. image source: unsplash

Autism-Informed Management

The need for autism-informed leadership is applicable at all levels of an organisation.

Autism is just as likely to be present in your workplace leadership as in its staff. Realistically, with current figures between 1 in 59 and 1 in 30 people being autistic, any large organisation is already going to have autistic leaders, managers and staff.

It’s clear therefore that it benefits all to develop autism-friendly and informed attitudes in leadership. Don’t worry however because you are not alone and there is a wealth of Irish-based knowledge and expertise to support you in leading an autism-friendly workplace.

Barry Walsh from Focusondiversity.ie is doing essential work in amplifying diverse voices in Ireland and offers thorough templates for Neurodiversity Awareness Training, covering:

Personal insights into neurodiversity.
Exploring “reasonable accommodations” terminology.
Diving into various neurodiverse conditions.
Presenting the business advantages of hiring neurodiverse individuals.
Addressing the challenges of job hunting with a neurodivergent condition.

Cork-based AUsome Training has suggested that neurodiversity training in the following topics can help to retain autistic talent:

Creating and managing cultural changes
Advertising job opportunities
Designing an autistic informed interview process
Interpersonal communication
Departmental communication
Organisational communication
Evaluating the physical environment
Evaluating the social environment

Employers for Change was established in 2021 as a programme of the Open Doors Initiative with the aim of empowering employers with the advice, information and training needed to hire inclusively and to recruit, employ and retain staff with disabilities as well as employees who acquire a disability. Employers for Change provides free one-to-one advice through their dedicated helpline, guidance documents through their website and online and in-person training

The Inclusivity Employment Toolkit was designed to support employers who want to implement programmes (such as placements or training) to promote inclusivity in their organisations or networks, or who are seeking to increase recruitment from marginalised groups into their workforce.

This can include guidelines for bringing someone into the workplace, how to draw up a job description so that it is appropriate, remove unconscious bias in the interview process and integrate new employees into the office environment.

Time for a fresh look at technology? image source: unsplash

Technology and Physical Environment

Organisations of all sizes in Ireland are increasingly becoming more and more aware of their obligation to make their workplaces and digital offerings more accessible to all.

Under current diagnostic criteria, autism is classed as a lifelong neurodevelopmental disability, a classification that facilitates access for employers to schemes and expertise that can assist them in developing neurodiverse-friendly workspaces.

Not only is this the right thing to do, but through government workplace adaptation grants there are often subsidies available to employers which can drastically decrease the costs associated with implementing accessibility features either in the workplace or digitally.

Some of the grants available on the Work and Access programme allow employers to improve their physical environment to adapt it to the needs of people with additional needs.

The government-funded Access to Work scheme can also fund disability awareness training, which can be adapted to the situation required.

AHEAD are an excellent resource on reasonable accommodations for businesses to ensure that the corporate world is as inclusive as possible, including advice on assistive technology.

Through their training, mentoring and graduate programmes, AHEAD also aim to support students and graduates with disabilities moving into work and to support employers who are interested in expanding their talent pool

Enable Ireland offer online accredited training on assistive technology that any interested person including an employer can access to better understand how technology is there to assist us.

Enable Ireland also offers an adapted NDA module on “Disability Equality Training‘, designed to help employers to provide quality public services to people with disabilities, including training for management on development of policies or procedures and training for service staff on engaging with a person with disabilities. Many of the courses on assistive technology on Enable Ireland’s website are free for self enrolment.

Helperbird is an Irish reading, writing and accessibility assistant company created in 2015 with a mission of making the digital world more accessible for everyone who uses it. Originally developed as a dyslexia aid, Helperbird believes in the importance of choice and aims to offer a range of browser extension tools that cater to users’ unique needs including Text to Speech, Reword/ Simplify and Reading Mode to create a distraction-free reading environment.

Helperbird is a versatile assistive technology tool for all types of learners, not just those with information processing differences Other similar tools include TextHelp and Beeline Reader, which is designed with the speedy reader in mind.

When was the last time you took a look at resources available to you to improve the inclusivity of your workplace?

Developing an Open-Minded Workplace Culture

Regularly-held peer support and resource sharing opportunities are likely to result in brilliant ideas emerging on ways that your workplace can foster a neurodiversity-friendly culture.

Employee resource groups can be encouraged to identify actionable items / longer term priorities and policies where clarification is needed. The group can decide how to create a communication pipeline to management on these items.

All employee resource groups can ask its members to consider how much the workplace is missing out on by focusing on the prescribed lists of deficits rather than developing an appreciation for different ways we have of thinking, perceiving, interpreting and creating.

But it should not be left to employees to champion change in the workplace. Peer support groups may decide to create a safe sharing space where disclosure stays within the room, and that decision needs to be respected and upheld by management.

A team is only as good as its coach. Regularly held individual check-ins with staff members are vital for team leaders who want to establish strong communication channels, clarify expectations and check in on individual workloads, satisfaction and levels of stress.

equity involves making adjustments for fairness based on individual needs. image source: unplash

Change Management: Equity and Inclusion in Practice

Equity means acknowledging each person's differences and giving them resources based on their individual needs so everyone can reach an equal outcome, even when they come from different starting points.

Inclusion means making all people and groups feel welcome, supported and appreciated by creating positive spaces and eliminating negative words and beliefs.

Putting these values at the core of your company ethos and policy can be time-consuming work, so it can help to find your own tribe of like-minded employers.

The Open Doors Initiative is focused on bringing inclusivity to the workplace and fostering those who may find it harder to get work experience and retain a position of their choosing.

Many other supports are available through the Open Doors Initiative website including structured mentorship programmes, lists of supporting community organisations and lists of current vacancies at companies who practice inclusive recruitment.

Disability Federation of Ireland is a federation of member organisations working with people with disabilities to implement the UN CRPD and ensure the equal participation in society of people with disabilities.

DFI list member organisations by county on their website. Their aspiration is that their strategy will contribute to government supports to employers, real life experience dos and don’ts, things to consider in a work environment and legislation and policy inclusion laws.

By joining with other like-minded employers, you can be part of a sea-change movement that seeks to recruit and retain valuable autistic talent in the workplace.