What Neurodiversity Means

Human brains are not all wired the same way. People differ in how they take in information, how they focus, how they read and write, how they move, how they feel sound and light, and how they communicate. Some of these differences are large and lifelong. They are part of who a person is.

Neurodiversity is the natural variety of human brains and minds. Just as people differ in height or eye colour, they differ in how their brains work. The word describes everyone: a whole population is neurodiverse.

Why it matters at work

Every workplace already employs neurodivergent people, whether anyone knows it or not. Many have never been diagnosed. Many who have been diagnosed choose not to tell their employer. They work as engineers, drivers, nurses, accountants, teachers, cooks and technicians.

Most workplaces were designed around one way of thinking: open-plan offices, long spoken briefings, unwritten social rules and quick verbal instructions. For many neurodivergent people, these designs create barriers that have nothing to do with their ability to do the job. Small changes often remove those barriers, and help many other people too.