There are so many angles to neurodiversity, but one exciting angle is the means to explore how our thinking (the brain more generally) shapes and intersects with ‘everything’ that happens in a workplace.
With so much change facing people and businesses – there’s an opportunity to see through our cognitive processes and examine the patterns to see where we might be heading. Neurodivergent minds have unusual connections in the brain and operate at the extreme edges of these thinking patterns, so they can help illuminate problems and opportunities differently for the whole workforce.
Famous people with Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia etc., have helped draw attention in raising the awareness of what having a learning difference means – as it is still very much misunderstood in society. They have made it easier for us to understand and appreciate that each person living with these labels is unique in their own right.
Rather than organisations creating categories and policies around adjusting to people with learning differences, it is far better to raise the overall awareness and common understanding of what that difference means and the advantages to explore the diversity of their rich tapestry of different viewpoints and experiences that they bring to a team and across the business. Standing back from there we will then notice the individuality in every person and that ‘one size doesn’t fit all’.
But businesses who just embrace difference without the ability to coordinate, inspire, and speak to diverse minds could find this transition difficult. A shared identity, common purpose, a sense of solidarity, and feeling of psychologically being safe may be more important than, let’s say, physical or job role adjustments for many.
Watch our short explainer video below on Cognitive/Neurodiversity and the types of personalities for those with ADHD, Autism and Dyslexia, which you may find helpful in gaining a better understanding for yourself and for your organisation.
Should you wish to find out more about The Oakridge Centre’s Cognitive/Neurodiversity in the Workplace one-day workshop, please contact Simone Robinson, Interim Managing Director at The Oakridge Centre.
Additional Resources:
• Cognitive/Neurodiversity One-Day Workshop – The Oakridge Centre
• Carole Vorderman, TV presenter, and her son Cameron who has high spectrum dyslexia, ADD, ADHD and AS share their story on This Morning tv
• Melanie Sykes shares her life-affirming story on autism diagnosis (The Guardian)
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