28/08/2025
🖌🏸🤾♀️⛳️🎸As a left-hander, looking at neurodivergence in a world developed for the mainstreamer, this analogy run deeps 🤔 💡💡 ...
Wisdom by AMHSW
Human Development Strategist | Founder, The NeuroThrive Institute | Parenting, Leadership & Neurodiversity Specialist | AuDHDer | Senior Clinician | Transformational Educator & Consultant
July 24, 2025
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Imagine, if you will, that you live in a world where every tool was made for right-handed people… and you just so happen to be left-handed.
✂️ Scissors.
🪛 Can openers.
📚 Desks with writing panels on the wrong side.
🎮 Video game controllers.
✍️ Even school handwriting lessons.
You’re constantly adapting. Twisting your hand into weird angles. Producing messier work. Getting frustrated for being “clumsy” or “slow” — not because you lack skill, but because everything you’re using was built for someone else’s body.
Now imagine someone finally says … “Hang on… maybe we should make some tools that work for left-handed people too.”
No one calls this “favouritism”. No one says, “Ugh, now we have to cater to everyone.” It’s not about giving you an advantage — it’s about giving you a fair go.
It’s just common sense.
…. Now replace hands with brains.
🧠 Right-handed = neurotypical 🧠 Left-handed = neurodivergent
The difference isn’t how we hold the pen — it’s how we process the world, make sense of information, move through time, regulate our nervous systems, and relate to others.
So what if we built workplaces, systems, and expectations that didn’t just accommodate those differences — but anticipated them?
What if making adjustments for neurodivergent people wasn’t seen as “extra work” — but just part of being a functional, inclusive society?
That seems fair, right?
If you’ve ever felt like you were the square peg in a round hole… maybe the hole was the problem.
Neurodivergence isn’t a flaw to fix — it’s a lens, a rhythm, a brilliance that just needs the right context to shine.
… and this article? It’s your map. Your toolkit. Your hell yes! moment. Because we’re not here to survive workplaces that weren’t built for us.
We’re here to help rebuild them.
✨ Bringing Your WHOLE Self To Work
We’ve all heard the phrase “bring your whole self to work”… but what if your whole self is wired a little differently?
What if your “whole self” gets told they’re:
🌀 too much 🌀 too intense 🌀 too forgetful 🌀 too blunt 🌀 too sensitive 🌀 too creative 🌀 too scatterbrained 🌀 too slow to start and too fast to finish?
Here’s the truth: most workplaces weren’t built for neurodivergent brains. They were built for consistency, compliance, and conformity.
But that doesn’t mean you’re the problem.
It means it’s time we redesign the workplace blueprint.
So let’ make a roadmap for what a truly inclusive, empowering workplace can (and should) look like for ADHDers, AuDHDers, and our beautifully varied neurokin….
🧠 1. Start with Neurodiversity-Affirming Awareness & Education
You can’t accommodate what you don’t understand. Many workplaces are still running on an outdated operating system when it comes to neurodiversity.
What to do:
• Provide training on neurodivergence (e.g. autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, Tourette’s etc.) that’s developed or delivered with neurodivergent people.
• Frame neurodivergence as difference, not deficit.
• Bust myths: No, not all autistic people are maths geniuses, and no, ADHD isn’t just being a bit hyper.
Why it works: Neurodiversity education reduces stigma, increases empathy, and encourages curiosity over judgment (Austin & Pisano, 2017; Kreiner et al., 2023).
🧩 2. Audit and Adapt Recruitment & Onboarding
Traditional hiring practices are often more Hunger Games than helpful for neurodivergent candidates.
What to do:
• Offer clear interview questions in advance.
• Consider alternative assessments (e.g. work trials, portfolios, or projects).
• Create sensory-friendly interview environments (e.g. no flickering lights, quiet space).
• Use onboarding plans that are structured and phased, with a mentor or buddy system.
Why it works: A UK-based Deloitte report (2022) found that inclusive hiring processes significantly increased job retention and satisfaction among neurodivergent employees.
🧘♂️ 3. Prioritise Psychological Safety Over 'Professionalism'
If your workplace values "fitting in" over being authentic, you’ll burn out neurodivergent folks faster than you can say “masking fatigue”.
What to do:
• Encourage people to communicate in ways that work for them—text-based, asynchronous, visual.
• Normalize asking for adjustments (without needing a formal diagnosis).
• Ditch the "banter" culture if it's exclusionary. (Neurodivergent folk often prefer directness to decoding sarcasm).
Why it works: Workplaces that foster psychological safety see better collaboration, retention, and innovation (Edmondson, 2019).
🛠 4. Design with Flexibility in Mind
Flexibility is the neurodivergent person's ergonomic chair—it’s not just nice, it’s necessary.
What to do:
• Allow flexible working hours and remote work where possible.
• Give people control over their sensory environment (lighting, noise, workspace layout).
• Offer tools like noise-cancelling headphones, dictation software, white noise apps, etc.
Why it works: Flexibility improves productivity, reduces presenteeism, and supports sustainable employment (Hensel et al., 2022).
📣 5. Co-Create Adjustments—Don't Presume Needs
No two neurodivergent people are the same. What helps one autistic employee might overwhelm another.
What to do:
• Ask open-ended questions like:
• Use Adjustment Passports or Neurodivergent Employee Support Plans.
• Involve neurodivergent voices in policy design, not just in HR form-filling.
Why it works: Collaboration respects agency and leads to more effective, individualised solutions.
💬 6. Language Matters: Be Affirming, Not Pathologising
Language shapes attitudes. Steer away from clinical or deficit-based terms unless someone self-identifies that way.
What to do:
• Use identity-first language if that’s preferred (e.g. "autistic person" vs "person with autism").
• Avoid phrases like "high-functioning" or “normal” (what even is that?).
• Say “support needs” rather than “limitations”.
Why it works: Affirming language reduces shame and promotes self-advocacy.
🌱 7. Leadership Must Walk the Walk
Inclusivity must be modelled at the top—or it trickles down like a slow, awkward drip.
What to do:
• Train leaders in inclusive leadership and neurodiversity competence.
• Encourage storytelling and visibility from neurodivergent staff (with consent).
• Integrate neurodiversity into your DEI strategy—not as a side project.
Why it works: When leadership actively supports inclusion, it becomes cultural, not just procedural.
🌍 8. Build a Culture of Ongoing Feedback and Improvement
Even with the best intentions, you’ll make mistakes. The gold lies in being willing to listen, learn, and iterate.
What to do:
• Create regular check-ins and feedback loops.
• Offer anonymous feedback options.
• Celebrate wins and share learnings openly.
Why it works: Iterative cultures are resilient and responsive—perfect for diverse brains and evolving needs.
💡 So, let’s Recap ….
🧭 Final Thought: You Deserve to Thrive, Not Just Survive
If you’ve ever felt like you were the square peg in a round hole… maybe the hole was the problem.
Neurodivergence isn’t a flaw to fix — it’s a lens, a rhythm, a brilliance that just needs the right context to shine.
So whether you're job-hunting, advocating, consulting, or simply surviving — remember this:
You’re not too much. You’re not broken. You’re not asking for special treatment.
You’re asking for a world that works for all kinds of minds.
And that’s not radical. That’s fair!🕺💃
