Neurodiversity & Neuroinclusion Blog

Most onboarding fails for a simple reason: it relies on mind-reading. New starters are expected to “pick things up”, decode norms, and understand priorities that no one has written down. People who already match the dominant communication style often cope. Everyone else pays a tax—especially neurodivergent staff, international hires, career changers, and anyone new to the sector. This isn’t just an inclusion issue. It’s a performance issue. Unwritten rules slow productivity,

If you’re trying to build a neuroinclusive workplace, you’ll eventually face this question: Do we need training, an audit, coaching—or all three? The honest answer: it depends on what problem you’re solving. This guide helps you choose the right starting point based on your current situation, urgency, and desired outcome. It’s written for HR, L&D, DEI leads, and leaders who want clarity without jargon. If you already know you want training for managers or teams, start here:..

Healthcare is one of the hardest places to get neuroinclusion right because the pressures are real: understaffing, high cognitive load, shift work, sensory overload, urgent decisions, unpredictable routines and limited time. That can make reasonable adjustments sound like a luxury rather than a necessity. But in practice, the opposite is often true. When adjustments are delayed or treated as optional, teams lose talent, staff burn out faster, and avoidable friction makes alr

Line managers have more impact on neuroinclusion than most policies ever will. They shape how work is explained, how safe it feels to ask for support, how flexible the team can be, and whether difference is treated as a problem or as part of normal working life. That matters because the capability gap is still real. The CIPD’s Neuroinclusion at Work report found that only 18% of employers said line managers receive training on how to respond when an employee says they ar

Most reasonable adjustments processes fail for one of three reasons: They’re too medicalised (people feel they need a diagnosis to be taken seriously). They’re too inconsistent (depends on the manager). They’re too vague (“Tell us what you need”) without giving a structure to figure it out. A good adjustments conversation is practical, consent-first, and focused on work design—not personal disclosure. This post gives you a simple manager script you can use in 15–30 minutes, p

If neuroinclusion is going to work in practice, HR cannot do it alone and line managers cannot improvise it. The most effective organisations treat HR and line managers as a partnership: HR builds the framework, capability and consistency; managers turn that into day-to-day support, development and performance. The manager layer matters because line managers influence induction, workload, feedback, progression, adjustments and psychological safety more than almost any policy

Performance management often fails for one reason: standards live in someone’s head . When expectations are implied, feedback is delayed, and “professionalism” is judged socially rather than explicitly, neurodivergent staff are more likely to be misunderstood—and managers end up dealing with avoidable issues late, under pressure. Neuroinclusive performance management isn’t about lowering standards. It’s about making standards legible and support practical—so performance is fa

Most organisations want to hire neurodivergent talent. But their recruitment process often filters out the very people they hope to attract—by measuring coping skills (speed, social performance, tolerance of ambiguity) rather than job-relevant skill. Neuroinclusive recruitment isn’t about lowering standards. It’s about making selection methods valid, accessible, and fair. This post is a practical guide for HR, hiring managers, and leaders: where bias shows up, what to change,

On 17 March 2026, we’re hosting an online roundtable called “Autistic-Inclusive Digital Communication Roundtable: Toolkit to Training” with Queen Mary University of London. The session is designed to do something we care about deeply at Divergent Thinking: turn strong research into practical training employers can actually use. You can view the event here: Autistic-Inclusive Digital Communication Roundtable: Toolkit to Training What makes this event feel important to us is th

Most organisations don’t have a “meeting problem”. They have a decision problem. Meetings become long, ambiguous, and exhausting when people aren’t clear on why they’re there, what’s being decided, and what happens next. Neurodivergent colleagues often feel the cost first—but the benefit of fixing meetings is universal: less rework, fewer misunderstandings, faster execution. If you want your managers trained to run neuroinclusive meetings (online or in-person), start here:...

If adjustments in your organisation depend on who someone’s manager is, you don’t have a system—you have luck. A clear reasonable adjustments policy turns legal duties into predictable practice, reduces disputes, and builds trust. Below you’ll find a concise, copy-paste policy you can adapt, followed by implementation notes and common traps to avoid. This guidance tracks the Equality Act 2010 (employer duty to make reasonable adjustments), the EHRC Employment Statutory Code o

If you’re buying neurodiversity training in the UK, you’re probably juggling a familiar set of pressures: managers need practical skills now teams are overloaded you want consistency around reasonable adjustments you don’t want “tick-box awareness” that changes nothing you need something that fits your organisation’s reality This guide is written for employers commissioning training. It’s not about buzzwords. It’s about what good training looks like, how to structure it, and

Most training fails for a boring reason: the organisation returns to its defaults. People attend a session, feel motivated, then go back to unclear priorities, chaotic meetings, and inconsistent adjustments. Nothing is reinforced, nothing is measured, and the habits that create friction stay in place. If you want neurodiversity training to create real behaviour change, treat it like implementation—not an event. This post gives you a practical six-week plan you can run after a

Most corporate training is polished, popular — and forgettable. Slides are tidy, feedback is warm, and yet behaviour at work barely shifts. Neuro-inclusive training solves the problem by designing for how people actually learn, not how we hope they learn. The best scaffold for this is Universal Design for Learning (UDL): multiple ways to engage, multiple ways to take in information, and multiple ways to show understanding (CAST, 2018). Done well, UDL reduces cognitive load, r

If you manage people, you’re already doing neuroinclusion work—whether you call it that or not. Because most “neurodiversity challenges” at work aren’t about capability. They’re about design: unclear expectations, inconsistent feedback, chaotic meetings, shifting priorities, and adjustments that depend on how confident someone feels asking. Good manager training fixes the design. Bad manager training adds jargon. Here’s how to tell the difference—and what to do next. During a

Managers need a way to act this week, not after a six-month policy rewrite. A simple traffic-light model turns neuro-inclusion from intent into practice: Green changes you can approve instantly, Amber changes you coordinate with colleagues, and Red changes that need bespoke support (for example, Occupational Health or procurement). It’s lawful, practical, and it scales. Why this works UK guidance emphasises needs-led, proportionate adjustments; diagnosis is not a prerequisite

Most organisations don’t fail at neurodiversity training because they chose the “wrong topic”. They fail because they buy a session that can’t translate into day-to-day manager behaviour—so the organisation returns to its defaults: vague priorities, inconsistent adjustments, and meetings that create ambiguity instead of decisions. If you’re commissioning neurodiversity training (especially for managers), these seven questions will tell you whether it will stick. If you want t

A practical 10-point self-audit for managers who want clearer expectations, fairer support and day-to-day habits that make neuroinclusion stick.

Most managers don’t need more theory. They need a repeatable way to reduce confusion, rework, and overload—fast. The good news: a huge amount of neuroinclusion is just clarity, applied consistently. This post gives you a simple 30-minute “clarity upgrade” you can run with your team this week. It reduces friction for everyone, and it’s especially helpful for neurodivergent colleagues (without requiring anyone to disclose anything). If you want a session that teaches managers a

Practical UK examples of reasonable adjustments for autistic, ADHD, dyslexic and dyspraxic employees—plus guidance on making support work.