Neurodiversity & Neuroinclusion Blog

This week brought a special moment as Eastleigh College (SHCG) published a feature on Nat Hawley, an alumnus whose path from studying Art, Media and Design to founding Divergent Thinking offers a powerful story about building neuroinclusive workplaces. Nat’s journey shows how creativity and lived experience can shape meaningful work that supports diverse ways of thinking. Discovering a Path at Eastleigh College Nat attended Eastleigh College in 2010–2011, completing a Level 3

Explore how divergent thinking strengthens workplace inclusion by helping teams surface more ideas, reduce bias, and design better support.

This week, Divergent Thinking was featured in the St Albans Times (Issue 164) during Neurodiversity Celebration Week. The article highlighted practical neuroinclusion strategies that local employers can adopt with ease. Neuroinclusion often gets misunderstood as “special treatment,” but it is really about removing unnecessary barriers so everyone can perform at their best. The piece shared three simple, clarity-first tweaks that require no big budget or new policies—just smal

Dyslexia isn’t a sign someone is “bad at words”. It’s a difference in processing that can show up in reading, spelling, speed of written work, and working memory—especially under pressure. The workplace mistake is to treat dyslexia support as either: “Just use Grammarly,” or “They can’t do writing tasks.” Neither is true. The real solution is better work design: clearer briefs, better templates, smarter review cycles, and tools that reduce unnecessary friction. This post is a

Neuroinclusion in Social Care: 5 Practical Adjustments That Strengthen Staff Confidence By Jade Bossman-Yankey, Senior People Manager at Log My Care Working in social care is incredibly rewarding, but it’s also one of the most demanding environments to be part of. The pace is fast, the emotional weight is real, and the responsibility is huge. It asks a lot from every person on the team. Before moving into People & Culture, I actually started my career in social care myself,

Most workplaces still assume people are interchangeable 9–5 machines. They’re not. Human alertness, memory, mood and error-risk all follow circadian patterns—and they vary by chronotype (morningness–eveningness). When work time fights body time, you get “social jetlag”: chronic sleep loss, lower cognitive performance and higher health risks. Align the job with the clock inside the person and you improve sleep, thinking quality and retention—without heroic policies or medical

Most “autism at work” advice fails in two ways: It leans on stereotypes (social skills, eye contact, “high/low functioning”). It gives vague guidance (“be understanding”) without changing the systems that create friction. Autism isn’t one profile. It’s a different neurotype interacting with an environment. When the environment is predictable, clear, and sensory-considerate, autistic people often thrive—and teams become more effective for everyone. This is a practical guide fo

Short version: autistic burnout is not ordinary “stress”. It’s a prolonged state of exhaustion, reduced capacity and often a temporary loss of skills, typically triggered by chronic load, sensory overwhelm and a mismatch between expectations and support. It is preventable—and recoverable—when you redesign work and honour your legal duties. What autistic burnout is (and isn’t) Peer-reviewed studies define autistic burnout as a syndrome arising from chronic life stress and a m

A clear introduction to leveraging divergent thinking so organisations can build more inclusive, creative, and effective workplaces.

Practical support strategies for autistic employees in UK workplaces, with clear steps for managers, communication, adjustments, and inclusion.

A focused 90-minute neuroinclusion audit framework for leaders who want to spot barriers, prioritise action, and improve workplace support.

Dyslexia is not a measure of intelligence; it’s a difference in how information is processed—especially around phonological decoding, working memory, and processing speed. In modern workplaces, the biggest barrier isn’t spelling its workflow designed for constant, rapid reading and immaculate, on-the-spot writing. Fix the workflow and most “performance issues” evaporate into simple design problems. What dyslexia typically affects (and what it doesn’t) Research consistently li

Most “communication issues” with autistic colleagues aren’t deficits in one direction. They’re mismatches between expectations, pace, salience, and style—the double empathy problem (Milton, 2012). When neurotypical norms are treated as the default, autistic communication gets misread as blunt, disinterested, or slow; when autistic norms dominate, neurotypical cues can feel opaque or indirect. Neuro-inclusive teams fix the system so meaning travels reliably in both directions.