Inclusion work often stops at the categories that are easy to count. Neurodivergent and disabled employees are frequently left with a process that technically exists and practically does not work: a policy nobody has read, an accommodation request form that routes through three managers, and an unspoken expectation that asking will cost you something.
The population is larger than most organisations assume. Autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia are common, and many people are diagnosed in adulthood or not at all. Chronic illness, hearing loss, chronic pain and mental health conditions all sit under the same practical heading: people who can do the work well when the conditions are right.
Hiring
Many selection processes test tolerance for the process rather than ability to do the job. Rapid-fire panel interviews reward quick verbal processing. Unstructured conversation rewards social familiarity. Timed exercises unrelated to the role reward stamina under artificial pressure.
Several changes cost nothing and improve the signal you get from every candidate:
- Share the questions and the format in advance. Preparation is not cheating; it is what people do before a real client meeting.
- Offer a work sample as an alternative to abstract puzzles.
- Allow a written option for parts of the process.
- Tell candidates how to request an adjustment, early and in plain language.
- Score against defined criteria before the panel discusses, so that the most articulate person in the room does not set the verdict.
The job description matters too
Requirements like "high energy", "thrives in a fast-paced environment" or "excellent communicator" often describe a personality rather than the job. If the role genuinely needs those things, define what they mean in practice. If it does not, they are filtering people out for no reason.
Accommodations
Most requests are small: noise-reducing headphones, a predictable desk, written follow-ups after verbal briefings, flexible start times, captions on calls, a screen reader, a quiet room for focused work, or a schedule that allows medical appointments without negotiation each time.
The obstacle is rarely cost. It is the process. If requesting an adjustment means disclosing a diagnosis to three people and waiting six weeks, most employees will quietly do without and carry the extra load themselves.
What a good process looks like
- One named route, published where people can find it.
- No requirement to disclose a diagnosis in order to discuss what would help.
- A decision timeframe, and a named person accountable for it.
- A default of yes for low-cost adjustments, with the burden on the organisation to explain a no.
- A review date, because needs change.
Meetings and everyday work
- Send an agenda in advance so people can prepare rather than improvise.
- Confirm decisions and actions in writing afterwards. This helps everyone, and it is essential for anyone whose processing works better on the page than in the room.
- Allow cameras off without commentary.
- Leave a beat after a question, so the fastest speaker is not the only one heard.
- Avoid last-minute schedule changes where you can. Unpredictability is a cost, not a neutral event.
- Be specific in instructions. "Make it better" is an obstacle; "tighten the summary to one page and lead with the recommendation" is a task.
Managers matter most
An employee's experience usually comes down to whether their manager treats an adjustment as routine or as a favour. Ask every new report two questions: how do you work best, and what makes work harder than it needs to be? It is a normal management question, it costs one conversation, and it benefits the whole team.
When an adjustment is in place, do not narrate it to others. A colleague noticing that someone joins remotely on certain days needs no explanation beyond "that is their arrangement".
What disclosure feels like from the other side
People weigh disclosure carefully, and often decide against it, because the downside is concrete and the upside is uncertain. If you want disclosure rates to rise, make the environment safe first: talk about adjustments as ordinary, make senior people's own arrangements visible where they are comfortable sharing, and ensure nobody has ever seen a disclosure followed by a quiet reassignment.
The business case, briefly
Teams designed around one narrow working style get one narrow set of outputs. The practices above, written agendas, clear instructions, predictable schedules, quiet space, are simply good operating discipline. Most organisations discover that what they built for a few people improved conditions for everyone.
A short starting list
- Publish one accommodation route and remove the diagnosis requirement for a conversation.
- Add "how do you work best" to every onboarding.
- Share interview questions in advance as standard practice.
- Default to written follow-ups after verbal briefings.
- Audit job descriptions for personality requirements pretending to be skills.