Neurodistinct™

Random Thoughts on Being a Neuroinclusive Manager or Co-Worker

I was cleaning off my desk and ran across a printout I made of some themes from the following video which I thought would be useful on their own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuE4772PZxU&t=90s

While these themes deserve to be examined more closely and expounded upon, I thought there would be value to get them posted. Here are the big themes I think are the most valuable:

When someone mentions an idea and their idea makes no sense to you, it's probably because they look at the world in a completely different way than you. Not better or worse. Just 2 different styles of thoughts processes. A way to approach a challenge like this is to consider the different perspective as if it could potentially be right. This will lead you to examine the perspective more deeply and seek to understand the nuances. Approaching the different perspective as being wrong or mis-informed leads to merely looking for facets that can be use to prove it is not valid. This can causes you to miss what could be a valuable insight even if the total perspective proves to not fit the situation at hand.

You likely have neurodistinct individuals on your team and not know it. While we lack solid metrics to go on, it is believed about 20% of the general population is diagnosed with a recognized neurodistinct condition based on the medical model. Approaching this from the social model and taking into account numbers I have heard from employers as well as a recent survey from the UK, this number could range as high as 50%. This higher number is only considering those who identify as neurodistinct, not those who display neurodistinct traits but don't identify as such. We are learning that a large number of individuals may not be aware they present traits associated with the neurodistinct. Even if they are aware they may not share this fact. Unfortunately, there is often limited benefit to disclosing and frequently many cons. Saying 'hey I'm autistic / neurodistinct" may do nothing but create negative scrutiny.

You already have individuals who are very different than you in your organization whether based on culture, gender, neurodiversity, or any of the myriad ways we humans differ from each other. People have different ways of communicating, doing the same task, processing input, or facing challenges and it does not make them wrong or negative. Accept this and everyone will be more comfortable. Recognizing that different thinking provides useful perspectives will make people feel valued and likely increase productivity and retention. Any specific thinking style or perspective is not better or worse overall but in a particular circumstance there may be clear value of one approach over another.

If you match a neurodistinct person to the role and tasks based on their skills/abilities/traits you are highly likely to get better results. There tends to be more variation between the strengths and weaknesses in the neurodistinct community than there is  is in the population we consider as aligning more closely to neurotypical presentation. This can lead to performance . For example  some Autistic individuals performance in QA and cybersecurity is markedly higher than the norm. Team s are always looking to come up with new innovative ideas. You don't get there by trying to think differently, you think how you think. You get there by having people who think differently all collaborating together.

Be a neuroinclusive colleague / manager by focusing on the behavior causing the challenge not what is causing the behavior. if can't get work organized, who cares if it is because of ADHD, autism, or a pressing personal situation. The challenge is how to help the person be more organized or maybe adjust the work assignment so the organizing doesn't fall on them. Not forcing people to disclose and instead dealing directly with the challenge or behavior and how you can support them benefits everyone regardless of the underlying cause. 

In a hiring / fit calls don't assume interest based on how you show it. If they say this job sounds interesting but are monotone don't conclude they are not interested. Many people don't display excitement in their vocal tonality or body language in a manner that aligns with the typical norm. This may be because the person falls into a neurodistinct category such as autism where a flat presentation is stereotypical or because they come from a culture where your version of displaying excitement is not acceptable. 

As I said in the beginning, these topics all deserve to be covered more deeply. Hopefully the short version I give here will be helpful and add some new insights for your interactions. Never forget that all humans are in the neurocloud and as my friend and collaborator Lutza Ireland is suggesting generative AI likely also needs to be considered as members of the neurocloud with its own unique traits.