The third post in this blog series hits a little closer to home for me and is something that I’m now trying to attach to the career path I want to go down. It’s really personal to me and I’m really glad that I’ve writem this and feel positive enough to share it.
Definitions
Mine
Neurodiversity – A concept that understands that there are various ways in which the brain can function, showcasing that humans naturally think about things differently whilst also recommending that everyone should recognise and respect those who are neurologically distinctive as we do to those with other forms of disability.
Others
‘Neurodiversity is basically just a term that describes, uhm, the natural variations in the way the human brain can develop. So, autism is one part of that - well it’s many parts of that because the spectrum is so diverse, but neurodiversity also encompasses things like learning disabilities, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and I guess more widely the neurodiversity movement is about accepting and embracing neurodiversity. It’s not saying that everything’s perfect and everything’s wonderful and we don’t have difficulties, but that those difficulties aren’t a reason to think of the way our brains work as being worthless or, you know, a terrible bad thing.’ (Georgia Harper, on the Reasons to Be Cheerful with Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd podcast episode 63 Valuing Neurodiversity: How Society Needs to Change, 3 December 2018)
‘As [writer Thomas] Armstrong points out, humans have tended to use significantly more positive language when discussing cultural diversity or biodiversity than when discussing neurodiversity.’ (CIPD Neurodiversity at Work Guide, February 2018, page 6)
‘Most people are familiar with the term diversity, which is basically understanding that each person is unique and recognising everybody’s individual differences. So neurodiversity is basically recognising that people’s brains function differently, so people learn and process information differently.’ (Emma Walker, Auticon, on the World of Work podcast episode 46 Neurodiversity and the Workplace, 4 November 2019)
‘However, it is estimated that around 1 in 7 people (more than 15% of people in the UK) are neurodivergent, meaning that the brain functions, learns and processes information differently.’ (ACAS Neurodiversity in the Workplace, 2016)
My Neurodiversity
Neurodiversity can include those with dyslexia, dyspraxia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Tourette syndrome, autistic spectrum disorder, dyscalculia and others. My main neuro-disability is autism which is defined as ‘a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others’ (The National Autistic Society, 2017). Yet, I also still take anti-depressants for depression which has been on and off since 2011, have an eye situation called Rod-Cone Dystrophy and both joined together meant I’ve been assigned with a genetical distinction - Bardet Biedl Syndrome.
My differences have been written about in my master’s dissertation which, as I said in my post about my time during my master’s course, was on how disabled women experience being fans of television dramas. This argued that being a woman, disabled and a fan are identity elements constructed in relation to the fantasy spaces of television drama serials. This included how autistic females camouflage, have habitual interests/favourites and the fact that whilst I do not state my disabilities and health explicitly on my social media bios or within my posts, I do repost or share posts about disability and health on my profiles.
One final element of my thesis which has changed within me is how I say that I have Asperger’s Syndrome rather than autism. I have now moved into using the latter term more frequently as I am higher up the spectrum than others and want to be more generic. I also now call it, as well as my other ones, a disability rather than syndrome or condition as they are long-term and not curable. Although I sometimes relapse, I try not to see my disabilities as failings and my acceptance of them has changed my identity.
How I’m Bringing It into My Career Development
Since creating my brand ‘ofbeth’, I have stated that I want to help companies communicate effectively and diversely. This has now slightly changed thanks to talking to other people about what I do, my research into this topic and my time at the SetSquared Bristol Back Her Business event a few weeks ago. I would now say I want to help or advise organisations to become more neurodiverse in their marketing and communications.
In other words, or to be clearer, I believe that marketing, advertising and public relations are still very neurotypical. It has begun to represent people with disabilities but only certain types and is done by very few companies – according to Marianne Waite, only 0.6 per cent of advertisements represent disabled people. I also think that the media still stereotype neurodiversity according to each form’s better known characteristics and does not appear to recognise that the effects of the difference within an individual can change over time.
At the moment, I think I would want to work for other companies helping them with their marketing and making it more neurodivergent due to still being quite new to the world of work and not having much experience. However, I do think about the world of freelancing and entrepreneurship sometimes and would not rule it out.
Bringing More Neurodiversity into Workplaces
There are a few ways that workplaces can become more neurodiverse in the people they employ and the way their organisation works. To begin with, it is vital that employers, co-workers and recruiters understand and appreciate our differences by reconsidering preconceptions and societal judgements. When employing us, businesses should ask us on what terminology we prefer to use, which is also what should be done in regard to gender pronouns and sexuality, and what adjustments we might need.
Statistics show that just sixteen percent of autistic adults are in full-time employment, even though seventy-seven percent want to be working. This is horrifying given how many have much to offer workplaces, but is not surprising given the suspected residual stigma and fear that businesses have. As Marianne Waite tells the Social Minds podcast, there are risks but there is more risk in not taking any action or not doing anything about it.
Final Thoughts
I hope that this post has been helpful and inspiring, whether for those who are also neurodiverse, know anyone who is neurodiverse or anyone who works for any type of business. Let me know in the comments what you think and what your suggestions are for making both the working world and marketing more neurodiverse.
Beth x