If your job (or one of your staff) is affected by your Neurodiversity, you could qualify for the Access to Work grant and I can Workplace Strategy Coach you/them or Co-Coach with you/them and a line manager, so the work situation will improve. Employers can pay privately using this as Workplace Training or use the following funding: Access To Work is a UK government programme that grants up to £62,900 per annum to support people with a physical or mental health condition or disability to take up or stay at work. Getting an Access to Work grant won’t affect any other benefits received nor does it need repaying back. The employer may need to pay some costs upfront & claim them back later. If you have received Access to Work funding I will match any quotes. I currently work with large companies, coaching about and with their Neurodivergents. Please email me with your requirements and we can have a conversation about how that can work/costs. Click Here for Eligibility (https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work/eligibility)  

20% of adults are estimated to be Neurodivergent. Many Neurodivergent employees possess remarkable strengths, from advanced pattern recognition and deep focus to innovative thinking. However, despite these abilities, they frequently encounter workplace obstacles—including stigma, insufficient accommodations, and inflexible processes. Wouldn’t it be great to better understand what is going on for the ND individual/staff at work and put strategies in place and to improve?Neurodivergent individuals often bring distinctive strengths that can fuel innovation and boost organizational performance.

A 2023 report from Birkbeck University of London, found that among those surveyed, 80% cited hyperfocus, 78% highlighted creativity, and 75% pointed to innovative thinking as key strengths they contribute at work. These qualities can enhance problem-solving and inspire novel solutions, giving organizations a meaningful competitive advantage.

We all know about Sir Richard Branson and Elon Musk being Neurodivergent but many historical figures are also widely speculated to be, due to their observed behavioural and thinking patterns: Leonardo da Vinci,  Winston Churchill, Andy Warhol, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison *. 

A 2020 Survey of UK Employers revealed that a shameful 50% of them would not hire a Neurodivergent job seeker. So companies would not want to harness the amazing creativity of any of the above? I think not. 

However, if we have Neurodivergent employees on our teams that we are aware of, we are more able to avoid emotional or unhelpful situations, due to misunderstandings on both sides. This would reduce anxiety on both sides which would be magic, surely? If managers and colleagues understand how our ND brain works, they can get the best out of our/their working relationship and our/their role. From this calmer place, the Neurodivergent comes out of fight and flight and settles in.  

PLEASE NOTE. However good or senior an ND professional is, they will always be feeling deep down, that they are on the edge of the next professional humiliating catastrophe. Until we do the work and open up, on both sides, this dread can cause absenteeism due to ‘shame and burnout’ or overworking to ‘compensate’.  

My own Corporate story in the world of London Ad agencies is one of the video stories on the brilliant resource UNVAELD to redefine normal in the workplace. I talk about how my undiagnosed ADHD affected me at work and what came from the masking and not knowing what was going on. Burnouts. It is 8mins long and an honest recount. I used to be a Zombie on the weekends – Never knew why. It makes sense now that my social battery was flat, as I hadn’t realised what I needed, to even be able to ask for ND accommodations. 

*I note the absence of well known female names above but do not forget we are dynamite workers/leaders too. With women being diagnosed later in life and historical ND tests all carried out on males, until recently, we are behind in the Charts but still there.