What is neurodiversity, particularly in the context of work and business? Well…
“Search as you might, there is no brain that has been pickled in a jar in the basement of the Smithsonian Museum or the National Institute of Health or elsewhere in the world that represents the standard to which all other human brains must be compared.”
So wrote educator, writer, and psychologist Thomas Armstrong in a seminal 2015 article entitled The Myth of the Normal Brain: Embracing Neurodiversity.
As someone who has worked in and written about the neurodiversity at work field for some time, I have always particularly liked this image and quote, and frequently come back to it.
Why? Because it encapsulates the fundamental reality of human neurodiversity—one so important, yet until recently so little discussed—no two brains are alike, and we are all wired differently.
In business, as the topic of embracing neurodiversity continues to rise in prominence, it is still often misconstrued. Graphics that show “Neurodiversity” to be (only) relevant to neurodivergent identity groups such as autistic people or ADHDers are misleading. Similarly, “Neurodiversity” is not simply a new form or pillar of corporate diversity & inclusion efforts.
No—again, everybody is wired differently, and this is the true meaning and essence of neurodiversity. We may or may not each have a conscious neuroidentity, per the above—some do, very consciously, feel a neurodivergent identity in the sense of a brain that (to quote author and educator Nick Walker) diverges in terms of societal expectations of normal. Some may not feel much of a conscious neuroidentity at all, regardless of the true nature of their own brain wiring.
But back to the essence of neurodiversity—something that by definition means that any organization, any team, and any candidate pool is........