At a glance
Diversity of brain wiring
“The term ‘neurodivergence’ has grown to encompass or group together a range of consistent ways that some brains work differently from others.
“It’s a way of thinking about variations such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and others as variations from the typical population, rather than as disabilities.”
Addressing talent shortages
“The unemployment rate for autistic individuals is over 30 per cent, which is three times the rate of people with a disability and six times the rate of those without a disability.
“This is not a great situation to have, particularly when we’ve got all the talent shortages that we’re currently experiencing.”
Inclusivity for a competitive advantage
“There is this idea of the competitive advantage of having a diverse organisation, having diversity of thinking and having diversity of perspectives among your employees and the impact that can have.
“Some of the more progressive organisations have really gone into embrace diversity of backgrounds, gender, ethnicity, culture, but there are only some organisations that have taken the step of recognising neurodiversity as another rich source of different thinking.”
The benefits of neurodiverse talent in the workplace
Current neurodiverse workforce
“I believe that over 20 per cent of the general population is neurodivergent and it’s likely this is represented in each of your organisations.
“That might include individuals who may not realise they are neurodivergent. Some of those people may well be suffering from the challenges of the workplace. They may have sensory sensitivities, and they may be struggling with the expectations of social interaction in the workplace.
They may struggle with the way in which methods of communication are expected to happen. If we create the environment where they can thrive, we can get some extraordinary outcomes.”
Neurodiversity in the accounting profession
“If we focus on the accounting industry, some autistic or neurodivergent individuals have some great strengths, and it’s not across the board, but you’ll find these strengths from different people.
Things such as attention to detail, ability to hyper-focus on tasks for long periods, ability to identify patterns, being systematic and logical, being abstract thinkers and possessing this strong level of honesty and loyalty.
“There are a lot of roles out there that would benefit from these traits. It could be these very roles that could appeal to this untapped talent pool.”
