Once I was listening to a lecture on YouTube by an MIT professor and later found out that the lecturer has dyslexia. Coming from a culture where this Bollywood movie called “Taare Zameen Par” was a superhit, I was quite amazed by her. Her name is Catherine Drennan, and it was enlightening to listen to her story and read about her struggles and successes.
This story of how a neurodivergent person can thrive and perform excellently in a place like MIT is appreciable. It helps eliminate the biases that we might have about neurodivergent people in the workplace. Neurodivergent people bring a unique perspective and equally good skills to the workplace and help the organization in so many ways.
In this post, we will discuss this topic in more detail and learn about various ways in which we can make the hiring process much more inclusive for neurodivergent talent.
What is neurodiversity?
Neurodiversity refers to the diversity in the neurological patterns of people. It means not everyone thinks, behave, or process information the same way. There is no right or wrong way of thinking, behaving, or processing information. Some people fall into the category of behaving, learning, and interacting with the world in a “normal way”. These people are called neurotypical people. People who learn, behave, or interact with the world differently than what is considered “normal” are called neurodivergent people.
Why should you consider including neurodiverse people in the workplace?
As per numerous authentic sources including Harvard Business Review, “neurodiversity is a competitive advantage” for the workplace and we should strive to make our workplace as neurodiverse as possible.
Making sure that we have neurodiverse people in our workplaces is not just an act of kindness or service. In contrast, neurodiverse has been proven to increase the productivity of the company by about 30%. Neurodiverse people may lack some “typical” skills but at the same time possess excellent skills in other areas.
Many neurodiverse people, thanks to their different neurological patterns can think differently, creatively, and present out-of-the-box ideas and thoughts to the team. Neurodiverse people usually have better attention to detail, possess extraordinary visual thinking skills, have more accurate and solid memories, and so on. These aspects help in increasing the productivity of the company significantly.
Which conditions may be included in the neurodiverse category?
Neurodiversity includes any differences or disability that are different from what is considered normal or typical in a society. These include different neurological structures, learning disabilities, and developmental differences.
Some examples of neurodivergent conditions include:
1. Dyslexia:
It is a learning disorder that affects someone’s ability to read or write. In this condition, the brain learns written language very differently from the usual way making it difficult to understand and read words.
2. Autism:
It is a developmental disorder that affects how people behave, communicate, and build relationships in the world. It is usually diagnosed at an early age, but it can also be diagnosed later.
3. ADHD:
ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder affects a lot of people worldwide. It is also a developmental disorder and it affects one’s functioning. It affects how one approaches a task, completes it, and how much focus he or she may have.
4. OCD:
OCD or obsessive-compulsive disorder is a very common type of neurological and psychiatric disorder. In this disorder, a person suffers from some intrusive thoughts that come to their mind again and again. This thought makes them do a certain task repetitively or think about something again and again. It can be difficult to deal with such thoughts and make daily living difficult for the patient.
5. Tourette Syndrome:
This syndrome is a neurological disorder that causes the body to do certain unwanted movements. The patient does not have control over these movements and it makes the daily operation of tasks difficult to manage.
7. Trauma:
Trauma is a response to an unfortunate event that happened to someone. Events like going through various forms of abuse, natural disasters, wars, separation or death of a loved one, etc. These events shape and influence how one leads their life and can make one vulnerable.
Inclusive Hiring Practices for Neurodiverse People:
Now we have some idea about neurodiverse and what are the types of disorders and divergences that come under this term. Now let’s discuss various practices that you as a hiring manager or a fellow employee can perform to make the workplace optimal for neurodiverse people. And how to improve the diversity of thoughts and people in the workplace.
1. Make the Job Descriptions more inclusive:
The first thing that an employer can do to invite more neurodiverse people to participate in the interview process is to make the Job Ads and descriptions more inclusive. Writing or presenting them with neurodiverse people in mind. Keeping the font readable and comprehensible by people who have dyslexia. Or avoid saying you want someone who has excellent communication skills or is a team player unnecessarily. If the job role does not require one to be an excellent communicator then you should not mention that in the job description.
2. Focusing on skills rather than qualifications:
The hiring manager can achieve these by focusing more on skills rather than qualifications. As the neurodiverse people may not have conventionally accepted qualifications but can be very skillful.
So, you can implement such strategies to create a more diverse workforce. Other neurodiverse practices include:
3. Taking relevant tests and interviews that are in alignment with the job roles.
4. Making the interview process pressure-free and more inclusive. And so on.
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