If you’re a cyclist, a motorcyclist, someone who pushed a pram on the pavement, or heavy suitcases, you would likely cherish these spots where the pavement gets lowered to the ground. Did you know that these curb cuts were originally designed for disabled people?
They notably emerged in the US post WWII to help veterans in wheelchairs, and was pushed in the 60s in the UK by Selwyn Goldsmith, a urban architect who implemented them after consulting wheelchair users.
This is where the Curb Cut Effect comes from. It is defined as ‘a phenomenon in which accessibility tools, features, or design elements end up benefiting broader populations than intended.’
It has become a prime example of what we’d refer to as Universal Design, which is ‘the design and composition of an environment so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability or disability.’
Now, what does Neurodiversity have to do with this you might ask? Let’s explore!
How adjusting for Neurodivergent colleagues needs can support all employees
Two years ago, I received an ADHD diagnosis (and spoke about it here). This led me to a role where I get to support neurodivergent people through the impact of their diagnosis, or traits, on their learning or career.
I noticed a clear pattern in our conversations: they ‘don’t want to make a fuss’ about their condition by asking for adjustments although it would ultimately make them fully efficient on their roles.
They don’t want to be singled out with adjustments that they think would only benefit them.
But here’s the thing: it wouldn’t. A lot of adjustments for neurodivergent workers could help with the overall productivity in the office. Here are some examples:
💬 Create forums for disclosures
It often takes courage and trust for employees to open up about their neurodivergence (or any other conditions) and the impact it can have on their day to day. Make sure to create the space and opportunities for people to talk through what might be going on for them, be it a regular 1:1 check in or reminder during the team meetings. Better even, proactively as about a person’s working needs when starting the working relationship (this first meeting agenda template can come handy)
How is it helping neurodivergent employees?
It is creating the opportunity for them to discuss their traits, or diagnosis, as well as give candid heads up on how they might react to certain situations, as well as preferred ways of working.
How is it helping others?
It is estimated that 1 in 4 four people will experience mental health problems in any given year(Mind), 1 in 5 people are likely to be limited by health problems in 6 months period (ONS) and 4 in 10 people will be going through divorce at some point (Illinois University). These are just examples of the type of people who might benefit from this measure.
📝 Written requests and key information
It’s a common workplace occurrence: in a meeting or a corridor chat, the conversation steers to important contextual information being dropped and various points to actions are determined. A few days later, details get blurry. In fact, studies have demonstrated that ‘Estimates of how much of a conversation can be accurately recalled in detail after delays of several minutes to several weeks are quite low and range from 0% to 20% of the total idea units that occurred in the original conversation’ This highlights the critical need to follow up these conversations by emails.
How is it helping neurodivergent employees?
A common trait among neurodivergent people is challenges with verbal memory and retaining information, or instructions, that were said verbally. Getting to see key information or tasks requests written enables us to better process, retain and act on what has been discussed.
How is it helping others?
Being able to rely on a trail of exchange is beneficial for all parties as it sets clear documentation to refer to in the future. Especially for requests that run over a long time, or with different parties involved, this is the guarantee to minimise miscommunications or situations like the one described on this forum post.
📋 Clear and detailed agenda in meetings or workshops
There are times, especially for recurring meetings, where people just hop on a call, uninformed about how the next 30 mins, 1, 2 hours are going to be about. Anyone could arguably feel challenged about this approach, but it could be particularly debilitating for your neurodivergent employees. For this reason, you want to make sure to set a clear agenda prior to your meetings, small or large, and share with the stakeholders for them to prepare effectively.
How is it helping neurodivergent employees?
In a few ways! Firstly, it helps with preparation. Another way verbal memory challenges, mentioned above, manifests, is the difficulty to think on the spot. Being able to understand what it going to be discussed ahead of a meeting means that as neurodivergent employees we can collect our thoughts in advance and come prepared with our thoughts.
For long meetings in particular, it also helps with the ‘psychological’ preparation. The idea of having to sustain attention for several hours can feel very challenging for some neurodivergent people and having a clear idea of what the meeting roadmap is, and when the breaks are, helps alleviate this feeling.
How is it helping others?
We could argue that anyone could benefit from getting proper agendas, for the reasons mentioned above. But also, study shows that meetings with a clear agenda are 92% more likely not to have people rolling their eyes at the end of it thinking this could have been an email. You caught me, this last one a made up fact because I couldn’t find any research on this. It IS however an often cited best practice when it comes to optimising productivity in the workplace.
🔀 Flexible working
A hot topic at the moment as many organisations are trying to bring their employees back in the office (for what can be valid reasons!). As highlighted on the UK government website, flexible working is ‘a way of working that suits an employee’s needs’. This has to do with where people work from, when can they start and finish work, how many hours or what days of the week.
It’s also worth flagging that this is a request all employees can make, by making a statutory application.
How is it helping neurodivergent employees?
Different modalities of flexible working will cater to different impacts of neurodivergences. For example, flexible start and end times can support people with sensory challenges avoiding busy commute environment. They can also be supported by being able to work from home. This accommodation can also help with the focus on many different fronts (for example, enhanced focused as less distractions).
The flexible working hours can also mean that neurodivergent people can optimise their productivity by working with their peak times.
How is it helping others?
Where to even start! We could argue that nearly all employees would beneficiate at some point from flexible working in one way or another. Parents (3 in 4 mothers and 9 in 10 dads are in employment - ONS) and carers (1 in 9 employees - Employers for Carers) are probably the first group that spring to mind.
🗣️ Closed captions in meetings
Finishing this series of adjustments with a quick win that can have a huge impact: enabling closed captions in online meetings, or encouraging people to use them. Here is how you can add them for the most commonly used platforms: Zoom, Teams, Google Meet.
How is it helping neurodivergent employees?
This might not be for everyone, but some neurodivergent people can have challenges either keeping their attention up in meetings or processing information being shared to them (especially when there is little to no visual support). Adding captions is a great way to keep the brain engaged.
How is it helping others?
An increasing number of people have been using captions when watching videos in recent years. For example, an Ofcom study has shown that 80% of people enabling closed caption when watching television do it for other reasons than hearing impairment. Netflix reported that 40% of their users are enabling subtitles. This increase seem to be attributed to the variety of accents, but also environmental factors such as people being in noisy places or, conversely, quiet ones where they need to keep the volume to a minimum. We can see how this can apply to videos in the workplace, such as meetings or training.
Learn more
About Neurodiversity
Check out here the events during the Neurodiversity Celebration week
National charities (list non exhaustive!)
Autism Spectrum Condition: The National Autistic Society & many more here
Dyslexia: British Dyslexia Association & The Dyslexia Association
Dyspraxia: Dyspraxia Foundation
Dyscalculia: Dyscalculia Association
About adjustments at work
About Universal Design
Do feel free to get in touch you are somebody feeling challenged at work as a result of neurodivergent traits, or if you are curious about the topic and would like to learn more!
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