12th April 2023
World Autism Month 2023
Enable x Working Parents Collective
To mark World Autism Month, our Enable and Working Parents Collective ERGs have come together to create and share a series of personal stories and tips about their experiences with autism and neurodiversity.
Thank you all for sharing your story.
Sarah Rose, Client Lead
Autism: A Love Story
I have a 7 year old son who is kind, loving and bright as a button. He also has ASD.
As his mum, I want to understand his neurodiversity and make sure he gets the right support and the same opportunities as other children. I’m also conscious of people’s reactions to behaviours like stimming or meltdowns and I want to protect him from feeling judged or different. I want people to see the child that I do and accept him for who he is.
I wanted to share something that has changed my perception of some autistic behaviours and might make you see them differently too.
The idea of love languages is pretty well known, but there are also autistic or neurodiverse love languages, which are related to a person’s unique traits and may be different from the neurotypical expressions of love we’re used to.
Here are a few we see in our family:
> Parallel play – feeling calm when playing near a loved one without wanting to play together.
> Unmasking – feeling safe to share your full self with someone you love and trust.
> Info Dumping – sharing everything you know about your special interest all at once.
> Bear hugs or deep pressure touch – pressure can be very calming and regulating for people who are sensory seeking.
So when my son tells me another 100 facts about his special interest or I see him stimming freely, I know he’s actually telling me he feels safe and loved.
And seeing these behaviours as expressions of love instead of something to worry about or fix has given me a tremendous sense of freedom. I don’t always need to be the problem solver or jump to his defence. Instead, I’m free to just see him, love him, and enjoy being in that moment together.
Thank you for reading x
Richard Kelly, Chief Solutions Officer
Any definition of diversity in the workplace has to include disability.
This month is about autism. The unemployment rate for neurodiverse adults in the UK is estimated at 30–40%, which is eight times higher than for people without a disability.
Let us not assume that everyone understands what we mean by neurodiversity; simply put:
> Neurodiversity refers to the natural variations in how the brain processes and interprets information. It’s the idea that there isn’t one "right" way of experiencing and interacting with the world and that cognitive differences shouldn’t be viewed as deficient but embraced as an inherent part of human diversity.
> Neurodivergent describes an individual with cognitive differences.
> Neurotypical describes an individual with a brain that functions in a typical way that more neatly "fits into" mainstream society (source: CultureAmp).
Autism is a type of neurodiversity. Benefits of autism include a greater ability to process information, high-energy, creativity, an ability to spot connections, elevated productivity and an inherently innovative way to problem solve versus the neurotypical.
Lots to celebrate then!
The great news is that a few simple and reasonable adjustments should be made to unlock this superpower in the workforce.
> Things like ensuring information, tools and systems are clear and easy to access, maybe recording video-meetings or adding closed captions, simply asking about their preferred way to learning, working or communicating, offering noise-cancelling headphones, easing sensory demands around sight, sound, touch, smell…you get the gist, reasonable tweaks that allow people to thrive and feel accepted.
A good number of us in the Enable ERG have experience living with/alongside autism. If you have any questions, want a discussion or have anything to raise I know I for one am more than happy to have a coffee and a natter with anyone who needs it. There are loads of resources and information around to offer ideas and approaches, but often it’s the community who’ve got lived experiences that can help the most.
I’d love to think we can all do our part in removing the obstacles that block a fair route to employment for such an amazing part of our society
Emily Rowland, Business Director and Salina Shah, Partner
In 2021, Mindshare (UK and WW), driven by the Enable ERG, participated in the Employ Autism Scheme. In partnership with Greenwich University, the scheme looks to unlock the potential of autistic students with the ambition of boosting the neurodiversity of the nation’s workforce.
We had the opportunity to hire 3 interns over an 8-week period to work across the partnerships, data-science, worldwide exchange, and client leadership teams. Prior to the interns joining, colleagues and managers of the interns enrolled in an immersive six-hour training process that provided an insight into Autism, how it might present and ways to ensure people were as happy, comfortable, and confident in our working environment as possible.
> From writing tailored job descriptions and assisting with job interviews, we adapted our approach to be mindful of the accessibility for individuals – it was a real learning curve and an agenda we MUST push further throughout the business.
We thoroughly enjoy having the interns working at Mindshare, with their approach, attitude and feedback providing invaluable lessons to those working both directly and indirectly in their teams. We are on the lookout for more positive schemes like this one to bring out more talent and diversity within the agency.
Thanking all the individuals in the specialist teams that supported the partnership.
Till next time.
Ella Davey, New Business Director
For me personally, World Autism Month is a step towards a society where autistic and neurodiverse people can be their authentic selves without fear of judgement or misconceptions.
We have, of course, only scratched the surface this month when discussing neurodiversity as well as embracing everyone’s differences and understanding how everyone’s brains work differently.
> We must continue to create compassion, share resources, and stay educated.
Every autistic person is different. Some are able to learn, live and work independently, while many have learning differences or co-occurring health conditions that require specialist support. Just because you think from the outside somebody doesn’t look neurodiverse does not mean they are not. We must not put neurodiverse people in a limited category of our society. We must allow everyone to reach their full potential and break the barriers and stigma we as a society have created. That may be as simple as changing the lighting at work or ensuring there are no loud noises or smells in the workplace.
1 in 67 people in the UK is autistic, but many adults have never been diagnosed. If you would like to action one thing on the back of this month – please ask your colleagues or direct reports if anything could be changed in the workplace to support them.
> Be patient and be kind. Treat everyone with respect
Just because someone processes the world differently doesn’t mean they are incapable. They are in fact very special and have tools and traits beyond a neurotypical person. They just need the time and support to shine.
Somebody who shines in my life and makes my life a million times better is my older brother Jack. Jack has ASD and also is registered blind. Throughout my life, I have watched Jack develop strategies and techniques which allow him to shine in a neurotypical world.
Yes, in Jack’s safe space, there are difficult moments but he has also gone above and beyond the expectations of his teachers, and SENCo (special needs coordinator). Not only does Jack have a 2:1 degree in Computer Science but he also has a Master's degree and currently works as a software engineer for Cisco. In the past few years, Jack has developed a special interest in fitness and last October ran his first marathon.
I hope sharing Jack’s story has made you think differently about neurodiverse people.
Thank you,
Ella x
Anonymous
In celebration of World Autism Month, I wanted to share my story as I firmly believe, the more people that talk about their struggles, the more people will come forward to ask for support or guidance.
Before I was diagnosed with ADHD, I always felt like there was something wrong with me. That I’d somehow fallen into a career in HR and that I was destined to fail, and everyone around me was waiting for me to do so! While a lot of people have imposter syndrome when starting a new job, this was something which was consuming me each and every day, I was always terrified thinking ‘I am not good enough to do this job.’
I have struggled with anxiety and depression for years, and the first covid lockdown made this clearer, I needed help and I didn’t know who to go to. I spoke with my GP and they prescribed me sertraline (antidepressant) but it wasn’t working, my doctor kept increasing the dose but my anxiety was still crippling each and every day, I knew something wasn’t right. One night I was speaking with my therapist during the 1st Covid lockdown, and they said to me "Please don’t take offence to what I am about to say, but I think from speaking to you during our sessions, you may have ADHD and I would like to refer you for an assessment." I sat there and smiled thinking ‘Is this the reason why I have struggled in life for so long?’ Up until this point I didn’t know a single person with ADHD, it was a very lonely and scary feeling, the thought of ‘am I the only adult with ADHD, isn’t ADHD only in children?’
In June 2020, I had my assessment with a psychiatrist this was held over Teams, it lasted for about 45 minutes, and they asked me loads of questions. It was a strange feeling as I was in the HR meeting room of Central St Giles. I didn’t really know where I wanted to have this assessment as I felt like it was going to be life-changing information, but I did know I didn’t want to be at home, alone with my thoughts I wanted to be in the office around people, kind of pretending as nothing had happened. At the end of the assessment, I was formally diagnosed with Combined Type ADHD. When the psychiatrist said this to me, my mind started racing; The thoughts of ‘is this why I didn’t apply myself at school?’ or missing typos when I was preparing documents for work, all of these emotions came over me. After a few moments, I processed the thoughts and it felt like I had just learnt a little bit more about ‘me’, as if someone had just given me a small piece of a jigsaw and shown me where it goes.
Since my diagnosis, I take medication daily (Elvanse) which gives me focus, and calm, most importantly helps me with daily life.
Some of the things I think that helped me, and I sometimes tell my team are;
> I am still me, I am still the same person I was before my diagnosis, please don’t think I am any different. I am here to do a job and I want to be treated the same as everyone body else. I may ask for more detail here and there, but if you give me some flexibility, I promise I will deliver.
> I have loads of things I have learnt over the years to help trick my brain so I can hyperfocus to get things done, feel free to do the same.
> If there is something I need to know everything about, I will 100% hyperfocus on learning it.
> Sometimes, I apply pressure to myself in certain situations, why? Because when I do this, I can achieve so much. If I know I have a deadline which takes up a lot of brain power, this is a great technique for me.
> Most days I will be super organised. I will be ready for every single situation which I think I may have to face in the whole day, but some days I really may struggle. I will try my best to communicate with you all if I am having a day where I am struggling.
> I am always open about my struggles as I want people to feel comfortable talking about theirs, we are here to support each other! If you are trying to concentrate and I am talking away, please feel free to tell me to shut-up, I won’t be offended, I really do love to talk!
Neurodiversity is so personal to each person, however, try to put yourself in their shoes, sometimes it can take so much energy to even show up each day.
> Try to be kind and patient with every person you meet.
A huge thank you to all of the HR team, everyone has been so supportive, I really couldn’t have asked for a better team to work with when I received my diagnosis. Everyone has been open to learning more, trying to understand how they can support me, something I will never forget.
Lockdown was a huge nightmare for everyone, but for me, it was a time of my life I finally got to understand more about ‘me’.
Thank you for reading.
If you're interested in learning more, check out these resources we have gathered:
GroupM: Microsoft x WPP Accessibility Training