Making it Work at Work

Workplace adjustments are things that your employer or the business can put in place to make the working environment and processes an easier, more enjoyable, and more psychologically safe space for you to work in.

Here are some things you might be able to do, to help yourself.

Assistive Technology

Assistive Tech is such a game changer for so many of us neurodivergent folk. It can help us with the executive dysfunction challenges we may face, including with memory, organisation, focus, time management, and task prioritisation.

Your employer, and/or Access to Work, should be able to help you with any associated costs of assistive technology or software solutions. But do some research first and find out which ones work for you!

Here are some recommendations from other neurodivergent Creatives to get you started on your search:

Transcriber apps: Otter, Grain

Auto-generated meeting summaries: Zoom, Fireflies.ai

Task management: goblin.tools

Live captions: Caption.Ed

Note taking apps: Jamworks, Evernote

Time management apps: ClickUp, Brain Focus

Planning and scheduling: Lunatask

Writing tablet/digital notebook: ReMarkable

Text-to-Speech: Read&Write, ReadSpeaker TextAid

Speech-to-text software: Dragon Naturally Speaking

Mind-mapping tools: Mind Miester, Inspiration, SimpleMind Pro

Word prediction software: Read&Write

Noise-cancelling headphones: Loop, Sony, Bose

Reminder app: Due

Writing assistance: Grammarly

Manage your Emotions

To be at our best, we need to look after our wellbeing. This can be particularly tricky for neurodivergent people, navigating a world not built for our brains.

Remember to:

Recognise your emotional triggers, and make sure you, and your colleagues (if you’re comfortable sharing them), are equipped to help reduce them in the workplace.

Take time out for emotional regulation - that might mean stepping away from a situation, finding a quiet space, utilising a calming or breathing technique, setting boundaries around time-outs).

Have, and stick to, a self-care routine. Prioritise this where you can.

It’s okay to ask for help - internally or externally. Research what support you can receive and/or ask for through work, check out these mental health resources, or seek professional support where needed.

You are legally entitled to ask for Reasonable Adjustments - leverage them. Ask for flexible hours, creating a sensory-friendly workspace, or anything that can help manage your workload.

Work from Home

The normalisation of working from home post-Covid has been a godsend for so many of us - it has opened up doors to roles in the Creative Industries that may have been previously inaccessible.

That said - many of us are also useless with setting boundaries for ourselves around working hours, at setting up our own routines, and at functioning in hybrid spaces.

Help with these challenges by:

Establishing a daily routine that incorporates regular working hours, structured breaks and mealtimes, and cut off points for communication, just like you would in an office. Utilise apps and/or software that can help you manage it!

Be consistent with your routine! This can help regulate your body’s internal clock and minimise procrastination.

Have a colleague, friend, or support worker to help hold you to account around deadlines and routines.

Designate a dedicated workspace - this will help signal to your brain to focus, and will stop your entire home feeling like ‘work’! It’s important to have a separation between your working space and your relaxing space, otherwise the two become merged.

Prioritise with to-do lists, and use assistive technology such as Goblin.tools to help you break down large tasks into more manageable steps.

Communication Preferences

Be honest about the ways in which you want to communicate!

Often, methods of communication are prioritised because they’re just ‘the way things have always been done’, rather than based on any preference.

If you have a preferred mode, one that allows you to be at your best, then ask your colleagues and/or employer if a switch might be possible. Take these examples from our focus groups:

I’m terrible on the phone. If I’m not able to look at someone, I can misread their tone, not be able to anticipate what they’re going to say, not know how to end it - it’s horrendous. So I avoided them, and that impacted how my worth ethic and capability was perceived. But when I was honest, and asked if we could prioritise video calls, emails, or in-person meetings instead - I was able to be at my best. And lots of my colleagues preferred it, too.ere.

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- Researcher for screen, focus group participant

My dyslexia means my emails or Teams messages aren’t always the best, and I was scared for so long that people thought I was stupid. But I’m not. Once I explained it to my Team, they were all much more empathetic to any grammar or spelling mistakes, and let me jump on a call to explain my points, rather than relying on written communication.

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- Editor, focus group participant

It is up to your employer if they can accommodate your preferences, but you won’t know until you ask!

Career Progression

Neurodivergent people have additional barriers to overcome when it comes to career progression, not least because of misconceptions decision-makers have about what we’re capable of and what a leader ‘looks’ like, as well the self-esteem challenges many of us experience.

When looking for that step up, consider:

Fighting a bit harder to be honest about your ambitions. Just because you may be, for example, quieter than your colleagues, that doesn’t mean you’d be less of a leader than them. Or just because you’re not interested in people-management, for example, that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t relish additional responsibilities. Tell your employer what you want, and don’t let them make assumptions about what you’re capable of.

Ask for feedback, and have regular check-ins with your boss.

Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to seek training or development that caters to your strengths and enhances your value in the role you aspire for.

Managing Burnout

Burnout is a state of mind that comes with long-term, unresolved stress that can negatively affect your work and life.

In a work context, this is a special kind of work-related stress and seen as a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity. Consequences include anxiety, depression, and physical health, too.

In a neurodivergent context, this state can be exasperated by the constant masking we need to perform to fit into a neurotypical society.

Check out these tips from Prof. Amanda Kirby for reducing your risk of burnout:

Source: Amanda Kirby, Do-It Profiler

Amanda Kirby has an international reputation in the field of Neurodiversity. She is the current chair of the ADHD Foundation, in the UK works closely with the BDA, Dyspraxia Foundation, and several Autism charities. She has written 8 books and more than 100 research papers in the field and is an Emeritus Professor at the University of South Wales and honorary professor at Cardiff University.