Neurodiversity Celebration Initiatives

One of the best ways in which you can show you are genuinely engaged in neurodiversity as a business is to wear it on your sleeve. Take part in Awareness and Celebration Days and initiatives across the year, both internally and in your external comms.

By raising awareness and acceptance about what neurodivergence is, how it manifests, and the relative barriers faced by people who experience it, you are playing a pivotal role in fostering more understanding, more empathetic, and more inclusive workplace cultures - one in which more positive attitudes are shaped and harmful stereotypes are challenged.

Download our 2025 Neurodiversity Calendar to mark key dates throughout the year!

Track internationally recognised awareness days, weeks, and months, and participate in celebrating in a way that makes sense for your company

Silence your voice and centre those with lived experience

Communicate with neurodivergent employees, people around you, and communities about the organisations you champion and the messages and imagery you use, to ensure you are amplifying actually neurodivergent voices rather than alienating them.

For example - ‘Autism Speaks’ is a recognised organisation that many businesses reference in their autism awareness/celebration days, but is one many actually autistic people are strongly averse to.

Similarly, a singular ‘puzzle piece' is an often used visual when it comes to initiatives and awareness campaigns about neurodiversity, but many actually in the community feel it represents neurodivergence as being a ‘missing part’, as if their brain was ‘incomplete’, and could be ‘fixed’.

Run social media campaigns celebrating neurodivergence, showing the world you care about these causes - sharing posts and work by neurodivergent creatives - or hire a neurodivergent designer to create your materials, if you can!

Offer workshops, seminars, and training sessions that educate your employees about neurodivergence, our strengths and the challenges we face, and why it is important to be inclusive.

Highlight success stories within your company and encourage employees to celebrate their neurodivergent identity(ies).

Avoid the ‘super power’ narrative. Many neurodivergent people have unique talents and skills, but perpetuating the idea that every neurodivergent person has special abilities has the unintended consequence of negating the genuine struggles many face, reinforces the untrue sentiment that neurodivergences aren’t ‘real disabilities’, and places pressure (and often, guilt) on those of us who aren’t, in fact, heroically gifted.

While we’re on it - do not endorse a ‘tragedy’ narrative, either.

Include your neurodivergent employees in planning (and leading) events and initiatives - if they would like to, of course.

Avoid any language associated with ‘curing’ or ‘fixing’ neurodivergence, focusing instead on support language.

Include everyone within these campaigns and initiatives - not just directed at neurodivergent people themselves.

Virtual and/or augmented experiences that simulate sensory overload in every situation can really help neurotypical people to better understand and empathise with the experiences of the neurodivergent people around them. Consider sharing these with your employees - here’s some examples: