06 - 22 Neurodiversity in the workplace with Isabella He and Isabelle Hsu
Explicit content warning
06/07/21 • 26 min
Despite all the research that shows the untapped talent and capabilities of neurodiverse population, neurodiverse individuals are still facing significant barriers when seeking employment and adapting to workplace culture and practice that is not made accessible to them. How can employers proactively design a healthy workplace to support neurodiverse individuals to shine with their incredible talents? On today’s podcast, Isabella He and Isabelle Hsu, two young leaders of advocacy for neurodiversity, join us to share their insight and experience.
Isabelle and Isabella’s tips on making workplace accessible for neurodiverse individuals:
- Adopt a strength-based approach. Neurodiverse individuals might need specific accommodations to equip them to work in the style they feel comfortable with and show their amazing strengths. Focus on their strengths when you communicate and work with neurodiverse individuals. Adopt the mindset of how you can design the workplace to unleash the amazing strengths of your neurodiverse teammates.
- Raise general awareness and literacy about neurodiversity. The literacy around neurodiversity is still relatively low in our society. Seek resources that raise awareness at your workplace to learn more about neurodiversity so that you and your team know how to
- Seek help to design the accessibility policy and practice at your workplace. There are professional accessibility specialists that can help you design your workplace practice and support your workplace to be certified neurodiverse workplace.
Favourite Quotes from Today’s Episode
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“I founded SN Inclusion after realizing that some people I knew that I had no idea were neurodiverse were actually neurodiverse and they had such struggles getting into the workplace and face so many adversities due to a lot of the stigmas that still perpetuate yeah in our world today. Unemployment rates among individuals with autism spectrum disorder is at 85%. I was shocked by that statistics.” - Isabella
“One thing to keep in mind is that so many of us with neurodiverse conditions have unfortunately learned to keep our conditions private and try not to bother others or to advocate for our specific needs. Of course, there are also people who are the complete opposite of that. But in general, if an employer wants to make a workplace more friendly, I suggest they approach it in a more proactive way to ask what needs to be done instead of waiting for employees to approach you and tell you what they need.” - Isabelle
Resources from this Episode
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Despite all the research that shows the untapped talent and capabilities of neurodiverse population, neurodiverse individuals are still facing significant barriers when seeking employment and adapting to workplace culture and practice that is not made accessible to them. How can employers proactively design a healthy workplace to support neurodiverse individuals to shine with their incredible talents? On today’s podcast, Isabella He and Isabelle Hsu, two young leaders of advocacy for neurodiversity, join us to share their insight and experience.
Isabelle and Isabella’s tips on making workplace accessible for neurodiverse individuals:
- Adopt a strength-based approach. Neurodiverse individuals might need specific accommodations to equip them to work in the style they feel comfortable with and show their amazing strengths. Focus on their strengths when you communicate and work with neurodiverse individuals. Adopt the mindset of how you can design the workplace to unleash the amazing strengths of your neurodiverse teammates.
- Raise general awareness and literacy about neurodiversity. The literacy around neurodiversity is still relatively low in our society. Seek resources that raise awareness at your workplace to learn more about neurodiversity so that you and your team know how to
- Seek help to design the accessibility policy and practice at your workplace. There are professional accessibility specialists that can help you design your workplace practice and support your workplace to be certified neurodiverse workplace.
Favourite Quotes from Today’s Episode
Post your favourite quote on social media to share with us!
“I founded SN Inclusion after realizing that some people I knew that I had no idea were neurodiverse were actually neurodiverse and they had such struggles getting into the workplace and face so many adversities due to a lot of the stigmas that still perpetuate yeah in our world today. Unemployment rates among individuals with autism spectrum disorder is at 85%. I was shocked by that statistics.” - Isabella
“One thing to keep in mind is that so many of us with neurodiverse conditions have unfortunately learned to keep our conditions private and try not to bother others or to advocate for our specific needs. Of course, there are also people who are the complete opposite of that. But in general, if an employer wants to make a workplace more friendly, I suggest they approach it in a more proactive way to ask what needs to be done instead of waiting for employees to approach you and tell you what they need.” - Isabelle
Resources from this Episode
Liked this episode? Have an idea? Send us a text HERE :)
Take just two minutes to find out where you stand with our burnout check quiz: burnoutcheck.paperform.co
Get clarity with 10 simple questions. Your answers will reveal how burned out you are, and more importantly, what to do next.
Previous Episode
going back to the office with Alice D'Abreu
Is your organization starting to plan for going back to the office? Or is your team going to continue working from home as we slowly transition to post-pandemic reality? Whichever option you’re thinking about, there are considerations for how to ensure your staff has a safe and healthy working environment. On today’s podcast, Alice D’Abreu, an HR expert and founder of Monday Morning, shares with us what employers should be thinking about, planning for, and starting to roll out now.
Alice’s tips on going back to the office
- Develop plans and strategies to ensure workplace health and safety at the office. Consider strategies such as installing plexiglass and implementing a shift system and pay attention to details that people might get exposed to health hazards.
- Have a work-from-home policy. It’s likely that for every organization, working from home will play a part in the post-pandemic reality. So if you don’t already have a work-from-home policy in place at your organization, start planning and implementing one.
- Make sure that you also consider how to ensure staff working from home have a safe and accommodating work environment. Just because staff are working from home, it doesn’t mean that you don’t need to consider their working conditions. Check in on if they have the right equipment and resources to work with and if there is the accommodation that they need at home.
- Provide targeted support to address the main challenges your employees have faced. Understanding that people have different levels of experiences and challenges during the pandemic, first get a pulse check on what are the specific challenges that your staff have faced, and then look into providing targeted resources, training, or workshops to support them.
Favourite Quotes from Today’s Episode
Post your favourite quote on social media to share with us!
“Before COVID, there were a lot of businesses that didn't even consider work from home and it's just become a fundamental reality for people that this is not going anywhere and this change might be here to stay.”
“Think about how this whole pandemic experience has had an impact on people during these very trying times. Get a pulse of what are the main challenges that people have faced and might face going forward and then look into providing targeted support.”
Resources from this Episode
Liked this episode? Have an idea? Send us a text HERE :)
Take just two minutes to find out where you stand with our burnout check quiz: burnoutcheck.paperform.co
Get clarity with 10 simple questions. Your answers will reveal how burned out you are, and more importantly, what to do next.
Next Episode
creating our future with André Pawan Vashist
How can we actively create the future we want to see beyond the COVID-19 pandemic? On today’s podcast, André Pawan Vashist, ecosystem facilitator, system solution designer, and seasoned nonprofit leader, shares with us his insights on how to move from a transactional way of thinking and doing to bringing about transformational changes in our sector and in our society as a whole.
André’s insights on how we move beyond the COVID-19 pandemic
- Move beyond transactional based processes. Recognize the limit of the transactional processes (like a grant application for funding) in our system and assess how they can better reflect relationships and perspectives from different communities.
- Actively learn different ways of knowing and thinking. To bring about transformational changes, We must learn not only the different ways of doing but also the different ways of knowing. In the episode, Audre gives the example of learning from Indigenous communities and how they view ways of knowing.
- Hold space to heal our intersectional identities. We see through experiences from our different lived experiences and identify. It is important to not only recognize the different identities and perspectives that co-exist, but also celebrate that identities are intrinsically intersectional.
- Increase transparency and openness. Say goodbye to job postings that don’t disclose salary range. Question the lack of transparency and what kind of structure and value they try to uphold that no longer fit into the equitable world we want to see.
Favourite Quotes from Today’s Episode
Post your favourite quote on social media to share with us!
“To go from transactional to transformation - in the middle of that is our relationships”
“Revisit what it means to be an actor in society and not having to always be structured within a hierarchical organizational structure, it's okay to have those structures because they’re foundational in terms of holding space and resources, but they also interact in terms of transformation that requires actors moving in between those spaces"
Resources from this Episode
Liked this episode? Have an idea? Send us a text HERE :)
Take just two minutes to find out where you stand with our burnout check quiz: burnoutcheck.paperform.co
Get clarity with 10 simple questions. Your answers will reveal how burned out you are, and more importantly, what to do next.
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