In many organizations, disability and neurodiversity inclusion are often treated as if they’re the same thing as accessibility and accommodations. This does not work for disability inclusion – ramps and speech-to-text software do not guarantee coworker respect or the absence of promotion barriers rooted in ableist assumptions. And it does not work for neuroinclusion either.
While neuroaccessibility and accommodations are crucial, they don’t automatically create neuroinclusion. You can offer noise-canceling headphones and even flexible work hours, but if the culture doesn’t truly support neurodivergent ways of thinking, feeling, and interacting with physical and social environments, neuroinclusion does not happen. When authentic presence is not safe and authentic growth is not supported, neuroinclusion does not happen.
Let’s break it down.
Accommodations—like providing a quiet workspace for focus away from the open office—are helpful tools to support specific needs.
Accessibility does not just serve disabled or neurodivergent people. It supports everyone by making Performance and Inclusion Enhancers (PIEs) available to everyone, without requiring “special” requests or disclosure of medical information.
Neuroaccessibility—such as flexible schedules or minimizing sensory overload in the office for everyone—ensures that neurodivergent employees can work without endangering their health, and everyone else is supported in making the most of their efforts. This is important – but not enough.
Accessibility and accommodations do not guarantee inclusion.
Take this scenario: a company introduces flexible working hours. It offers quiet zones for employees who struggle with noise and sensory overload. Thank you, great start! But if neurodivergent employees still face subtle (or not-so-subtle) stigmas and are excluded from high-stakes projects and leadership development, the company’s efforts toward inclusion still fail.
It is helpful when the the physical environment is more manageable, or less harsh and painful. But if neurodivergent employees are being passed over for promotions or office jokes reflect subtle (or not-so-subtle) stigmas, the underlying culture remains unwelcoming.
Neuroinclusion goes deeper than surface fixes. It means that the organization has mechanisms for ensuring that neurodivergent people don’t just “function” but are valued, supported in their development goals, and recognized for their contributions.
Removing cultural barriers to inclusion
The real test of neuroinclusion is culture. A company can offer a couple of quiet rooms, but if the corporate culture still treats neurodivergent employees as “different and less,” true inclusion and belonging will remain out of reach.
Here’s where many organizations get stuck on the path toward inclusion: they focus on the tools (accommodations and accessibility), but they don’t address the mindset, cultural norms, and behavior. In an inclusive culture, there are no stereotype-based assumptions about the interests, abilities, or motivations of neurodivergent employees. They are given the same opportunities to contribute, lead, and innovate as neurotypical employees. There are no invisible ceilings.
Accommodations and neuroaccessibility can get neurodivergent employees in the building, but neuroinclusion gives them a respected voice in the boardroom. This can only happen when the organizational mindset reflects a culture-add perspective, and all talent processes are designed for the inclusion and integration of differences without assimilation.
Currently, organizations are filled with barriers only some notice, from opaque communication and rigid requirements that don’t account for disability to the tolerance of microaggressions and bullying. A barrier audit with the active participation of the most marginalized will reveal these issues, and a commitment to addressing both barriers and underlying assumptions that create these barriers is the way toward true inclusion.
For example, microaggressions, or subtle acts of exclusion are a barrier that is often dismissed or downplayed. Even if meetings are made accessible – for example, by allowing remote participation or written input – neurodivergent employees may still experience subtle exclusion from team discussions, be talked over, or have their ideas brushed off without consideration. An autistic employee might share a unique solution only for it to be ignored, but the same idea is applauded when voiced by someone else later. Over time, this erodes confidence and creates a toxic work environment.
In healthy cultures, managers and coworkers learn how to spot subtle acts of exclusion and care to intervene early. Cultural norms call for everyone’s contributions to be acknowledged, and credit is given where it’s due.
From fixing an inclusion pain point to systemic change
Building neuroinclusive systems requires a systemic approach. Accommodations and neuroaccessibilty are integral to such systems, but they are not sufficient without inclusive changes in cultural norms.
While cultural change may sound intimidating, it is about process, not perfection. Every organization needs to start inclusive changes somewhere. Waiting to create a “perfect” culture before implementing accessibility means that inclusion will never happen. Waiting for perfect accessibility without cultural change means that accessibility will never happen.
As a first step toward creating inclusive systems, I recommend the “fix a pain point first” approach described in my book, The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity, and Intersectional Belonging at Work. This approach calls for finding and fixing a pain point that many employees struggle with. This can be a noisy office or the Byzantine promotion system. Fixing such pain points thoroughly can be a win that jumpstarts a broader change.
Fixing the pain point may start with accommodations but move quickly toward ensuring accessibility and inclusion. For instance:
- If a noisy open office is a problem, headphones or working from home could accommodate employees for whom the environment causes sensory overwhelm or migraines. Accessibility can be supported by a remodel, and/or by switching to hybrid work to reduce crowding. Inclusion can be built by modeling social norms that respect the need for focused work.
- If a confusing and non-transparent promotion system frustrates employees and drives them away, providing an explanation of the unwritten promotion rules in writing to autistic employees might be an accommodation. However, documentation of the process, with clear criteria and steps to take, makes the process much more accessible. Better yet, making sure that the criteria are unbiased and the process is followed will support a much more inclusive pathway to professional growth.
Accommodations are important, and accessibility makes a difference. But inclusion happens when we systemically tear down the barriers to employment and success. One barrier at a time.