April commemorates Autism Acceptance Month, kicked off with World Autism Awareness Day on April 2 as observed by the United Nations. This year, we are honoring Autism Acceptance Month by sharing some best practices and resources on how to best support neurodiverse individuals in your workplace and wider community. Uplifting diversity, equity, and inclusion remains an overarching goal for many organizations. However, fostering a truly inclusive workplace that promotes equity and highlights the value of diversity can be harder than we often anticipate.
How can we, as a network of mission-driven organizations, develop concrete strategies to champion neurodiversity within our professional and personal lives? In this post, we'll go over a few best practices to incorporate into your day-to-day operations at your nonprofit in order to do just that.
Advocacy starts with understanding. In order to better support neurodiverse colleagues in the workplace, it is essential to educate yourself and your colleagues on the many traits encompassed under neurodiversity. It is also important to recognize how neurodiversity advocacy fits into the wider Disability Justice Movement and disability rights advocacy at large.
Disability rights and accessibility protections are often what first come to mind in disability advocacy, but they don’t tell the full story. The Disability Justice Movement builds upon disability rights and accessibility advocacy with the addition of an intersectional lens. It centers disability activism around uplifting and empowering disabled individuals facing intersectional oppression including BIPOC, queer, trans, immigrant, homeless, and incarcerated people with disabilities.
Disability justice and concepts surrounding neurodiversity and intersectionality are ever-expanding along with the movements they stem from. There is always new discourse to explore, providing an opportunity to educate yourself today and to come back to the discourse later on to see how it changes. Below, you'll find a list of terms for further exploration and self-education. Take a moment to research and familiarize yourself with these terms, share with your colleagues, and revisit them throughout your allyship journey to renew your understanding.
The evolution of the Disability Justice Movement into where it stands today is a reflection of how intersectionality has shaped many contemporary movements including the Black rights and feminism movements. Adopting an intersectional lens goes beyond social movements, though. It shapes the way we engage with people every day, including those with neurodiversity and other marginalized identities. Educating yourself and leading conversations with others about neurodiversity and disability justice from an intersectional lens are great first steps to being an ally and advocate.
People who are neurodivergent can significantly benefit from simple accommodations, some of which are already general workplace best practices. Like others, those with neurodiversity may have work strengths that are amplified when they are in a comfortable work setting that suits their needs.
For example, some traits that many people with autism share are trustworthiness, reliability, attention to detail, ability to focus, innovation, and logical thinking. However, these strengths can often be overshadowed in ambiguous or high-stimulation settings that may be triggering for those with autism. Implementing accommodation practices can bridge these barriers and provide a better opportunity for these colleagues to shine.
Below, you'll find some tips around how to communicate with your neurodivergent colleagues, particularly helpful for working with colleagues with autism.
There is also some nuance between the best practices around effectively communicating with neurodiverse colleagues versus making them feel more comfortable socially. Here are four more strategies to keep in mind.
To close, here are some key takeaways on how to be the best ally you can be:
Most importantly, if someone reveals their neurodiversity to you, don't see them as a different person. They still are themselves, possibly now more than ever. We, as a society, have both an opportunity and a responsibility to foster inclusive workplaces where people with neurodiversity can thrive.
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