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Organizational Psychologist specializing in neurodiversity
Neurodiversity at work has experienced explosive growth over the past decade. Once an obscure topic focused on specific learning disabilities and neurodevelopmental conditions, it now dominates many corporate inclusion agendas—even as efforts for other groups have receded.
Early narratives swung between extremes: outright exclusion on one side, and an idealized “neurodivergent people are magical talent unicorns” view on the other. The hope was to reach a pragmatic middle ground—designing roles and workplaces that better accommodate cognitive differences rather than forcing everyone into rigid, 20th-century job templates.
Yet in the UK—one of the most active countries in this space—several warning signs suggest the current approach is struggling.
Red Flag 1: Rising Adversarial Employee Relations
Disability discrimination cases referred to ACAS (the UK’s free conciliation service) have increased by over 40% in a year. Neurodiversity-related employment tribunal cases have nearly doubled since 2020.
The core problem: Employers and employees often frame the same issues differently. Managers see performance, attendance, or conduct problems. Employees see failures to provide reasonable adjustments for disabilities. Once trust erodes, disputes head to formal legal channels instead of being resolved internally.
Red Flag 2: Poor-Quality, Template-Driven Advice
Workplace needs assessments—intended to guide reasonable adjustments—are increasingly generic. Untrained staff rely on tick-box templates and standard recommendations that lack robust evidence.
Common examples include advising a security guard to work from home one day a week or the near-universal suggestion that “managers must give clear instructions.” Most managers already try to communicate clearly; the real challenge often lies in deeper mismatches of communication style, processing differences, or expectations—issues that require skilled assessment rather than vague platitudes.
Red Flag 3: The Drama Triangle Trap
Many neurodiversity situations fall into the classic “Drama Triangle” (Victim–Persecutor–Rescuer), a pattern that signals psychological unsafety and erodes relationships.
Originally, the neurodivergent employee is cast as Victim, the employer as Persecutor, and the coach/HR intervention as Rescuer. In practice, the roles have become fluid. Managers and HR professionals often exhaust themselves trying to accommodate, walking on eggshells, explaining differential treatment to teams, and compensating for missed deadlines or inconsistent performance. Many now feel victimized themselves, trapped by inflexible assessment reports that feel unreasonable or unworkable in context.
A Better Path Forward
The antidote to the Drama Triangle is **adult-to-adult relationships**. Neurodivergent employees are capable professionals, not children needing protection. Many benefit from targeted development in areas like time management, emotional regulation, communication, and self-advocacy—skills that workplace coaches and occupational psychologists have successfully supported for decades.
As neurodiversity consultant Jannett Morgan notes, protective hesitation and saviourism ultimately do a disservice. Cultural expectations around “soft skills” apply to everyone; lowering standards permanently is not inclusion—it can amount to a different form of discrimination.
**Practical recommendations:**
- Balance the needs of the individual, the role, and available resources. “Reasonable” adjustments depend on context (e.g., safety-critical roles have tighter limits; large employers can do more).
- Prioritize prevention: Equip managers and employees with tools for early conversations about self-organization, clarity-seeking, and mutual expectations.
- Reserve formal assessments and technology solutions for genuine escalation points rather than default responses.
- Move away from one-size-fits-all menus toward individualized, pragmatic support that maintains performance standards while enabling growth.
The current impasse serves neither neurodivergent employees—who still face stigma—nor employers trying to do the right thing. Sustainable neuroinclusion requires mutual accountability, realistic adjustments that help people meet standards, and a focus on capability-building rather than permanent exemptions or power struggles.
True inclusion means creating environments where neurodivergent talent can thrive and progress on merit—not by lowering the bar.