I’m currently coaching someone who has been impacted by their neurodivergence since primary school. One example of how this impact showed-up was they were always the last to get ready for PE but didn’t know why. Their teacher was always hurrying them up – not asking curious questions to find out what was really going on. How different their life could have been.
Instead, trying to work with a brain that just won’t ‘fit in’ has impacted their personal and work life. Known to always be late, friends give false times to meet up, but the impulsive distractions that often occur getting ready to go out, mean sometimes false deadlines don’t work!
Five coaching sessions in, a new understanding of how awesome their brain is, their interest based nervous system, the 30% delay in Executive Functioning has delivered a new respect to work with, not against, their brain. Coaching is helping to name their areas of impact to learn tools to tame this. Once learnt, these tools will help in all areas of their life – including being able to retain a job to do the things they want to.
1:7 adults are neurodivergent There are two brain types amongst workplace teams, neurodivergent and neurotypical – which employers may not even realise. Those who are neurodivergent may not even realise it either! The symptoms may be mistaken as behaviours.
The person I spoke about earlier, has never been assessed. As they haven’t been assessed, they haven’t explored the benefits of medication for them with a psychiatrist, chemically taming how their neurodivergence shows up.
We have seen recent press reports that medication for neurodivergence is again globally in short supply.
Why?
When I first heard of Leanne Maskell and joined @ADHDWorks’s Champion course in September 2023 – the global shortage was mentioned then. Over a year later it appears nothing has changed.
Would this be acceptable for any other medication?
So, what can we do?
In the workplace, I’d say plenty!
- Build awareness amongst your managers – what they might see, what they might do
- Ensure teams know how to be an ally
- Fund 1:1 ADHD Coaching for any staff that need it as part of your ‘reasonable adjustments’.
It’s worth noting, in the UK, a formal assessment doesn’t have to be in place for an employer to be at risk of an ET challenge.
Of course there is a financial cost involved. But what’s the cost of doing nothing?