As an organisation with lifelong learning at its very heart, it is essential that we acknowledge and embrace the different ways in which our people (students, staff and partners) communicate, think and learn, to enable us all to thrive.

Being neuro-inclusive is thinking about how we include all brains and all ways of thinking. Diversity is key – recognising and appreciating that we all have different strengths not only helps us all feel valued, but also helps us to achieve better results. There are lots of things we can all do to help.

Making it easier for people from the neurodivergent community to work at BNU

We offer inclusive recruitment training and have recently made changes to our recruitment and selection processes. Some of these changes are particularly relevant to neurodiverse applicants, e.g.:

• being clear and unambiguous with our communications
• removing 'desirable' criteria
• sending out interview questions in advance
• offering interviews via Teams with a camera-off option

There are plenty many ways that we can support neurodivergent staff and students through the use of general inclusive practices. Making sure our meetings aren’t too long, including frequent breaks and making sure everyone has an opportunity to speak (or comment in the chat bar) are things that we can all benefit from, as well as keeping communications unambiguous and to the point. Regular and early communication helps everyone to prepare for and deal with forthcoming changes. Providing information in different formats also helps cater for individual preferences – group discussion and face to face training, bitesize online learning, reading material and podcasts, for example.

Nurturing and growing our people

We encourage people to send us details of any individual circumstances we can take into account, for example when considering applications for promotion, to ensure no-one is at a disadvantage because of their characteristics, and we monitor outcomes for people to make sure our processes and decisions are fair and equitable.

Our ethos is to support people to be their authentic selves at BNU, embracing diversity and fostering engagement and belonging by: sharing lived experiences; developing policies and procedures that are inclusive by design; creating networks; listening and acting on the views of our staff, students and other stakeholders so that we can make it an even better place to work and study.

Supporting individual needs

If an individual asks forTo help us providethe right support, it’s essential to speak to them individual to find out more about their needs and challenges without making assumptions about the sort of solutions that might help. What helps one person with a condition may not necessarily help another with that same condition. It might help to speak to HR colleagues (staff) or the Disability and Inclusion team (students) about the kind of measures that can be put into place to help, but alternatives can and should be considered if appropriate. The work environment can be important and future plans for campus space include the provision of quiet/sensory spaces for those who need them.

There are many individuals who choose not to declare that they have a neurodiverse condition, do not have a diagnosis or a ‘label’ but find certain situations more challenging than others, either on a permanent or temporary basis depending on the demands on them at that point in time. There are still things we can do to support without needing to approach them, by offering practical solutions or adjustments (e.g. offering a seat near an exit if someone needs to leave the room frequently, offering a short break if someone is looking uncomfortable or unusually agitated during a long session). 

It is easy to make assumptions from behaviours we observe that are based on ‘neurotypical’ norms, but it is important to remember that there may be internal challenges that we are not aware of.  Annoyed by the person becoming distracted or fidgeting during a meeting? They may be controlling their tics, reflecting or trying to focus. Thinking someone has disengaged when they turn the camera off? They may find it helps them to focus or deal with their anxiety. Spotted some grammatical or spelling errors? The author may be dyslexic or writing in a non-native language. Expecting a warmer greeting?  Some people feel obliged to return a handshake or make eye contact despite how uncomfortable it makes them feel.  We won’t get it right every time for everyone, but by observing, listening, learning and becoming more aware of what may be triggering or difficult for some people, we can put aside our judgements and embrace the diversity of our students and colleagues.

Further information

Please contact the HR team or the Disability and Inclusion team for individual and confidential help or advice. Our Employee Assistance Provider, also offers help and advice to individuals and managers.  Those with neurodivergent children may find Alex Morrison’s story about starting up a support network of interest. 

You can also find online training modules on neurodiversity and mental health on our e-learning platform.

Further information about Neurodiversity Celebration week can be found on this website, and if you missed Nathan Green’s session on autism, you can watch the recording. Charlotte Stewart will be holding another session on Friday about her lived experience as a neurodiverse female leader in HE.

Lexxic is running free webinars throughout the week.

Further resources:

• Podcast: Supporting students with neurodiversity
• Lexxic’s Neurodiversity Smart Employer Guide
• Manager’s Toolkit: Inclusive management practices at BNU
• LinkedIn article on managing ND employees