I am a NEURODIVERSITY ALLY

1. Here you can view my blog on building a workforce strategy that embraces neurodiversity and gain access to the full course, which was launched in May 2022.

2. I am a member of The Neurodiversity GiFTS movement, which combines over 600+ passionate neurodiverse and neurotypical professionals to affect change in providing meaningful employment for the 80% of the neurodiverse population that are un(der)employed.

   A specific focus is on creating more awareness of the creative talents of the neurodiverse population, beyond tech jobs alone. Started via the Stanford University Rebuild Innovation Team of the Graduate School of Business, the group decided to stay together when their research paper was completed.

In July 2020 I was asked to contribute a section to a PhD paper on the state of Diversity and Inclusion policies in relation to neurodiversity. The upshot being that only 25% of 67 companies ranked as being in the top 100 for D&I, has a specific focus on neurodiversity. And of these companies only 12% have a program that embrace autistic talent beyond tech only (sources: adapted from Definitive 100 Global D&I Index, 2019; Diversity Inc Top 50 Companies for Diversity, 2020; World Economic Forum’s ‘The Valuable 500’ and the Autism at Work Playbook). Click on the link above to get access to the full report.

I co-led the European chapter of NDGiFTS on a three month rotation.

2. auticon (a company which offers autistic strengths in IT projects).

I worked with auticon to help place IT consultants on the autism spectrum into work since 2016, when the company was a start-up with ambitions and I was a client in large corporates.

From September 2018 until September 2020, I was the part-time Head of Group HR for auticon. Many employees across auticon are driven by a core purpose, bringing to light the phenomenal talent that comes from employees on the spectrum and supporting companies to embrace a broader vision of diversity and inclusion.

There were many learnings along the way in this pioneering space, least of all how to balance social impact with the profit purpose and that there is still some way to go in moving from the medical model of autism (a paternalistic focus on deficit) to a social model of autism (a focus on potential, capabilities and strengths).

In May 2019 I hosted the International management team off-site in France, to plan the rapid expansion of auticon internationally.