TWO MINI CASE-STUDIES
performance lately. Her team has been tasked with onboarding two new clients, plus successfully managing existing clients in their portfolio. Alice is struggling to keep up with her work, which is impacting others on her team. She is noticing an inability to focus and keep her anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed in check. She hesitates to verbalize her issues with her team members and supervisor due to impression management issues; this reminds her of her experiences as a university student, recognizing that her inability to deliver was likely perceived as her being lazy or that she did not care, which was quite the opposite. She struggled to verbalize her issues to her professors and is feeling similarly with work colleagues. An increasingly common experience is that of the late diagnosed individual, defined as diagnosed in adulthood, going through the experience of diagnosis, crisis of identity, acceptance, and finally, decision to disclose at school or work. In this situation, the individual has already been working with colleagues under the assumption that they are neurotypical and not in need of, or would benefit from, seeking support or related accommodations. What we describe here characterizes Alice’s story recognizing that she was in need of support during her years at University and now at work, but was unaware. Alice’s experience brings to light that similar individuals could experience dramatically improved outcomes and reduced level a reduced level of masking through disclosure, however, the decision to disclose has the potential to change their relationships with colleagues, others’perception of their abilities, and open them up to perceived or real discrimination. Upon disclosure, their employer will likely engage in the interactive discussion process to identify supportive accommodations, but the individual will be left to deal with the relational fallout largely on their own. NEURODIVERSITY ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK - PRESENT THE FRAMEWORK AND HOW TO USE IT If employers are uncertain whether their existing policies and HR expertise is sufficient to be supportive of neurodiverse employees, they can engage with an evaluative model to review and tweak their efforts as appropriate. Our aim in developing the Neurodiversity Engagement Framework is to help organizational and institutional leaders, and their work contexts, transition from an initial awareness of neurodivergence to a fully supportive model within the working environment that does not rely wholly on the Disabled individual moving the process forward. A company or institution’s initial awareness or engagement with the framework is the inflection point when there is a decision to create or reevaluate neurodiverse support systems within the organization. The framework can be used to identify gaps in existing efforts as well as review new and existing policies, practices, and infrastructures to ensure accommodations are accessible and part of organizational DEIB considerations. The Neurodiversity Engagement Framework starts with an
STEVE’S STORY With the increase in student disability offices and learner accommodations within higher education, an emerging experience that will reach a critical inflection point in the next four years is the adolescent who is diagnosed neurodiverse, receives support and corresponding accommodations in the higher education environment, but faces a very different experience beyond the academy. That experience may mean they receive no support or related accommodations in industry, or they have to reapply/reprove the need for support and corresponding accommodations in the corporate context. Steve exemplifies this experience. He has been able to thrive in an academic setting with accommodations such as noise- canceling earbuds, sensory equipment, flexible scheduling, note-taking supports, limited distractions, assistive technology, and/or checks for understanding. These are all accommodations that are low to no cost to implement and enabled Steve to be academically successful and were also supported by his professors and academic advisor. Steve worked closely with faculty and staff to ensure he was communicating his needs appropriately; he had the consistent advocacy of the accommodations office in reinforcing needed support. Steve was thrilled when he earned his first position out of college in a field that aligned with his academic major. While Steve thought he could manage without accommodations, he quickly realized that he was a stronger contributor with the support and accommodations he was afforded at college. After reviewing the company website and related human resource pages, Steve was unable to locate the information he needed, such as where and how to access accommodations and work support. Steve was left with no other choice but to self-disclose to his supervisor in order to determine the necessary process to follow. While the cost of the accommodations that Steve needed to be successful was $0 or near-$0 to implement, Steve (and the employer) needed the accommodations process to start over, revealing that some of the needed accommodations were not available despite the limited financial resources needed to provide Steve with what would enable his success and full contribution. As a result, Steve, the student-now-employee, is at a disadvantage in the short and near term until the employer is able to implement some or all of the accommodations to bring Steve back to parity with his prior experiences. ALICE’S STORY Alice graduated from university seven years ago, and is in the early stages of her professional career. She enjoys her position and the company she works for; her supervisor is very effective in team-building and bringing out the best in others. It is this reason that Alice is feeling particularly frustrated at her work
24
www.closingthegap.com/membership | June / July, 2025 Closing The Gap © 2025 Closing The Gap, Inc. All rights reserved.
BACK TO CONTENTS
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator