Good Jobs Have Healing Power For Neurodivergent People [forbes.com]

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By Nancy Doyle, Forbes, March 19, 2023

This week has been Neurodiversity Celebration Week, the event started in 2018 by Autistic Advocate Siena Castellon to raise awareness in schools, which has now gone global with events all across the world, in work as well has education, powered by the team at Lexxic. The project began because so many neurodivergent people are excluded from education and traumatised by the experience. As well as working on making education system more neuroinclusive, we need to consider the healing power of work. Healthy work, in neuroinclusive companies, has the power to recover self-esteem and belonging. Neurodiversity Celebration Week is about the whole life span – we need to simultaneously highlight where it goes wrong for neurodivergent people and signpost recovery. School is often where it goes wrong. Work, developing a career and a professional identity can be a great path to recovery.

Education and Trauma

Trauma and neurodivergence overlap for several reasons, particularly for those diagnosed in adulthood. Firstly, sensory sensitivities tend to be disbelieved, and many are told to “stop being so sensitive.” This can lead to a childhood of trying to suppress pain and discomfort in order to be a “good girl/boy.” Secondly, difficulties in education can lead to severe ostracism and exclusion. Some neurodivergent people experience mutism due to the trauma. And lastly, sadly, our cognitive difficulties with social communication, risk filters and overwhelms can leave us more vulnerable to actual attacks and bullying. The fundamental issue is that education requires consistent application of all the things neurominorities struggle with – literacy, numeracy, sitting still, manual dexterity and/or concentrating in loud busy environments. Even without adverse childhood experiences, we emerge slightly battered, wondering what our place in the world might be.

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