Local nonprofit helps companies design neurodivergent-friendly workplace practices

INTERVIEWER: Tomorrow, representatives from several large Minnesota companies will gather in Minneapolis to learn about neurodivergence. This is an umbrella term for a variety of ways someone's brain may work differently from what's considered typical. It includes conditions like ADHD, autism, and dyslexia.

The disability advocacy group PACER Center is hosting tomorrow's workshop, which is led by Wells Fargo and the University of Connecticut. The idea is to design hiring and workplace practices to include neurodivergent employees. Joining me to talk more about this is PACER Center Executive Director Tonia Teasley. Thank you so much for your time this afternoon, Tonia.

TONIA TEASELY: Well, thank you for inviting me.

INTERVIEWER: We have seen the terms "neurodivergence," "neurodiversity" more widely used over the past few years, it seems. Would you start for us by just explaining what they mean in terms of working in the workplace?

TONIA TEASELY: So I would say, when you talk about neurodiversity, a lot of people talk about it as a disability. That's not a term that I would probably use. I think it means that people think, learn, communicate, and process things differently than what might be considered typical. And when you get into a workplace, sometimes that will present itself in challenging ways, but also in positive ways. So the positive might be you might come with a different perspective for problem solving, creativity, innovation.

On the challenging side, sometimes people who are neurodiverse have trouble with social situations or they process time and information differently. And so if people are not aware of that or know how to handle that, it can create a challenge and cause an employee to leave or maybe not even be hired in the first place.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah so, let's talk about the hiring and then workplace practices. What are some of them that may be useful? Because a person would have to self-identify to the company. I don't know how you would know that during the hiring process. What are some of the tips, I guess, related to the hiring process that you all are going to share?

TONIA TEASELY: So probably two of the most important ones are, I believe, the employer should be asking every candidate or every current employee, how can we help you? How can we support you do a really good job for us? And that is a question that opens up a conversation with anyone, whether they're neurotypical or neurodiverse, and gives-- might make the person who's neurodiverse a little more comfortable about saying, I might need some assistance with how I work, how I get instructions, or the environment in which I work.

So that's one. And then the second one is a lot of people struggle with hiring, because in a typical interview situation, it involves social skills, and we judge people based on those social skills. So changing hiring practices, or at least thinking about it, where that if the job itself does not require those social skills, how do you figure out if someone has the actual skills they need to do the job without putting them through a social interview? Let them demonstrate they know how to do the job rather than tell you how to do the job. So those are a couple of key examples.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah, yeah. Thank you for sharing those. That's really helpful. And I know that sometimes there are legal considerations, too, like somebody might have rights under the ADA Americans with Disabilities Act. Or some people may just ask for accommodations because it makes life easier for them and it makes work better for them. But does an employee typically need a diagnosis to ask for accommodations, or are you working with other ways to work with people?

TONIA TEASELY: Generally speaking, if you're asking the question about what does any employee need to be successful, employers can consider that without getting any kind of a diagnosis. If someone comes and says, I have a disability, and I need a specific accommodation because of that disability, then I would recommend the employer talk to the candidate or the employee and learn exactly what that disability is and then find out what the options are in terms of accommodating that challenge that the employee may have.

INTERVIEWER: And I think it's really great that you're doing this, because I feel like there is so much growing awareness of ADHD and autism and other conditions, and it's led more people, I think, to seek a diagnosis even as an adult. So I wonder if there's a chance sometimes that an adult or an employee is navigating something at the same time as their employer might be learning about something because they've just come to this point in their lives where they have a diagnosis and they're thinking, oh, wow, that's what all of that meant for the whole-- my entire life. I've had some friends in that situation. Do you think that that is a situation that people might be in, sort of navigating it with their employer?

TONIA TEASELY: Absolutely. I've known several adults myself who've gotten that diagnosis, and they think, oh my gosh, this explains what's been happening to me.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah, wish I would have known in college. yeah.

TONIA TEASELY: And then the next challenge is for the employee to say, how do I get comfortable with sharing this brand-new information with an employer? How are they going to see me differently? So one of the things that we always talk with employers about is, how do you create an environment that makes people comfortable talking about it, even if it's brand new to them and they may not entirely what it means for them as an individual?

INTERVIEWER: Let's talk about the event that's actually going on tomorrow. What made you want to bring this workshop to Minneapolis, and what is it going to be like?

TONIA TEASELY: So it is a full-day workshop that is free to large employers. We have 16 large employers who are coming, several of whom are in the Fortune 500. So we're super excited about the participants. And the reason why PACER wanted to be involved in bringing it to the Twin Cities is because we've been working with families of children with disabilities for 48 years, and part of that is going out to employers and educating and helping their employees who have children with disabilities learn about what's available.

And in that process, we are hearing from employers we want to do more. We want to hire people who are neurodiverse. We think it's important. And there's all kinds of wonderful business case analysis to make sure that you're getting the return on investment. But all of these employers are saying, we want to do this. We don't know how. So that's what tomorrow is all about is, how do you go from awareness to action and walk out the door at the end of the day with the outline of a plan about how to bring this to your organization?

And one of those key components, as I said, is all about the business case. Employers who hire people with disabilities are finding increased productivity and increased profits. And you just have to figure out a way to put those numbers on the table so that people know about why it's important, not only for the right thing to do for the community and for the employees, but it's the right thing to do from the business perspective as well.

INTERVIEWER: And that's an interesting point that you make that these companies came and said, we want to do this, because, obviously, folks who follow the news have seen that a lot of companies and institutions have been turning away from or scaling back some of their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. So it's interesting to see that these companies really want to do something. Can you share what some of the companies represented there would be?

TONIA TEASELY: So at this point in time, I don't have their permission to do that. But if you ask me afterwards, I will be happy to do that.

INTERVIEWER: And so, I mean, you're wanting them to walk away with a physical plan. What do you think is needed on the end for support for employees, or they're going to have to figure that out first, right?

TONIA TEASELY: So I think making the environment where it makes it easy to talk about, then creating the business case, or here's why we might need to change our job descriptions. We might need to change our hiring processes. We might need to change how we manage people.

And then one component that we're talking about tomorrow is post-hire support. And a piece of that is assistive technology. For people who are neurodiverse, people don't think that there's assistive technology that may people may help people get better at their jobs and overcome some of the challenges we talked about that come with being neurodiverse.

INTERVIEWER: OK, that's a great example. Thank you. Tonia, thank you for your work and for coming by Minnesota Now to share about it. Really appreciate your time.

TONIA TEASELY: Thank you so very much.

INTERVIEWER: Tonia Teasley is the Executive Director of the Minneapolis-based PACER Center, which advocates for people with disabilities.