By Lorna King, CPCC, ACC, co-founder of EXE: Employee Experience Exchange and UAE-based workplace culture consultant.
After years of working with organisations and listening closely to neurodivergent people, certain themes start repeating themselves.
They don’t show up in clinical language or diagnostic criteria, but in conversations about burnout, brilliance, frustration, ambition, and belonging at work.
As the co-host of the Fast Brained Women podcast, alongside Dani Hakim, and through my work as a workplace culture consultant and certified coach, I spend a lot of time listening to individuals, teams, and leaders inside high-performing organisations. And what becomes clear fairly quickly is this: when neurodivergent people struggle at work, it’s rarely because of their brains. It’s because the systems they’re operating within weren’t designed with difference in mind.
With Neurodiversity Week approaching, conversations often turn to definitions, diagnoses, and awareness. That does matter, but awareness on its own doesn’t change much if people go back to workplaces that aren’t willing to change.
Neurodivergence has often been approached as something to manage or accommodate. Seeing it instead as a question of design, rather than a personal issue, shifts the conversation in a far more useful direction.
What we mean when we talk about neurodiversity at work
Neurodiversity describes the natural variations in how human brains work. In a workplace context, this often includes neurodevelopmental differences such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, and Tourette’s syndrome.
These differences aren’t unusual, but they are often unevenly recognised.
Globally, it’s estimated that around 15–20% of people are neurodivergent in some way. In the UAE, data is still emerging, but studies suggest autism alone affects roughly one in every 140–150 births. ADHD and learning differences are widely underdiagnosed, particularly among women, many of whom aren’t identified until adulthood, if at all.
In other words, neurodevelopmental difference already exists across our organisations. The real question is whether our workplaces are set up to support it.
Designing for the full spectrum
Neurodivergence shows up in many ways, and with very different support needs. Not everyone can, or should be expected to, thrive in mainstream employment as it’s currently set up, and that reality deserves respect.
When we talk about neurodivergent strengths at work, we’re pointing to the many people who are capable, motivated, and keen to contribute, but are quietly squeezed out by rigid systems and narrow ideas of what ‘right’ looks like.
Let’s retire a few myths
There’s still a lingering idea that neurodivergent people are a ‘risk’ at work. Sometimes we are considered too sensitive, too direct or too distracted. Not quite leadership material.
In reality, many of these so-called issues soften or disappear altogether when environments are designed well.
Neurodivergent thinkers often bring strong pattern recognition, deep focus on areas of interest, creative problem-solving, systems thinking, and a level of honesty that can be refreshing, if occasionally uncomfortable. These traits aren’t niche. They’re increasingly essential for organisations dealing with complexity and constant change.
Women, masking, and late diagnosis
Women with neurodevelopmental differences are particularly likely to go unnoticed at work. Not because they aren’t capable, but because they’re very good at compensating.
It often manifests as perfectionism, over-preparing, people-pleasing and emotional labour. Looking capable while quietly running on empty.
This is also why so many women aren’t diagnosed until later in life. Their differences don’t always match outdated stereotypes, and their ability to mask hides the cost. This isn’t a lack of ambition or skill. It’s a workplace design issue that mistakes endurance for effectiveness.
What better design and allyship look like in practice
You don’t need to be an expert to be a good ally. What does help, is a willingness to question your assumptions, and the status quo.
Better workplace design tends to start with:
- clarity instead of guesswork
- flexibility instead of rigidity
- listening instead of assuming
- systems that adapt, rather than people constantly compensating
When work is designed this way, fewer people need to mask, explain themselves, or burn out just to belong.
From accommodation to belonging
These conversations shouldn’t live only in awareness weeks. They should shape how we design work, lead teams, and define performance throughout the year.
Neurodiversity doesn’t need fixing.
Our workplaces do.
About Lorna
Lorna King, CPCC, ACC is a UAE-based workplace culture consultant and certified coach advising organisations on culture, leadership, and employee experience. She is co-founder of EXE: Employee Experience Exchange and co-host of Fast Brained Women, a podcast exploring neurodiversity and belonging in modern workplaces.