Neurodiversity

The natural variation in how human brains function, including ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and other neurological differences.

Neurodiversity is the concept that neurological differences — including ADHD, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, Tourette's syndrome, and others — are natural human variation rather than deficits to be fixed. The term was coined by sociologist Judy Singer in 1998 and has grown into both a social movement and a framework that organizations are increasingly applying to create more inclusive workplaces.

Neurodivergent people are estimated to make up 15–20% of the global population. They're significantly underrepresented in employment despite often having exceptional capabilities in specific domains — pattern recognition, hyperfocus, creative thinking, and deep technical expertise among them. The gap is largely attributable to workplace design: open offices, rigid schedules, neurotypical social expectations in interviews, and communication styles that don't accommodate different processing styles.

Progressive companies are adapting hiring processes and work environments to be more neurodiversity-inclusive: providing interview questions in advance, allowing take-home assessments instead of live coding under pressure, offering noise-canceling accommodations, allowing flexible communication formats (written vs. verbal), and removing arbitrary requirements that disadvantage neurodivergent candidates without being job-relevant.