This informal CPD article, ’What Is Neurodiversity? A Plain-English Guide for Managers and HR Professionals’ was provided by Kim To, a certified ADHD Coach and neurodiversity consultant, and founder of Own Your Flair, a coaching and training company supporting neurodivergent individuals and the organisations that work with them.
Neurodiversity has become a familiar term in workplace conversations, yet many managers and HR professionals often still find it difficult to pin down what it actually means in practice. That gap matters, because how an organisation understands neurodiversity shapes how it manages, supports and retains a significant proportion of its workforce. This article offers a plain-English overview of what neurodiversity is, the misconceptions that commonly surround it, and what it looks like in day-to-day management.
What neurodiversity actually means
Neurodiversity refers to the natural variation in how human brains process information. This includes how people process sensory input such as sound, touch and light; how they organise and retrieve information; how they communicate; how they focus; and how they experience the world around them.
The neurodiversity framework (1) understands these variations as natural differences in cognition rather than deficits - a shift away from a purely medical model that treats difference as disorder. This does not mean that support needs disappear. Many neurodivergent people experience genuine challenges and are entitled to appropriate support and adjustments. The framework reframes difference as variation rather than defect, while recognising that individual experiences vary widely.
Commonly cited estimates suggest that around 15–20% of the population is neurodivergent (2), though prevalence is difficult to measure precisely and may be higher, given historical underdiagnosis — particularly among women and people of colour.
The term covers a range of conditions including ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and Tourette’s syndrome, among others. Each presents differently in every individual, and no two neurodivergent people are the same, even where they share a diagnosis.
Common misconceptions
One persistent misconception is that neurodivergent traits reflect effort or choice; that a person with ADHD is disorganised because they are not trying hard enough, or that someone who misses deadlines simply does not care. In fact, these are neurological differences in how the brain regulates attention, time, working memory and impulse. They are not attitude problems.
Another common misconception is that dyslexia indicates low intelligence or an inability to read. This is not supported by the evidence. Dyslexic individuals often show notable strengths in creative and lateral thinking, problem-solving and verbal reasoning. What can be harder is processing written text in a particular format or under time pressure a processing difference, not a measure of intelligence.
These misconceptions matter because, when they go unchallenged within an organisation, they shape how managers interpret behaviour - and that can have real consequences (3).
What can be misread as a performance issue
A common situation is a manager frustrated that an employee does not show initiative, or who needs very explicit instructions before they can move forward. In some cases, this reflects an autistic employee who processes ambiguity differently. Vague instructions such as “just use your judgement” or “you know what I mean” can be genuinely difficult to act on for someone who communicates and thinks literally. This is a communication mismatch rather than a lack of initiative.
Another example is a manager who defaults to calls and verbal catch-ups and reads a preference for written communication as evasiveness or disengagement. For many neurodivergent people, written communication is a genuine need rather than a style preference. It allows time to process information, to give a considered response, and to avoid the cognitive overload of an unplanned phone call. Where a manager treats their own communication style as the default standard, that default is not neutral.
When situations like these are marked as competence issues, they can find their way into performance frameworks. The employee who may have been working hard to compensate for a system not designed for their brain can then internalise this as failure. This is a significant, and often avoidable, cost of limited understanding at management level.
What is driving the conversation
Rates of ADHD and autism diagnosis in adulthood have risen significantly in recent years (4). These are not new conditions; rather, many adults were missed by education and diagnostic frameworks that were historically built around a narrow picture of how these conditions present. Occupational health providers and workplace assessment services report growing numbers of neurodiversity-related referrals, and organisations are increasingly recognising this as a mainstream workforce issue rather than a niche one.
What a neurodiversity-aware workplace looks like
A genuinely neurodiversity-aware organisation goes beyond a poster campaign or a one-off awareness webinar (5), (6). Common features include:
- A dedicated employee resource group for neurodivergent employees, with visible sponsorship from leadership.
- Neurodiversity training that is budgeted for all managers, rather than offered only as an optional extra.
- Regular, open conversations that give people permission to talk about how they work best.
- A well-mapped, accessible process for requesting and reviewing reasonable adjustments.
On the subject of adjustments, one now widely applicable example is the AI notetaker. Allowing employees to use AI notetaking tools in meetings can support people with ADHD, dyslexia and a range of other conditions to stay present and engaged without having to split their attention between listening and writing. It can also help those who cannot always attend in person. It is a low-cost adjustment with broad benefit.
The shift that underpins good practice
A manager’s role in this is not to become an expert in every condition. It is to create the conditions in which neurodivergent employees feel psychologically safe enough to say what they need. That begins with opening up the conversation, holding back the instinct to judge, and approaching how people work with genuine curiosity rather than an assumption that the standard way suits everyone. That shift — from judgement to curiosity — is where effective management of neurodivergent people begins.
We hope this article was helpful. For more information from Own Your Flair, please visit their CPD Member Directory page. Alternatively, you can go to the CPD Industry Hubs for more articles, courses and events relevant to your Continuing Professional Development requirements.
References
(1) https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/identity/autism-and-neurodiversity
(2) https://www.rcgp.org.uk/mrcgp-exams/gp-curriculum/neurodevelopmental-conditions-neurodiversity
(3) CIPD (2024). Neurodiversity at Work: https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/guides/neuroinclusion-work/
(4)https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-into-mental-health-conditions-adhd-and-autism-interim-report/independent-review-into-mental-health-conditions-adhd-and-autism-interim-report
(5) Equality Act 2010, Section 20. Duty to make reasonable adjustments: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/20
(6) ACAS (2023). Neurodiversity in the Workplace Guidance: https://www.acas.org.uk/reasonable-adjustments/adjustments-for-neurodiversity
