Welcome to Inclusion Bites, your sanctuary for bold conversations that spark change. I'm Joanne Lockwood, your guide on this journey of exploration into the heart of inclusion, belonging, and societal transformation. Ever wondered what it truly takes to create a world where everyone not only belongs but thrives? You're not alone. Join me as we uncover the unseen, challenge the status quo, and share stories that resonate the within. Ready to dive in. Whether you're sipping your morning coffee or winding down after a long day, let's connect, reflect and inspire action together. Don't forget, you can be part of the conversation, too. Reach out to
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Embracing Every Mind
The Inclusion Bites Podcast
Embracing Every Mind
JL
Speaker
Joanne Lockwood
CH
Speaker
Charlie Hart
00:00 Autism Discovery Transformed HR Career 08:54 Hidden ADHD in Girls 14:05 Neurodivergence: Unique Strengths and Challenges 16:11 ADHD and Autism Overlap 25:07 Autism and Gender Identity Link 26:50 Celebrating Diverse Identities in Family 33:01 Rethinking IT Recruitment for Autistic Talent 40:39 "Gen Z's Inclusive Design Preferences" 47:09 Prioritising Neurodiversity…
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“Ever wondered what it truly takes to create a world where everyone not only belongs but thrives?”
“It's just their unwavering dedication to creating a better world for neurodivergent and queer youth inspired by their own children and the Gen z community.”
“So in 2018, I went through the autism diagnosis, and I discovered the neurodiversity community online.”
“The difference is when you're neurodivergent, it can mean that the things you're good at, you're particularly good at, and the things you that you struggle with, you're you particularly struggle with.”
“You can't draw a neat line around the autistic part of my brain and the ADHD part.”
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Full transcript
jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk to share your insights or to join me on the show. So adjust your earbuds and settle in. It's time to ignite the spark of inclusion with Inclusion Bites. And today is episode 152 with the title, embracing every mind. And I have the absolute honor and privilege to welcome Charlie Hart. Charlie, also known as ausome Charlie, and you'll find out in a minute why, is a neurodivergent keynote speaker championing neurodiversity and LGBTQIA plus inclusion in the workplace. And when I asked Charlie to describe their superpower, they said, it's just their unwavering dedication to creating a better world for neurodivergent and queer youth inspired by their own children and the Gen-Z community. Hi, Charlie.
Welcome to the show.
Hi, Jo. Thanks so much for having me.
Yeah. We've talked about this for a couple of months, and it's I'm really honored you've come on today.
I'm really excited to be here because I've been following your work on LinkedIn for quite a long time now. And then we met through the professional speaking association, and I'm really keen to get on this fabulous podcast, which I quite often listen to when I'm on a long walk.
Oh, thank you. And this you have the honor of being the first video version of this podcast. I mean, yes, it'll be published in audio only as well on Spotify, iTunes, and the user places, but it's gonna be the first one we actually recorded the video as well. So, yeah, I'm excited by that as well. So it's gonna be brilliant.
Me too. Yeah. So, Charlie,
we talked about in the opening there about your work championing neurodiversity through your own experience and also out of your children and the Gen Z community at large. What took you from where you were to deciding this was your your passion, your calling?
So it's quite a long story as you can imagine, but my background is HR, and I fell into that quite by chance. Analytical and project management side of HR and supporting the HR system, but I've tried to progress, and I ran into difficulties with meeting behaviors. I was frequently overwhelmed, quite often getting burnout that looked like depression, and I just wasn't getting promoted through the ranks like my peers that started at the same time were. Eventually, I eventually, I realized that my child, Iggy, my first born, was autistic, and that so was I. Everything that he learned about his neurotype and the reasons that he struggled with anxiety and getting overwhelmed and having what was actually autistic meltdowns, but he he thought were anxiety attacks. Everything that he realized, I realized was true about me as well. So in 2018, I went through the autism diagnosis, and I discovered the neurodiversity community online. So that to me, it really sparked my interest.
After 15 years of feeling like I was somehow broken, there was something wrong with me. There were I realized that there was a concrete reason why I struggled with things that my peers took for granted, and there were concrete reasons that I was losing my call and even tipping into burnout. And it explains so much about me. And then I discovered that actually neurodiversity is a thing. There are differences between each and every human brain and mind. We all process the world and its inputs. We all think, feel, and respond to things uniquely. And that doesn't mean that some people are broken and that some are good.
It doesn't mean that some brains are correct and others are wrong. It's a natural part of human diversity, and it's advantageous. So like biodiversity in nature, neurological diversity in a human population, such as a workforce, is advantageous. This really sparked my curiosity. And then I found out I have complex PTSD as well, which a lot of neurodivergent people have who are late diagnosed and have gone through society and work not understanding how to support their own needs. And I also have ADHD, so I'm multiply neurodivergent. And yeah. So it's all I wanna talk about and write about now.
Yeah. So I quit my HR job 18 months ago, and now I full time research, think, speak, write, create content about neurodiversity, inclusion, and acceptance, and I'm loving it.
You you mentioned there that, you know, we all have our own unique minds. We all see the world through our own lens. And the way we we the way we think and act and feel. I've always wondered when the human species evolved a 100000, 200000 years ago, however, we came from our prehistoric primitive backgrounds. Who decided that we needed to think in a specific way? So it's it's almost like the 21st century, the 20, yeah, 2025 where we are now that said, this is what we value, these calm, cool, collected, logical people. Yes. Our history must have been we needed people who had attention to detail. We needed people who were creative.
We needed people who could get on with stuff, people who are did all these different things. So neurodivergent really is is part of our historic makeup, and we've just decided that this part is more valuable than this part. Absolutely.
Yeah. And it's, this neuronormativity, this expectation that we should think and respond to things in a certain way, it is a social construct, really, like gender. So I'm drawing parallels here. If you think back to caveman times, for example, it was super important that some members of the population brought up children and the others were hunter gatherers, but that doesn't need to be attached to gender. It's really about finding out what an individual's strengths are and and what their support needs are. So some people will be super good at some things and will struggle with others. And we can work together and collaborate and be greater than the sum of our parts.
Yeah. We certainly didn't have toilets with signs on them a 100000 years ago, did we, in in the forest and caves? We were Yeah. Wiping our bottoms on the nearest leaf probably or in the stream.
Absolutely. So it's it's just another social construct. And one thing that a lot of people may not understand as well, even if they know a little bit about neurodiversity and neurodivergence, is that neurotypical or normal, that's a construct of the dominant culture that you're operating in. It will be completely different between different countries. And a lot of neurodiversity advocates are only seeing things through, a northern hemisphere white western lens, but it's far greater than that.
Yeah. You mentioned also that, you know, you were late diagnosed and that that's as yeah. We bring gender into this. That was it's a gender thing because because people who are assigned male at birth exhibit autistic ADHD neurodiversity in different ways than people assigned female at birth, don't they?
They can do. Yeah. I mean, I'm not gender conforming anyway, so I partially reject that. And, also, when you look through my school reports, they are full of evidence of ADHD. It's full of stuff like, she's a really bright girl and could really excel if she would only fulfill her potential instead of allowing herself to be distracted by her intense hobbies and interests, things like that. And if it was a boy, it would have been picked up. So it isn't that my behavior was different. It's I think it's more that the diagnostic criteria are actually based around unruly, disruptive little boys.
So they don't see the they don't see ADHD if it's less evident externally. They think it's about running around being hyperactive. Girls are more socially conditioned, I think, not to be disruptive at school and to sit still if they're expected to and to not heckle the teacher, although I always did. So it's just, there are massive preconceptions about what's actually going on. If the person appears to behave be behaving, they're not too much trouble to the teacher. Nobody takes the trouble to work out what's going on inside of their minds. If they're running 20 tabs and 10 of them are frozen, we don't know where the music's coming from, and we can't stop it. Nobody sees that unless they ask us.
They'll ask our teachers whether we're disruptive. They'll ask might ask our parents how we are at home. But if you're a child and you're experiencing the world in that chronically overwhelming way, nobody seems to really want to know about it.
Are you aware of what what age were you? Because I appreciate ADHD traits and the autistic traits are different. Yes. And they exhibit themselves differently. And I I I know I've spoken to many parents of autistic children, and they're very aware from the early, very early ages of their child in terms of developmental differences, learn to speak and read and vocabulary and things like that. They're very hyper aware of the the autistic traits. When did you become really aware of your your bouncy tigger traits? You know, your ADHD, your your your the way your brain was white.
Yeah. I think it's when I started to really need as an adult to get outside in the countryside and run or walk. Otherwise, I wasn't okay. It's at that point that I realized that I've got a hyperactivity that nobody else had had picked up on. And then the inattentive side of my ADHD, I realized I have that when I tried to repeat my HR professional qualifications. So I completely flunked to university when I was 19. I was a total disaster. I fell so hard off the rails, but I did do my CIPD qualifications when I was in my early twenties.
Moved back in with my mom, I did them. She was looking out for me. I had a steady job. Everything was okay, and I got them done. And then 20 years later, I thought I should probably do them again because they're 20 years old. They seem quite irrelevant. And I did that, and I was great. I, you know, I'm quite clever.
I can focus and but only if it's something I'm interested in. It's not that I don't have any attention. It's that I've got a very interest based motivation system. So in 2021, I thought, great. We're working from home all year. Some people have returned to the office, but we were refurbishing ours. And I knew that I got time on my hands. I thought I will do my postgraduate diploma in HR management.
And I absolutely flew through every subject that I was interested in and really, really struggled with the ones that I wasn't. To the extent that it was right up against the deadline, and I was an absolute nightmare to live with. Just put things off and put things off and then snap to anyone that that interrupting me. But I I could tell I got ADHD then. My husband had just been through the diagnosis, so I knew what the questions were. And all the way along, I was thinking, yeah. Yeah. Me too.
But then I actually got diagnosed this year at the age of 48. It's been there all along. I looked through my reports, and it's it's always been there.
It's it's interesting because I love talking to people who who are a diverse ADHD because I'm trying to self diagnose myself and try to figure out if I have autistic or probably not autistic, but certainly ADHD. Because I I have hyperfocus. I went through a phase in my when I was probably about 14 years old, probably a bit of puberty kicked in, and I became completely unmanageable and still or sorry. Partially, completely so if you look at the left hand side of my report card, I was e. Look at the right answer on my report card, I was a. Yeah. There was no there's nothing in the middle. I was either full on or completely disinterested and troublesome.
Yeah. As it's the science
The ones you're interested in Yeah. Or the ones you
were Hyper gifted. Engaged in those. Yeah. The sciences, the maths, the, yeah, the the history, the the geography, economics, all those kind of sort of more theoretical, you know, ethereal sort of things. Those were the kind of ones that I just was interested
in. Yeah. And
I was kicked out of class, and I was excuse me. I was told I was disruptive, and I I think I found that I I'm still there now. I'm either in or I'm out. If I'm in Yeah. I I'm both feet. I'm I'm dissolved. I'm I'm pulling it apart. I'm ripping it to shreds.
I'm turning it inside out, bringing it back together, turning it inside out again. If there's anything else, I'm just gonna, like, I procrastinate until it doesn't matter anymore. Just get rid of it. So, yeah, I've learned that about myself. I I never I never seen that as a a superpower or weakness or anything like that. It's just part of who I've always been.
Yeah. Exactly. I mean, I don't really subscribe to the superpowers versus weaknesses kind of narrative because every human has strengths, and we all have things we find harder or that we need support with or that we just don't like. So every human's got their own ways of working where they can thrive and and things that they'd rather not be doing or that they need someone to help them through. The difference is when you're neurodivergent, it can mean that the things you're good at, you're particularly good at, and the things you that you struggle with, you're you particularly struggle with. So rather than being a good all rounder, you have what they call in the neurodiversity industry is a spiky profile. So my observation skills are right at the top of the chart, my meeting behaviors right on the bottom, that kind of thing. And and everyone has a profile that looks different, but particularly if you're autistic or ADHD, there will be things that you're shit hot at and things that you're constantly told you're not good enough at.
Yeah. But it is from the dominant perspective, the dominant cultural perspective.
Yeah. No. I get that. Because I also I mean, you've met my wife, Marie. I I also recognize that there's elements of her personality, which should probably through menopause have probably become more exaggerated. So I know due to the her age, her her her hormone balance, other things where she's become much more I I describe as bouncy, bouncy, ticker sort of over various things. And but she also has a an inclination to be slightly manic and slightly reserved. So she goes through this you can tell this cycle about certain things, and it's she has to go into a hyperplanning mode, or she has to go into something else.
So absorb it. Yeah. And it's different to me. And we we we I think I've learned that how to be with her and absorb spikes and the and the troughs and everything else. And I guess my family have have adapted to me. But, yeah, it it's interesting talking to other people with their experiences.
They're similar characteristics. It's
different, aren't they?
Dynamic, and me and my husband have the same. So we're both ADHD. That is we're both autistic and ADHD, but he's been told that his autism isn't quite meeting the diagnostic threshold, which is arbitrary anyway. Let's face it. I'm not saying I would never say everyone's on the spectrum, but you can quite often notice ADHDers who have quite significant autistic traits, but wouldn't get through the diagnosis because the medical model wants us to draw the line somewhere. But he he's ADHD, and everyone that knows him knows that he's autistic as well, despite what the clinicians might say. And I'm autistic, and it was a bit of a battle for me to get my ADHD recognized by the medical profession, partly because it's very easy to think, well, everything that she's talking about could be a combination of autism and complex PTSD and menopause. But, yeah, I think it's you can't draw a neat line around the autistic part of my brain and the ADHD part.
So there's no way of knowing if I spend 10 hours doing a particular piece of work that I'm really engrossed in. There's no way of knowing whether that's me leaning into that monotropic flow state that autistic people get, which is where we get our highly focused special interests that are in the diagnostic criteria. There's no way of knowing whether it's that or whether it's the ADHD hyper focus. If somebody says something that makes me feel like crap and I have a meltdown, there's no way of knowing if that is an autistic meltdown or if it's an ADHD, emotional dysregulation thing, a rejection sensitive ADHD, emotional dysregulation thing, a rejection sensitive dysphoria reaction. I don't have 2 brains. It's just all ADHD. Yeah. When you look at it like that, I I don't know many people that I would say were just just autistic or just ADHD.
It starts to feel like it's all one spectrum.
I was speaking to a lady on on this show the other day, and she was saying that her child is autistic. She has an autistic child. And it manifests itself in her child as he is nonverbal. He also has a very limited vocabulary, which so that's how it manifests itself. So so that's how he is developing as a nonverbal autistic child. Yes. How would you describe your autistic because, you know, people listen to this show, hear the term autism, hear the term neurodiversity, hear the neurospicy, neurospicy, all these kind of buzzwords. What's different? Or where
where where
where is the sort of
So I have the kind of autism which doesn't come with intellectual disabilities, and it doesn't come with a a language development delay. That used to be called a Asperger's syndrome. They call it all autism spectrum disorder now. I don't identify as having a disorder, so I call myself autistic. I don't think I'm better or more valuable to society than people who are autistic and have intellectual disabilities. So I don't use terms like high functioning or low functioning either. So it's just autism. Yeah.
It's labeling people. Autism. We're saying. Yeah, high fashion, low functioning.
Person with autism because it goes without saying that I'm a person. And to me, if anyone insists on saying, no. You're not autistic. You have autism. You're a person with autism. To me, they are saying autism is a bad thing, and you shouldn't make it part of your identity. And I reject that because I think it's a neutral thing, and it's an adjective. So I'm happy to be described as autistic because it's an adjective.
If you say, oh, no. You can't use it like a a normal adjective. You have to distance yourself from it. That's telling me they think that there's something wrong with being autistic. So just loads of really ableist with me.
Yeah. I I think it's probably been inherited for the the physical disability community who use with, don't they, as a as a kind of a it's evolved as a kind of language.
Yeah. The healthcare professionals, it doesn't come from the community.
No. It's a medical model versus the societal model of disability. Yeah.
So if you get taught person first language, it's usually because you're in a support role or you're a diagnostician or a teacher, or it's not because that's what the community have said they wanted. Back in the nineties, you might remember we had this, politically correct thing where they changed a lot of their language and dress things up in flower euphemisms, and it really didn't do diversity and inclusion any favors at all. And one of the first communities that came out of that saying no bollocks to all that was the deaf community. So in the politically correct is when people were saying, you have hearing impairments and you should say you're hard of hearing or you have a hearing impairment, Don't describe yourself as deaf because there's more to you than that. You're a person person. It was the deaf community that said bollocks to that. We're deaf. And they put a capital d at the beginning Yeah.
And became the deaf community. The autism community were hot on their tails.
Yeah. When I when I talk about adjectives or describing words or anything like this, like we're talking about now, is I tend to try and mix up the language. So I always say, a person with a disability or a disabled person, almost in one sentence. Because I know there are some people who I who would identify as 1 and one people who identify as so you try to be inclusive Yes. Cover all the terms possible.
That's so really great. Approach.
Yeah. Capital d deaf is important to people who are born deaf.
Yeah. So I know other people who don't use I mean, there's I know a deaf speaker from the Speakers Collective who describes herself as deaf with a capital d and another deaf speaker in the professional speaking association who says that she has profound hearing impairments. So it's never gonna be the same for everyone, but you can look at what the community asks for and want and prefer as a whole rather than just being learning about something in a training course and thinking, oh, yeah. That must be the wishes of the community.
Yeah. You'd never say someone has seeing impairment, would you? You'd say they were blind
Yeah.
Or hearing or sight loss or, short sighted, long sighted Yeah. Or myopic or, glaucoma or something. So you'd say, yeah, you have sight loss or
Yeah.
You're blind or going blind.
ADHD is a funny one because there isn't really a noun. There isn't really an adjective for ADHD. So we use ADHD as a adjective, sometimes under noun. You might say, I'm an ADHDer or describe yourself as ADHD, but that's technically not correct because if you look at what it stands for, that's just grammatically nonsense. But still, a lot of us have done that just because we're trying to say it's part of our identity. It's part of who we are. It's how our brains are wired. So it's it's not something we can distance ourselves from.
I've heard people use ND for neurodiverse, or I've heard people use neurospicy other terms. Yeah. I guess it's down to them, isn't it? I mean, it's not a
totally down to them. I personally don't like neurospicy because I think that it it it's kind of one of those euphemisms that plays down our, quite real disabilities and support needs. But
The trivializing joking about it,
obviously. That's the word. Yeah. But, I heard from members of the global majority have said, actually, some Asian women, are described as spicy in a derogatory way. So it's it could be potentially I don't know if problematic is going a bit too far. Potentially insensitive, culturally insensitive. But then I'm not gonna tell people how to identify. So if you have got someone that does like to call themselves neurospicy, that's fine.
But if they buy me a badge that says neurospicy on it, I'm not likely to wear it. So, I mean, you the audience and and you
are obviously aware that I I'm a transgender woman or a woman with a transgender history. That to me, the more I talk about it, that's just a difference in brain development. It's just a a different way of wiring up.
Absolutely. My
blue wire is connected to my red wire, not not to another blue wire. So that's all it is really.
It's a really good way of looking at it. And, I mean, I think it is a neurodivergence as well. I think it's part of the neurodivergent umbrella. It's it's a brain wiring which is different from society's idea of typical. There's also a huge correlation. So if you're autistic, you're far, far more likely to be trans or non binary. If you're trans or non binary, you're way, way more likely to have at least some autistic traits, whether it's diagnosed or meeting the diagnostic threshold or not. So there's been quite a few studies done on this, and I'll send you those links for the show notes if you like.
But, yeah, there's a huge correlation. So, this is one of the reasons why my niche, when I'm talking about neurodiversity inclusion, my thing that I get asked for more than anything is I get asked to talk about the double rainbow, and that's an intersecting identity. It's when you're both neurodivergent and LGBTQIA plus. And I'm particularly interested in that because I'm multiply neurodivergent. I'm bisexual or pansexual. I don't know which because both definitions fit me. I'm gender nonconforming. So, yeah, I'm a woman, but I am also a tomboy and I don't really identify as a woman.
I don't know. But I'm more like George from the famous 5, really. So it's me, but then it's also my kids. My, my first born, Nicky, he was he was gay and gender questioning. He was autistic. He was probably ADHD as well. We don't know. My teenage kids constantly changing their gender identity because there's no hurry to work it out.
Is there? But, they've had all kinds of different names and pronouns. They are autistic as well, and the older one, I mean, has got ADHD too. And I've got transgender autistic people in my family as well, but I'm not going to out them because they're not public about it. So it's a very queer and autistic family that I'm in, defying all the gender laws. So this is my area of interest. And there's really no point just looking at one identity either because none of us is a single issue human. I think it was Audre Lorde who said that. She was a a black lesbian feminist poet, and she says there's no such thing as a single issue human.
And anybody that is working in the diversity and inclusion space, it's really important to understand that we are a blend of characteristics. Some of them we're born with. Some of them are a response to our environment and our experiences, but we're all really complex. So you kinda need to look at the whole package of the human.
Yeah. I remember in my in my probably my thirties and early forties, I used to describe myself as low maintenance. I think coming out as trans, I had to re rebrand myself as high maintenance. But maybe we all have a a perception of ourselves that we're we are low maintenance. But, actually, if you start asking people around it, they go, actually, no, and, actually, this and, actually, the other. Yeah. Oh, okay. That's part of a bit of emotional intelligence, getting in touch with who you are, isn't
it? Absolutely. Emotional intelligence, there's an interesting concept. I know a lot of people who regard themselves as having really high emotional intelligence. But to me, I what I'm observing is a lot of social scripting and saying the right things with the right facial expressions because that's what we've learned from other people, and it's like a chameleon behavior rather than a innate empathy. I've seen a lot of autistic people being misunderstood as not being empathic and having low emotional intelligence when actually the reverse is true. So it's really quite interesting to unpick that.
Yeah. I I've noticed that because if you look at the the the stereotype of femininity, women are supposed to be more empathic and more empathetic, more more softer, more kind, more more caring. And I thought, hang on a minute. I have to be all these things, do I? Then I then I kinda realized that I was, and I was judging myself unfairly. I I was just maybe putting a shell on myself, stopping be being too caring and too empathetic because, you know, in my own world, it doesn't necessarily win you any battles being Yeah. Kind, caring, fashion.
Did you work in tech before you got into
I did IT and tech. Yeah.
Yeah. So, it's kind of a a role where you're expected to be rational and logical and methodical and analytical and all those things. Yeah?
Yeah. But it doesn't mean that
you haven't got creativity and empathy at the same time.
I I think, you know, going back to what you're saying earlier about hyperfocus, things like this. You know, when I was deep in hyperfocus on a on a IT problem, you know, trying to rebuild someone's server in the middle of the night, working all night in a computer data center in a freezing cold with a coat on trying to fix something, I I didn't have any brain capacity for anything other than the problem. All of this all the empathy, all of the human contact stuff was pushed to the edge, and I was beeping techie mode.
And so I'm curious some resources about monotropism. So this this is a theory. It links to that diagnostic criteria about the highly focused special interest that you have when you're autistic, but it's it's way more than that. It's about being able to put the blinkers on and have tunnel vision to the thing you're researching or the problem that you're trying to solve. And it's widely regarded as being an autistic trait rather than an ADHD one, but it looks a lot like ADHD hyperfocus. I think you'd be really interested to read that stuff.
Yeah. We'd we'd we'd we'd discussed the idea of superpower earlier, but I I always saw it as part of my my technical skill is to better really get onto a problem. Yeah. My time in the RAF, electronic engineer, most of that course and that training was all about fault finding, finding faults in circuits. And I was very good at working out, you know, half splitting in the middle, in the middle again, in the middle again, in the middle again, in the middle again, narrowing it down to sort of like a square centimeter. I go, must be that component. So I was very good at that. Yeah.
It was a good designing circuits, but I was very good at finding out what's wrong with things.
I'm not so surprised. Yeah. Yeah. So my husband's doing that now. So he worked in IT for quite a long time. He's doing an occasional speaking event now, and he's a musician. But his his current hyperfocus is tinkering with electronic things and fixing them. So he'd buy a a secondhand amplifier that's sold as it's a really good amp, but it's a bit broken, and then he'll fix it.
Teaching himself as he goes along, and he's done the same with record players and and laptops and all sorts. And I think that it's a special skill to know when to keep digging, but to know when to leave it because you're just wasting your time after a while. But, when I worked in char and like I say, I was in an analytical role. I was supporting HR systems and projects. But I think one of the things I was particularly good at is getting to the underlying cause of the problem. So I could help people in my team pass error messages. I could find work arounds. I could teach them how to do things.
But if there's tough data I need to be able to establish where the learning need is that's causing something to be input incorrectly, if there's an error message that keeps cropping up, I need to know where in the process it's coming from or whether there's a glitch that needs to be fixed by the system vendor. And I just don't cross it off my list until I've got to the bottom of it.
Tenacity, that, dog with a bone.
Yeah.
You keep chasing it. Yeah.
So I think that's why in IT, if you look at IT with, like, this kind of service model where you've got the service desk people, and then if it's something more technical that they can't they can't fix it there and then they will refer it to a resolver group. That resolver group quite often has a lot of autistic people that are really tenacious and excellent at problem solving. So what workforce what workplaces need to understand, employers even, is if you want the people with those skills, then you're gonna have to not have neuro normative expectations on how they get through the recruitment process, what support they need in the role, what their interpersonal skills are like, and that kind of thing. You've won the best person for that job, not the best person at passing an interview and getting on well with their colleagues and making the right small talk on a Monday morning. I I was at a, a mini conference once, and
we were doing these sort of roundtable discussions that we were talking about. I think it was probably CultureFit or something like that came up. There's an owner of a of a business there who was, I think, a technical or a SaaS platform, a cloud platform, something like that. And he was talking about he has he basically said, I've got a couple of members of my staff. They really don't wanna join in with anything we do. You know, at lunchtime, when we wanna go to the pub, at lunchtime, when we wanna have a little bit of a giggle and laugh, all they wanna do is go and take their lunch, sit in their car for an hour, and then come back. I said, I was thinking about firing them.
They just don't get on.
They're just not they're just not part of the team. And I thought, blimey. Yeah. What you're doing here is you're what you're saying is judging people by your culture. And, you know, when people don't fit into your definition of normal, and you're you're you're writing them off as being not team players. You think, hang on a minute. These are probably your best resources at writing code and problem solving. And They're recharging themselves.
How to think. Yeah. They are.
Yeah. They're working in an open plan office with the a lot of different noise going on and and people asking them things and calls coming in, and they're trying to solve the problem. They've they've got a lot of inputs. Then if they need to spend their lunch hour without those social inputs, at least, probably without the sensory inputs as well, if they've chosen their own sensory environment that they can curate like a car, They're recharging themselves so that they can come back and be productive in the afternoon. That should be tremendous. It's a neuro normative expectation that they sit around and continue to do the peopling.
Yeah. I I I had a clash with one of my team in the past where they wanted the radio on, and I couldn't stand any background or noise or chat or something like that. It was like well, like, the radio just kept taking my brain off of the task. It's like, go away, Eva. Just turn it off. Yeah. And they but they needed it on because that's how they thought. So it's trying to find that that balance and
Quite often it is. So when you're looking at neuro inclusion in the workplace, it's quite often balancing conflicting needs. And when you do it in in the home, it is as well. So I had that problem in the pandemic. I'd already been working from home a couple of days a week, so my husband was quiet on those days. But when the pandemic hit, I was working from home every day. And he liked music on and TV on at the same time, and I wanted neither. So we had to find our ways of co in cohabiting without wanting to kill each other, and we did.
It just took a while in the workplace. In my in my last, HR job, I was working from home all the time, but I had a manager who didn't like to type things into a chat or send a lot of emails. She had a lot of issues with her shoulders and her wrist aching, and she wanted to just ask me things verbally like we're in a normal office. So she dropped into Teams video calls with me like we're in an office, and she was just, tapping on my shoulder and saying, can you have a quick look at this? She was doing it all through the day. And I said to her, I can't work like this. It's so overwhelming. And I started to send a a lot of text messages on Teams, and she was saying to me, I can't work like this. It's hurting my shoulders and my wrist.
So we work together, and we compromise, and that's what you've gotta do.
Yeah. Our son is, he he's an IT techie. He he was diagnosed as being dyslexic in his early teens, and he was given, allowances and exams and all that as well. But he he doesn't respond to text messages. He might not even read them, me, or just say, haven't you responded? So, you know, I don't do text. Oh, yeah. So you give him a voice note or you just ring him up. He'll answer the phone and reach out with you.
But if you start texting, because probably it's the rest of the family, we have WhatsApp groups. And we wanna what we wanna do is it pops out in the WhatsApp group. He coming around later. He doesn't respond. Is he doing it or is he? So you have to send him another one, which is a voice note, which he then responds to.
Yeah. We have So
he's just learning.
Similar issues. Yeah. So my kids, neither of them like making phone calls, but they're quite comfortable to chat to people online when they're gaming, and they're quite comfortable to send voice notes and video notes. It took me a really long time to get used to that because I'd rather be typing. Seems a bit funny now because I've been a professional speaker for 18 months, but I communicate a lot better in the written form. I hope all the friends as well. They send me a voice note, and I'll listen to it, and I'm typing back to them while I'm listening to it.
That's what I do. Someone voice notes me. I reply back by text. Yeah. Because I I I keep my phone on silent all the time. I don't it doesn't make a noise. It doesn't squeak. LinkedIn, wherever I'm scrolling, all the videos, they haven't got subtitles.
I'm not interested. Even though I I'm also find it I I think I've I've got sight dyslexia as well. I find or maybe it's my my neurodiversity. I I don't know. I can't I find it really difficult to read vast amounts of text. I lose track. My brain wanders off halfway through the page. But I can consume little 2 or 3 liners.
No problem at all. One bite sized chunk, I can do that. Yeah. I prefer to text, not not voice notes because I I don't wanna turn the volume up. It's like, oh, go. You're invading my space.
I could always put earphones in to listen to a voice note because I just don't wanna disturb the people around me as well. But, sometimes I think when we get big blocks of text that it would be easier to read it and pay attention to it if it was broken up into, like, a you have a sentence and then a blank line and then another sentence. So these are tips that you can get off the British Dyslexia Society, I think they're called, website. They're aimed at people who are dyslexic, but it helps as well if English isn't your first language, if you've got ADHD, all kinds of things. So you tend to find most of these neuroinclusion tips will make things better for far more people than they're intended to.
Yeah. Whenever I'm writing articles and and reports, I always make sure there's a a good space between paragraphs. Yeah. I'm I would do 2 spaces after a full stop to break the sentence up. I like I like some white amongst the black. You know, I like I like it to look, of course, all these things. You know? I I like to capitalize the first letter of titles, things like this. And everyone's like, no.
You shouldn't do that. You shouldn't. It's just a capital at the beginning. I well, I don't read it that way. So
yeah. Yeah. Sometimes it's just aesthetics as well, isn't it? It's what
It is.
Looks pleasing to you. But, that's exactly it. It's about look
how it is. It sort of look nice, isn't it?
Yeah. There's some dyslexia friendly fonts that are just not attractive at all to look up, but then there are others that are. We've been going on a lot of tangents, haven't we? I went to a Future is ND event about inclusive design and advertising and creative industry, and I've picked up a lot of stuff about fonts and spacing and things. So I'm building like a mind palace of information about neuro inclusion. But a a lot of times you read something and think, well, that's gonna help everyone. And do you know what? That's what gen z want. They are the workforce of the future. And if they've got preferred ways of working, preferred hours or flexibility or media, all of these things, they're used to expressing that preference and not being told, no, you've got to work in this place from 9 till 5, Monday to Friday, and do as you told.
It's they know how to advocate for their individual needs and preferences, and they're going to expect work to fit into their lives and not the other way around.
Yeah. That that's that's definitely, what I'm hearing. Our children are are 30 seconds, so they're millennials, really. They're not they're not not really Gen z. But even they have, different trace because I because I my background's tech. They were pretty tech included from day 1. They had all the gadgets. They had phones early.
They had, so as soon as it was available. So, yeah, they they weren't tech tech. So I suppose from the age of 10, they were they were pretty tech included. So yeah. But I I've seen a lot of examples. I've talked to people of of, yeah, the gen z age group where they have a different relationship with the world because of the way they're communicating with each other.
Yeah. Definitely. And all these I don't know how topical I can be here, but of this idea of American the American administration and big tech companies in America abolishing d and I DEI programs, it's so blinkered and counterproductive because those companies will die out when the workforce is made up of Gen z's. They are going to want to be able to talk about their needs and ideas and to have those needs met. So they're not gonna stand for working in a company that doesn't have that corporate social responsibility and doesn't care about human needs and individuality and being protected from discrimination and bullying and all that stuff. They're gonna want more than that.
Yeah. My my view is that people have latched on to the the negative side of DEI initiatives rather than the positive side. Yeah. I think what what people are trying to say is we want to stamp out the negativity around forced quotas and forced this. And I think we hey. You know, you you gotta find out How many people do that?
They're kind of behind the times with that view because we really don't do that. I mean, a lot of people in diversity and inclusion realize that there are minority groups that unfairly experience some barriers to education, employment, progression, etcetera. But nobody's ever saying you can't have a job here if you're a cisgender, middle aged, white, affluent, heterosexual man. That's just never been a case.
It shouldn't be for for sure. No. I mean Yeah. I always say that you can't have an inclusive environment by excluding people. No. And you can't exclude the typical person either. You have to include everybody in this.
So it's about breaking down those barriers rather than saying, no. We want we want a workforce full of people who are not that a cishet white, middle class dude.
I think some some of it for me comes down to defining more clearly the meritocracy because meritocracy isn't always bigger, louder, faster. Sometimes it's more I can never say that word, empathic, empathetic. Sometimes it's about being better listening skills, more team management skills, more more creativity. So some of these things are often excluded from the definition of meritocracy because they're not seen as valuable. Or they're you know, to quote Zuckerberg, we we need more masculine energy in our businesses. Actually, we need a balance of energy.
Yeah.
Not not labelled masculine or feminine. We're labelled it. We need to change abandon those labels as being a a neurotype, if you like, and think about the actual core skills people are bringing in, not soft skills, not hard skills. That's, again, labelling things in the wrong way. It's not
the wrong system. Time though, hasn't it? We've been talking about team dynamics. And though, you know, those team roles, I forget what they're called now. It's Belkin and all that stuff. For a long time, everyone knows that you need different kinds of people to make a team work, and that some people need to have leadership skills, and some people need to have the ideas, and others need to be the completer finishers, and all that. Learned all about that over 20 years. Yeah. Probably 25 years ago now, I did my HR qualifications the first time around.
So I just I can't believe
we're even type a people, type b people. We've got Hertzberg. We've got all these things going on in the the HR psychology stuff. And Yeah. Yeah. People are people. And you're right. We need a we need a a colorful box of Lego to make it to make the fire station, don't we? Absolutely.
So what what's the biggest challenge you're finding when you're working with, organizations? Where do they need to educate most around, you know, your your field? The, you know, the neurodiversity, the ADHD
Neurodiversity position. Yeah. One of the challenges I've had is that they think it's a novelty, nice to have HR hot topic kind of thing rather than something that really needs a lot of thought. So it was to me, I noticed it gathering a lot of momentum before the pandemic. And then with the pandemic, we started to think about a lot more about the whole self to work and psychological safety. So this is turning up to work. And if you're having issues because your kids are at home and they're anxious and you're trying to do a job at home school at the same time and there's a global pandemic, that you're not just putting on a brave face and only showing a professional veneer, but you can actually say what you're up against and know that it's not gonna be used against you. But then we had the Black Lives Matter movement, and we've had me too.
And it just seems like the businesses are kind of latching on to the current big thing and putting a lot of resources into that and then forgetting about the other stuff. And any kind of disability, neurodiversity, accessibility, that stuff's bubbling away, but it never seems to be particularly high on an agenda. So what I would like to see is that people realize that your workforce is neurodiverse. Even if you think you don't have any autistic employees, and every company will, but every workforce is neurodiverse because it is made up of human individuals who think, fail, and process in different ways. So what we need to be doing is working out how to accommodate each individual so that they can thrive in their roles and that it isn't some nice to have. It isn't some tokenistic tick box exercise. It's just about ensuring that you've got employee engagement and that everyone's doing a good job and that people aren't leaving in droves, that they're not having a lot of time off with with work related stress or depression. But everyone is okay and doing the best work they can.
And it's really not about doing nice things for disabled people. It's it's the right thing to do, and it's good for business because you've got employees who are engaged. They're doing good work. It's gonna keep you out of tribunals. It's an absolute no brainer to me. Let's treat adults in the work force like like adults who can have needs and preferences and should be safe to voice them. Let's take them seriously. Let's meet their needs so they can thrive in their roles.
It's good for everybody.
Not so much today, but in the past, I've seen branding, for want of a better way to describe it, branding neurodiverse people in this superpower. We we don't like that word. Instead of saying, you need an autistic person to do that task because they will be hyper they will be able to do this. And you're almost saying, well, if you're if you're an autistic person who isn't a mathematical genius, what's wrong with you? You know, you should be you should be like Rain Man. And it's almost like setting people up to being the stereotype of 1 type of autism or one type of really helpful.
Yeah. So even, no, even with dyslexia, I mean, GCHQ, for instance, they did a dyslexia hiring program because dyslexic people apparently have superpowers of, pattern recognition and, code cracking and all that. Not all of them, I'm sure. It's great to acknowledge the strengths that can come with each neurotype, but they're always going to be individual to the employee, to the person.
So, yeah, I mean, that that would be my take on some of this is look into the person. Look into the spec you want, and not everybody who is neurodiverse, ADHD, trans, straight, non bi whoever you want to describe yourself. But everyone's gonna fit that role for a tick box. I think that's what we need to do is look into the heart, but give that person the opportunity, the equity, the tools, opportunities here.
Yeah. Exactly. Assume. Yeah. So let's consciously include people that have been previously excluded. Let's break down barriers to inclusion and success, dismantle some systemic barriers, and give everyone the chance to show what they can do, how they can contribute. But the other thing is, though, all humans have got value even if they don't have a job. So isn't all about how many of us are in the workforce?
Yeah. It is. And I think I think you're right there. It is and and it's also around creating aspiration. You have belief, trust in the process because a lot of, when you're when you're not atypical, you you're on that middle of the line. You tend to see other people who are more capable. You your imposter syndrome kicks in. You don't see anybody else doing it.
The language around the the job role or the job spec isn't doesn't shout out to you that they care about you. So we're actually creating barriers just in the language, the employer branding, the recruitment marketing we're putting out there, not just not just some of the other things that we turn people off.
It needs to be all big overhaul. And you see so many job descriptions even now that expect people to work autonomously. I'm part of a team to communicate effectively at all levels and what other bullshit is there. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. What's that mean?
Do you want to roll in a fast paced environment? I read that and think, no. That means they're understaffed and badly managed, and it's overwhelming. That's not for me. Dynamic and fast paced. Yeah. They want young people that are full of energy that they can lean on more and put more pressure on. It's ages.
Yeah. Some of that, as you say, ageist, some of that is is gender cosas as well. Yeah. Your typical cosas you say is a lot of dynamics in those in those bland statements that we've just been cutting and pushing.
And mask racism as well and it's yeah. Good fit for culture. Is your culture that you will go down the football on a Saturday afternoon and then talk about it on a Monday? How many people is that gonna exclude? Does it actually mean that you have, better productivity or better innovation? I don't think so. Yeah.
Yeah. I I I is
the best way to prevent innovation.
I'm a person who's teetotal. I don't drink anymore. So talk about going to the pub or even putting on dinners where alcohol is a is a is a major part of it. I'm also doing weight management. So wanting to go out for a meal and have alcohol is, like, a double turn off. And it's, there there are many people out there, certainly the younger generation, whose lives don't revolve around alcohol and eating anymore. But that's a very old school human thing, isn't it?
Yeah. So I I have a complicated relationship with alcohol, and it's generally not great to say you're only part of the team if you can go and work hard and play hard. Because I will drink too much to cope with the difficult social situation and difficult sensory situation. Social situation and difficult sensory situation, and then have all kinds of anxiety about how I might have come across, what wrong thing I might have said to the wrong person. And I just wake up full of dread. It's so necessary.
Got that t shirt myself. Yeah. That's one of the things that I realized that I was focusing on drinking too much because I didn't know how to have fun or how to interact Yeah. Without the alcohol. And then I I took the alcohol away and then found that, actually, I don't wanna be in this environment anyway. I don't like it. It's like, what if I wanna be here with the drunk people? It's no fun.
So I, now I'm self employed. It's great because I just work in a way that suits me. If someone says, can we go out for a drink? I wanna pick your brains about a work thing. I'll say, decaf coffee, but, yeah, I'm not I now
I don't mind a coffee. I don't mind a decaf coffee, but, yeah, I'm not I now self exclude from alcohol focused events and food focused events because I'm no good with either of those. I eat too much if I'm get your visit in front of me, and I'll drink too much if it's there. So
I find it because it's a dumb meal really quite stressful with a lot of people. It's mostly the Skip. The noises, though, the competing noises. You know, someone's trying to talk to me, but I'm hearing 10 conversations at once. So I don't think
that's an an expectation to join into the conversation. Actually, sometimes I my brain just wants to shut off and zone out, eat my dinner, and stare into space. I'm quite happy with that sometimes. But you wanna I feel obliged to talk to you, then I feel obliged to talk to you Mhmm. And then feel obliged to contribute to the and I think, well, I was drinking. It was fine because my down cold just kicked in and kept me bubbly. But now it's just like, sorry. You're boring.
I don't mean that rudely, but I'm just not interested in having a small talk conversation anymore. It's I feel so much happier not.
Yeah. It's great, isn't it, when you can identify what makes you tick and and what sort of massive drain and just decide what's worth doing and what you're not gonna do anymore.
Yeah. I again, you've met Marie, my wife. She has some social anxiety exaggerated by menopause and COVID and isolation. But when you engage her in a networking situation, she is brilliant. She'll work the room. She'll form conversations. She'll go up to people who are complete strangers and sell or or or or share. And I just can't do that.
I can do it, but it's not my comfort zone. I just wanna go I just wanna go. I'm gonna sneak off now. It's so sad.
My comfort zone as well. You know? I'm quite confident when I'm talking about things I know about, but small talk is horrendous. That future is future is n d accessible design event. I mentioned I offered to help with that. And one of the things that needed to be done is meeting people in reception and going up the lift with them to the conference room. And I was just so tongue tied and awkward. It was ridiculous. But I wanted to help.
So I volunteered to do things and then think, oh, this isn't me at all. But I can get up on a stage in front of a 1,000 people and deliver a speech, and I'll answer questions as well, unprepared, you know, off the hoof. And I'm completely fine with all
of that.
But going up up a couple of floors in a lift with someone who I'm expected to make polite small talk to, no. That's so out of my comfort zone. But I take a turn with me to get out. Working.
Yeah. Yeah.
If you've already got someone there with you, then it's easier to talk to additional people. So that's why you see me and my friend, Lucy Hobbs, going everywhere together.
Yeah. I I do like a a buddy at those sort of events, but I found the danger is if I if I'm there with somebody I know and they're not particularly bothered about networking, we'll just talk to each other. Yeah. We won't actually do anything else. So you say, well, what are we here for? You know, I forced myself into this environment, and now neither of us wanna be here. So we just should we go now? Should we? We just sort of sneak off. But, yeah, it's which is why I picked
a very specific yeah. You wanna leave stupidly early, but without having to do a lot of goodbyes and reasons why. So just, like, quietly slink off and then send people a text saying, I've gone.
Yeah. Sorry. I I just I realized my train was coming and Yeah? Off. Yeah. Yeah. There's definitely a thing. You go in the entire room 5 times, so it never quite gets saying goodbye.
It's so
freeing, to
be honest, though, I think. When you when you can when you feel safe to actually give people the real reason and you don't think they're gonna mock you for it, it's so liberating. I got invited to a wedding, and the the person realized she'd invited way too many people. She said, would you mind if you and I just come to the evening do and not the daytime? And I said, do you know what? Neither of us really like weddings. Do you mind if we don't come at all? And and she said, thank you so much for your honesty. Yeah. That's absolutely fine. And I thought, we should've traveled to this wedding, spent a fortune, had a miserable time, probably had a row when we got back to the hotel.
One sentence of honesty with someone that respects me for my honesty, and we were spared all that.
Yeah. I mean, I I find these days because people are are more aware of these these attributes and traits of of people. I'm just quite comfortable saying, look, my my introvert nature is is saying my batteries are flat. I need I've had too much. You burnt me out. I've I've got no more energy to give you. So I I need to go and recharge. Sorry.
I'm off now. Yeah. After an hour or so. Yeah. Often people said to me, wish I could go as well. You know, we stick off together. But I'm more than I'm more than okay with having one to ones or small conversations with people. Well, that's not small talk.
It's good talk in in very intimate conversation. I can like, look. We're talking now. I could talk to you all day, one to 1. And maybe even 3 of us, maybe I could do. But anything more than that where it becomes free calling you have to really try to make it happen. It's like, oh, I'm done now. It's like, bye.
Yeah. Yeah. It's meant to be interesting and fun, isn't it? Having a conversation, not some kind of test of your interpersonal skills.
It's like Game of Thrones networking, isn't it? Last person standing. Darling, it's been an absolute pleasure having a chat with you. I can't believe we've been nattering away now for just over an hour.
Yeah.
Fantastic. Yeah. Thank you for being so open, so honest, and, sharing with everybody. How can people get a hold of you?
So you'll find me on LinkedIn under, Charlie Hart or Awesome Charlie. Awesome with an AU for autistic because I'm openly autistic. Same thing on Facebook and Instagram, but I may well leave them. Who knows? I've got a website. Guess what? It's www.awesomecharlie.co.uk. And the YouTube channel as well. That that's about it. And let
me guess that's Awesome Charlie.
Yeah. Awesome Charlie. In AU. I'm on Blue Sky. So I've still got an account on Shitter with an x as I call it now, but I don't use it. I just don't want someone to take over my handle. But, but I'm on Blue Sky as well, which is like that, but it's way friendlier and more inclusive. But yeah.
I'll stick all of that in the show notes underneath this, and you're gonna send, you're gonna signpost a a resource, won't you, which I'll,
so My ADHD brain can't remember what it was right now. Oh, monotropism. Yes. I will. Yeah.
Anything that's in there, I'll I'll I'll share in the in the notes, and then we'll
It's the tension tunnels that give us the flow where we can really, really get into our expertise and change the world, really.
If I'm really honest, I can't remember what you said you were gonna give me either. I just knew you said something. I play along and see see see if it becomes obvious after a while. But, yeah, it's you learn that about yourself sometimes that you don't have to remember everything. You just have to have coping mechanisms.
My favorite ADHD advocate, doctor Ned Hallowell, he says, my thoughts are like butterflies. They're beautiful, but they fly away. So that that's my brain. Yeah. They do come back eventually.
Yeah. Well, you know, they're there somewhere. You just gotta hunt them down, don't you? But you get your nest out and try to catch them. Johnny, thank you so much.
Thank
you. As we bring this conversation to a close, I want to express my deepest gratitude to you, our listener, for lending your ear and heart to the cause of inclusion. Today's discussion struck called Consider subscribing to Inclusion Bites and become part of our ever growing community, driving real change. Share this journey with friends, family, and colleagues. Let's amplify the voices that matter. Got thoughts, stories, or a vision to share? I'm all ears. Reach out to jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk, and let's make your voice heard. Until next time, this is Joanne Lockwood signing off with a promise to return with more enriching narratives that challenge, inspire, and unite us all.
Here's to fostering a more inclusive world one episode at a time.
Catch
you on the next bite.
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Episode Category
Primary Category: Neurodiversity
Secondary Category: LGBTQ+ Voices
🔖 Titles
How Neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ Intersect in the Workplace
Embracing Neurodiversity: Charlie Hart’s Journey and Advocacy
Unpacking Neurodiversity, Autism, and ADHD in Modern Workplaces
The Power of Understanding: Neurodiversity and Inclusion at Work
Charlie Hart on Redefining Neurodiversity and Inclusion
Navigating Autism and ADHD: Challenges and Triumphs at Work
Embracing Every Mind: Fostering Neurodiverse Work Environments
Breaking Barriers: Neurodiversity and True Inclusion in the Workplace
Championing Neurodiversity: Insights from Charlie Hart’s Personal and Professional Journey
Inclusion and Belonging: Conversations on Neurodiversity with Charlie Hart
A Subtitle - A Single Sentence describing this episode
Charlie Hart unveils their personal and professional journey in championing neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion, offering profound insights on accommodating diverse minds, and fostering an equitable, embracing, and truly inclusive workplace.
Episode Tags
Sure, here are ten search tags for this episode based on the transcript:
inclusion neurodiversity ADHD autism workplace culture LGBTQIA double rainbow empathy neurotypical neurodivergent
Episode Summary with Intro, Key Points and a Takeaway
In this episode of The Inclusion Bites Podcast, Joanne Lockwood and Charlie Hart bring you an engaging and enlightening discussion on embracing neurodiversity. They explore the unique challenges and advantages of being neurodivergent in today's society and workforce. Charlie, a prominent advocate for neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion, shares their experiences and insights on the significance of understanding and adapting to different neurological profiles at work. Joanne and Charlie uncover the mechanisms behind late diagnoses, asynchronous learning, and how the modern work environment can be more inclusive of different neurological experiences.
Charlie Hart, also known as Awesome Charlie, is a celebrated neurodivergent keynote speaker with a powerful dedication to creating a better world for neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ youth. Drawing inspiration from their own children and the Gen Z community, Charlie transitioned from a career in HR to become a full-time advocate and researcher on neurodiversity inclusion. Their journey through discovering their own ADHD, autism, and complex PTSD has shaped their unique insights into societal and workplace inclusion, making them a valued voice in the field.
Throughout the episode, Joanne and Charlie delve into personal anecdotes and professional experiences highlighting the critical aspects of creating an inclusive environment for everyone. They challenge societal constructs and bring attention to the importance of recognising individual strengths and support needs. The conversation also touches on the intersectionality of neurodivergence with other identities, particularly within the LGBTQIA+ community, underscoring how these overlapping challenges can impact daily life and career progression.
One key takeaway from this episode is the emphasis on rethinking traditional workplace norms to accommodate neurodiverse employees effectively. Listeners will gain a profound understanding of the importance of creating flexible, supportive work environments that enable all individuals to thrive. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to deepen their knowledge of neurodiversity and enhance their approach to inclusivity in both personal and professional realms.
📚 Timestamped overview
00:00 HR professional discovers her and her child's autism, leading to insights into past struggles; joins neurodiversity community in 2018.
08:54 ADHD is often overlooked in girls due to societal conditioning; misconceptions focus on hyperactivity rather than internal struggles.
14:05 Neurodivergent individuals often excel greatly in certain areas and struggle significantly in others, resulting in a "spiky profile" of abilities.
16:11 Both the speaker and their husband have ADHD and exhibit autistic traits. The husband doesn't officially meet the autism diagnostic threshold, which the speaker views as arbitrary. They suggest ADHD individuals often show autistic traits but aren't always diagnosed due to rigid medical criteria. The speaker had difficulty having their ADHD recognised, as symptoms could be attributed to autism, PTSD, or menopause. They believe it's challenging to separate autistic and ADHD aspects in their brain.
25:07 Neurodivergence, including autism, often overlaps with trans or non-binary identities. Studies support this correlation.
26:50 The text discusses a queer, autistic family with diverse identities, emphasising the interconnectedness of identities and citing Audre Lorde on the complexity of human identities.
33:01 Employers should adjust recruitment and workplace practices to accommodate autistic individuals, who excel in technical and problem-solving roles, beyond neurotypical expectations.
40:39 Exploring dyslexia-friendly fonts and inclusive design highlights the importance of accommodating diverse preferences, especially as Gen Z values flexibility in the workplace.
47:09 Businesses often focus on trends and neglect neurodiversity and accessibility. It's essential to recognise that all workforces are inherently neurodiverse and to accommodate individuals to ensure employee engagement and well-being.
48:59 Branding neurodiverse traits as "superpowers" can lead to unrealistic stereotypes and pressure on neurodiverse individuals.
57:59 Honesty about not liking weddings led to a mutual relief from attending one.
01:01:54 Thank you for supporting inclusion. Subscribe to Inclusion Bites, share with others, and contact jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk to share your thoughts. – Joanne Lockwood.
📚 Timestamped overview
00:00 Autism Discovery Transformed HR Career
08:54 Hidden ADHD in Girls
14:05 Neurodivergence: Unique Strengths and Challenges
16:11 ADHD and Autism Overlap
25:07 Autism and Gender Identity Link
26:50 Celebrating Diverse Identities in Family
33:01 Rethinking IT Recruitment for Autistic Talent
40:39 "Gen Z's Inclusive Design Preferences"
47:09 Prioritising Neurodiversity in Business
48:59 Avoid Stereotyping Neurodiversity as Superpower
57:59 The Liberation of Honesty
01:01:54 Join the Inclusion Conversation
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🎙️ This Week on Inclusion Bites: Embracing Every Mind! 🎙️
💬 Ever wondered how acknowledging neurodiversity can transform your workplace culture and amplify every individual's unique strengths? 💬
This week, I’m thrilled to welcome Charlie Hart, a neurodivergent keynote speaker championing neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion. Tune in to discover why Charlie is celebrated as "Awesome Charlie," with their unwavering dedication to creating a better world for neurodivergent and queer youth.
Together, we explore:
🔑 The importance of understanding and supporting neurodivergent individuals to foster an inclusive work environment.
🔑 Challenging norms and breaking down barriers that prevent neurodiverse talents from thriving.
🔑 Practical strategies for businesses to embrace neurodiversity and harness its benefits.
Why Listen?
"Inclusion is about understanding, and this episode is packed with insights to help you create more #PositivePeopleExperiences."
About the Podcast
As the host of Inclusion Bites, I release episodes every week to inspire, educate, and challenge perspectives on inclusion and belonging. This short clip is just a taste of what’s to come.
Engagement Call to Action
What’s your take? 💭 Share your thoughts below 👇 or tell us about your experience with supporting neurodiversity.
🎧 Listen here: [https://url.seech.uk/ibs152]
#PositivePeopleExperiences #SmileEngageEducate #InclusionBites #Podcasts #Shorts #Neurodiversity #LGBTQIAInclusion #WorkplaceCulture #Belonging #SupportNeurodiversity
Don't forget to like, subscribe, follow, and comment - and share the love with your colleagues.
with SEE Change Happen and Charlie Hart
TikTok/Reels/Shorts Video Summary
Focus Keyword: Positive People Experiences
Title: Embracing Neurodiversity for Positive People Experiences | #InclusionBitesPodcast
Tags: inclusion, neurodiversity, ADHD, autism, workplace wellness, HR solutions, emotional intelligence, gender identity, Culture Change, Joanne Lockwood, Charlie Hart, Inclusion Bites Podcast, mental health, DEI, LGBTQIA+, equity, accessibility, team dynamics, holistic HR, transformational leadership, workplace culture, psychological safety, employee engagement, Gen Z, professional growth
Killer Quote: “It's really not about doing nice things for disabled people. It's the right thing to do, and it's good for business.” - Charlie Hart
Hashtags: #InclusionBitesPodcast, #PositivePeopleExperiences, #Neurodiversity, #CultureChange, #HRInsights, #WorkplaceWellness, #InclusiveLeadership, #EmotionalIntelligence, #AutismAcceptance, #ADHDAwareness, #TeamDynamics, #LGBTQInclusion, #EquityInWorkplace, #PsychologicalSafety, #GenZWorkforce, #TransformationalLeadership, #MentalHealthMatters, #DiversityEquityInclusion, #EmployeeEngagement, #WorkplaceCulture
Summary:
Unlock Positive People Experiences by embracing neurodiversity and fostering Culture Change in your organisation. In this episode, Joanne Lockwood and neurodivergent champion Charlie Hart discuss the importance of recognising and supporting unique minds. From understanding ADHD traits to creating inclusive environments, this episode is a goldmine of insight. Discover how inclusivity not only creates a culture of belonging but also makes good business sense. Tune in to hear Charlie's personal journey and learn how to be a true catalyst for Culture Change.
Call to Action: Listen now to learn how you can transform your workplace for Positive People Experiences. Engage with us and be a part of the ongoing conversation.
Outro:
Thank you, the listener, for tuning in. Don't forget to like and subscribe to the channel for more insightful content. Find more information and listen to the full episode on the SEE Change Happen website.
SEE Change Happen website: https://seechangehappen.co.uk
Listen to the full episode here: The Inclusion Bites Podcast
Stay curious, stay kind, and stay inclusive - Joanne Lockwood
ℹ️ Introduction
Welcome to Inclusion Bites, your safe space for bold conversations that drive change. In this episode, host Joanne Lockwood is joined by the inspiring Charlie Hart, a neurodivergent keynote speaker and advocate for neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace. Together, they explore the complexities of neurodiversity, diving into Charlie’s personal journey of discovering their autistic and ADHD traits, and the societal misconceptions around these conditions. Joanne and Charlie share compelling insights on how workplaces can better accommodate neurodiverse individuals, emphasising the importance of recognising every mind's unique strengths and challenges. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in creating truly inclusive environments where everyone can thrive. So, whether you're enjoying your morning coffee or winding down from a busy day, tune in and prepare to be inspired.
💬 Keywords
Inclusion, diversity, belonging, societal transformation, neurodiversity, LGBTQIA plus inclusion, workplace inclusion, autism diagnosis, ADHD, complex PTSD, neurodivergent, gender identity, Gen z community, Inclusion Bites podcast, employment support, workplace accommodations, emotional intelligence, burnout, sensory overload, COVID impact, menopausal changes, empathy, team dynamics, recruitment barriers, workplace culture, communication preferences, psychological safety, HR systems, societal norms, intersectionality, DEI programs.
About this Episode
About The Episode:
In this illuminating episode, Joanne Lockwood sits down with Charlie Hart, a neurodivergent keynote speaker dedicated to championing neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace. Charlie shares their personal journey, the challenges faced along the way, and their mission to foster understanding and acceptance in diverse environments. Join us as we delve into the complexities of neurodiversity and explore practical approaches to creating inclusive workplaces.
Today, we'll cover:
The journey from HR to becoming a neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ advocate.
Understanding the intersection between neurodiversity and gender identity.
The impact of late diagnoses of autism and ADHD on personal and professional life.
Strategies for fostering neuroinclusive workplace environments.
The importance of recognising individual strengths and support needs.
Misconceptions surrounding neurodivergent traits and capabilities.
The role of Gen Z in shaping future workplace dynamics and inclusion practices.
💡 Speaker bios
Joanne Lockwood is the dynamic host of "Inclusion Bites," a platform dedicated to fostering bold conversations that ignite societal change. Passionate about creating a world where everyone not only belongs but thrives, Joanne guides listeners through thought-provoking explorations of inclusion and belonging. Through her insightful discussions, she challenges the status quo, uncovers the unseen, and shares resonant stories, encouraging listeners to reflect and inspire action. Whether you're starting your day or winding down, Joanne invites you to join the conversation, connect, and contribute to making a lasting impact.
💡 Speaker bios
Charlie Hart's journey has been a profound one, characterised by unexpected twists and personal revelations. Initially falling into the realm of Human Resources by chance, Charlie honed his skills in the analytical and project management aspects, as well as in supporting HR systems. Despite his diligence and endeavour, Charlie faced significant hurdles, particularly in navigating workplace behaviours and managing burnout, which often manifested as depression. Unlike his peers, he struggled with career progression.
A pivotal moment came with the discovery that his first-born child, Iggy, was autistic. This revelation led Charlie to recognise similar traits within himself. He realised that the difficulties both he and Iggy experienced, such as anxiety, being overwhelmed, and what were actually autistic meltdowns, were due to their neurodivergent nature. In 2018, Charlie sought and received his own autism diagnosis, which opened up a new world for him within the neurodiversity community. This discovery not only provided a clearer understanding of his past challenges but also sparked a deep interest and engagement with the neurodiversity movement.
❇️ Key topics and bullets
Sure, here is a comprehensive sequence of topics covered in the transcript, with sub-topic bullets below each primary topic:
Introduction to the Podcast
Host and guest introduction
Podcast purpose and goals
Episode title: Embracing Every Mind
Introduction to Charlie Hart
Charlie's background in HR
Diagnosis journey and personal identification
Neurodivergence in the workplace
Inspiration from children and Gen Z community
Neurodiversity and Personal Experiences
Struggles and realizations in the workplace
Discovery and diagnosis of autism and ADHD
The concept of neurodiversity and its societal implications
Importance of diversity in human cognitive function
Personal journey quitting HR and focusing on advocacy
Challenges and Misconceptions of Neurodiversity
The social construct of neuronormativity
Gender differences in diagnosis
Differences in expressions of neurodivergence
Struggles with behaviors and burnout
Workplace Inclusion and Neurodiversity
Employers' expectations and adjustments
Culture fit and misunderstandings
Functional diversity in the workplace
Balancing conflicting needs for a productive environment
Terminology and Labels in Neurodiversity
Person-first vs. identity-first language
Community preferences and respectful language usage
Issues with trivializing terms
Gender and neuronormativity perspectives
Intersectionality and Unique Experiences
Neurodivergence and LGBTQIA+ intersections
Double rainbow concept
Family experiences with neurodivergence and gender diversity
Emotional Intelligence and Social Dynamics
Emotional resilience and perception
Coping mechanisms in social settings
Experiences of introversion and social vulnerabilities
Strategies for Effective Inclusion
Personalized support and understanding
Flexibility in communication and working environments
Avoiding tokenism and ensuring genuine inclusivity
Promoting a holistic understanding of diverse abilities
Closing Remarks
Contact information and social media handles
Encouragement to the audience to engage and share stories
This sequence of topics and sub-topics encapsulates the key themes and discussions presented in the transcript.
The Hook
"Ever felt misunderstood or overlooked because your brain works differently? Discover the untold story of how embracing neurodiversity can unlock untapped potential and drive real change in your life and the workplace!"
"Struggling with burnout, or feeling like you're different from everyone else? Get ready to explore how your unique mind could be your greatest asset in a world desperate for innovative thinkers and authentic leaders!"
"What if the key to thriving wasn't fitting in but standing out? Dive into how embracing your neurodivergent traits can lead to a more inclusive, innovative, and empowering environment for yourself and others!"
"Tired of the one-size-fits-all approach to success? It's time to rethink inclusion and tap into the power of diversity of minds. Uncover how embracing every unique brain can transform both your personal and professional life!"
"Ever wondered why some people see the world so differently? Join us as we unravel the strengths hidden in neurodiversity and learn how to create spaces where EVERY mind can thrive, innovate, and lead!"
🎬 Reel script
Hey everyone, it's [Your Name] here. Just wrapped up an incredible episode of Inclusion Bites with the amazing Charlie Hart. We delved deep into neurodiversity and inclusion, discussing their journey as a neurodivergent and queer advocate. Charlie shared insights on the strengths and challenges of neurodiverse individuals in the workplace, the importance of authentic representation, and breaking down societal constructs. This is a conversation you can't miss. Tune into Inclusion Bites to hear more powerful stories that drive change. Stay inspired, and let's create a world where everyone thrives.
🗞️ Newsletter
Subject: 🌟 Embracing Neurodiversity: A New Episode of Inclusion Bites Podcast! 🌟
Dear [First Name],
We are thrilled to announce the latest episode of the Inclusion Bites podcast, "Embracing Every Mind," now available for your listening pleasure!
In this enlightening episode, our host Joanne Lockwood sits down with the exceptional Charlie Hart, also known as "Awesome Charlie." Together, they dive deep into the realms of neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion, exploring how our unique minds process the world and the steps we can take to create an inclusive work environment for everyone.
🔍 Key Highlights from the Episode:
Championing Neurodiversity & LGBTQIA+ Inclusion: Charlie shares their journey from an HR professional experiencing burnout to a dedicated advocate for neurodivergent and queer youth. Their unwavering dedication to creating a better world is truly inspiring.
Understanding Neurodiversity: Learn about how each brain processes the world uniquely, and why it’s crucial to view neurodiversity as an advantageous part of human diversity in any workforce.
Challenges Faced by Neurodivergent Individuals: Charlie discusses the difficulties neurodivergent people encounter in traditional work environments, including the pressures of social conformity and sensory overwhelm.
Breaking Down Social Constructs: Discover how societal expectations shape our understanding of "normal" behaviour and why it’s time to challenge these constructs, similar to how we evolve our understanding of gender.
Personal Experiences and Insights: Hear about Charlie's personal experiences with autism, ADHD, and complex PTSD, and how these have shaped their advocacy work. They also touch on the intersectionality between neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ identities, offering a wealth of insights into the lives of individuals who navigate these overlapping spaces.
🎧 Listen to the Episode Here: [Podcast URL]
We invite you to lean into these transformative conversations and join our mission to foster more inclusive and understanding communities. Take a moment to pause, reflect, and consider how embracing every mind can lead to innovative and thriving environments.
💬 Let's Keep the Conversation Going!
We value your insights and experiences. Please feel free to reach out to Joanne at jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk to share your thoughts, ask questions, or even suggest topics and guests for future episodes.
📲 Connect with Us:
LinkedIn: Joanne Lockwood on LinkedIn
See Change Happen: Website URL
Follow Charlie Hart: Awesome Charlie on LinkedIn | Awesome Charlie Website
Thank you for being a part of our vibrant and evolving community. Together, we can drive real change and inspire action towards a more inclusive world.
Warm regards,
The Inclusion Bites Team
Stay connected, stay inclusive. One episode at a time.
#InclusionBites #Neurodiversity #LGBTQIA #PositivePeopleExperiences
🧵 Tweet thread
Thread:
🎙️🔥 Welcome to another eye-opening episode of Inclusion Bites with Joanne Lockwood, your guide through the transformative world of inclusion and belonging! Today, we're diving deep into the essence of #Neurodiversity with the incredible Charlie Hart, aka Awesome Charlie. 🧠🌈 #InclusionBites #Neurodiversity
1/ 🚀 Ever wondered what it takes to create a world where everyone not only belongs but thrives? You're not alone. Let's connect, reflect, and inspire action together. Here's your chance to be part of the conversation! Reach out to Jo: jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk.
2/ Today's episode: "Embracing Every Mind". Meet Charlie Hart, a neurodivergent keynote speaker championing #LGBTQIA+ & neurodiversity in the workplace! Charlie's superpower? An unwavering dedication to creating a better world for neurodivergent and queer youth. 🌈💪 #Champion
3/ 🧩"Neurodiversity is part of our historic makeup," says Joanne. Our ancestors benefited from diverse minds for survival! Fast forward to 2023, why do we value certain neurotypes over others? Time to reframe our thinking. 🌍🧠 #InclusionBites
4/ 💡"Neurodiversity is a thing!" Charlie exclaims. Discovering their autism & ADHD later in life, Charlie learned that neurodiversity includes all human brain differences, each with unique strengths. 🌟 #ADHD #Autism #Inclusion
5/ 🔍 Misconceptions: Autism isn't about one type. "I have the kind of autism that doesn't come with intellectual disabilities or language delays," explains Charlie, formerly known as Asperger’s. Labels matter; they shape how we see ourselves & others. 🏷️ #AutisticPride
6/ 🏢 Workplace Insight: Inclusion isn't just a tick-box. Your workforce is inherently neurodiverse. "All humans think, feel, and process uniquely." How can we accommodate every individual so they thrive? 💼✨ #HR #Diversity
7/ ❤️ Neurodivergent people like Charlie and their husband excel in deep, focused problem-solving, crucial for roles like IT. But they need a work environment that respects their unique needs and recharging methods, like taking lunch in a car for sensory relief. 🚗🔧
8/ 🌍"There's no such thing as a single-issue human," says Charlie. Embrace intersecting identities: Neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, & more. Let's dismantle systemic barriers and truly include everyone. Intersectionality is key! 🌈🌟 #Intersectionality
9/ 🎯 Takeaway: Treat adults like adults. Understand and meet their needs to enhance employee engagement and productivity. Inclusion isn't just the right thing to do; it's also good for business. 💼📈 #EmployeeEngagement #WorkplaceWellbeing
10/ 🌟 Be part of the change! Listen to this enlightening episode on Spotify, iTunes or seechangehappen.co.uk/inclusion-bites-listen. Share your stories, insights, and visions at jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk. Let's create a more inclusive world together, one episode at a time. 🎧 #InclusionBites
🌈 Empower yourself and those around you by embracing neurodiversity and fostering inclusion. Together, we can spark real change! 🔥✨ #PositivePeopleExperiences
#Neurodiversity #Inclusion #LGBTQIA #Empowerment #Podcast #InclusiveCulture #Intersectionality #SeeChangeHappen 🌟
Guest's content for their marketing
Embracing Every Mind: My Journey with The Inclusion Bites Podcast
Hello everyone,
I am excited to share with you a recent enriching experience I had as a guest on The Inclusion Bites Podcast. Hosted by the wonderful Joanne Lockwood, this podcast is a sanctuary for bold conversations that spark change. It aims to delve deep into the transformative world of inclusive cultures and nurturing belonging.
The episode I featured in, titled "Embracing Every Mind," centred on the wider concepts of neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion. Both of these areas are not only professional passions of mine but deeply personal journeys shaped by my own discoveries and experiences.
Joanne Lockwood created a welcoming and engaging environment from the get-go. From the moment we began discussing my background in HR to my realisation and acceptance of being neurodivergent, Joanne’s thoughtful questions guided the conversation seamlessly. We delved into my experiences with autism, ADHD, and my relentless dedication to fostering a better understanding and acceptance of neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ individuals within workplaces and beyond.
One of the most compelling aspects of our discussion was the idea that neurodiversity is not merely a set of challenges but also comes with a plethora of unique strengths. I shared how my late diagnosis of autism and ADHD led me to insights that significantly altered my self-perception and well-being. The concept of harnessing the natural neurological diversity within a human population, just as biodiversity strengthens nature, was particularly enlightening during our discussion. Joanne brilliantly highlighted how these neurological differences have historically been advantageous and remain so in today's workforce.
We also touched upon how socio-cultural constructs shape our understanding of 'normality' and the inherent biases baked into these constructs. Whether we spoke about attention to detail, creativity, or the necessity for a collaborative dynamic in a team setting, it became clear that creating an inclusive environment benefits all.
Moreover, the poignant and intricate discussion about the intersection of neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ identities offered an added layer of depth. As someone who navigates multiple intersecting identities, I have seen the essential need for workplaces to evolve beyond merely accommodating differences to actively celebrating them.
Beyond the enriching discussion, what made this experience particularly memorable was the shared feeling of connection and mutual respect. Joanne’s approach was not just to extract information, but to foster a genuine exchange of ideas that are capable of driving the positive changes we wish to see in the world.
For those who missed it, the episode is available in both audio and video formats on popular platforms like Spotify and iTunes. I encourage everyone to tune in and join this engaging exploration of neurodiversity and inclusion.
To keep up with my ongoing work, and learn more about creating genuinely inclusive environments, you can follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook under @AwesomeCharlie. My website, www.awesomecharlie.co.uk, and YouTube channel offer additional resources and insights into these vital topics.
Thank you for your continued support, and let’s continue to champion a better, more inclusive world for all.
Warm regards,
Charlie Hart
Pain Points and Challenges
Certainly! Here are the specific pain points and challenges discussed during the podcast "Embracing Every Mind" on the Inclusion Bites Podcast, along with a focus on addressing those issues:
Pain Points and Challenges Highlighted in the Podcast:
Late Diagnosis and Misunderstanding of Neurodiversity:
Joanne and Charlie discuss the challenges of late diagnosis for neurodiverse conditions like autism and ADHD. Charlie recounts their own experience of feeling broken before diagnosis and how the system often overlooks these conditions, particularly in women and assigned females at birth (AFAB).
Stereotyping and Labelling:
Terms like "superpowers" vs. "weaknesses" and the problematic nature of labels like "high functioning" vs "low functioning" are discussed. Charlie mentions the social construct surrounding neurotypical norms and the arbitrary diagnostic criteria, particularly around autism and ADHD.
Workplace Inclusion and Adaptation:
The podcast touches upon the organisational challenges in accommodating neurodiverse employees. Examples include expectations of social interaction in the workplace that may be overwhelming for neurodiverse individuals. Joanne also shares experiences with their own work environment and the challenges of conflicting needs (e.g., auditory preferences in shared spaces).
Social Constructs and Misconceptions:
The importance of addressing social norms and misconceptions around neurodiversity, gender, and societal expectations is highlighted. Particularly, how neurodiverse traits are perceived through dominant cultural lenses, leading to barriers and discrimination.
Communication Preferences:
Different preferences for communication (text, voice notes, calls) and how these need to be acknowledged and adapted within personal and professional environments.
Content to Address These Issues:
Late Diagnosis and Misunderstanding of Neurodiversity
Addressing Late Diagnosis:
Educational Campaigns: Create awareness campaigns about the signs and symptoms of neurodiverse conditions in both children and adults. Highlight the importance of seeking a diagnosis and the positive impacts it can have on an individual's life.
Training Programs: Offer training for educators, parents, and healthcare providers about the varied presentations of neurodiverse conditions, especially those that may present differently based on gender.
Support Systems for Late Diagnosed Individuals:
Community Support Groups: Establish online and offline support groups for those diagnosed later in life, providing a platform for sharing experiences and coping strategies.
Resource Hubs: Develop resources (guides, websites, videos) tailored to late-diagnosed individuals to help them navigate their neurodiversity and understand available support.
Stereotyping and Labelling
Awareness and Education:
Workshops and Webinars: Conduct educational workshops that challenge existing stereotypes and labels, promoting a strengths-based view of neurodiversity.
Inclusive Language Guidance: Create and distribute guides on inclusive language that avoid divisive labels like "high functioning" or "low functioning” and promote terms directly from the neurodiverse community.
Promoting Individuality:
Storytelling Platforms: Share diverse stories from the neurodiverse community, illustrating a wide range of abilities and experiences. This can be done through podcasts, blogs, or social media series.
Art and Media Representation: Encourage media and art representations that depict neurodiverse characters as multi-faceted individuals, rather than reducing them to stereotypes.
Workplace Inclusion and Adaptation
Inclusive Hiring Practices:
Revised Job Descriptions: Overhaul job descriptions to eliminate biases and reflect a true range of required skills and strengths. Eliminate unnecessary jargon that may alienate potential neurodiverse applicants.
Flexible Interview Processes: Implement flexible interview processes that allow neurodiverse candidates to demonstrate their strengths in non-traditional settings.
Supportive Work Environment:
Sensory Accommodations: Ensure sensory accommodations, like quiet workspaces or noise-cancelling headphones, are readily available for employees who need them.
Flexibility in Social Expectations: Educate teams on the importance of respecting varied social preferences and needs. Encourage team-building activities that do not require mandatory participation in traditional social settings like pubs.
Social Constructs and Misconceptions
Public Education Initiatives:
Seminars and Public Talks: Host seminars and public talks to debunk myths and challenge societal misconceptions about neurodiversity and gender.
Collaborations with Influencers: Partner with influencers within the neurodiverse and LGBTQIA+ communities to spread awareness and education through social media platforms.
Policy Advocacy:
Legislative Proposals: Advocate for policies that support neurodiversity and promote inclusion in educational institutions and workplaces.
Research Funding: Encourage funding for research into neurodiversity, focusing on intersectionality and the varied experiences across gender and cultural lines.
Communication Preferences
Tailored Communication Strategies:
Personalised Communication Plans: Implement personalised communication plans in workplaces and educational environments, recognising and respecting individual preferences.
Tech Solutions: Use technology to bridge communication gaps. For instance, incorporating speech-to-text tools for individuals who prefer reading over listening.
Family and Community Support:
Awareness Campaigns: Run campaigns to educate families and communities on the importance of respecting and adapting to varied communication preferences.
Training Sessions: Offer training sessions on effective communication strategies that cater to diverse needs.
By focusing on these tailored strategies, organisations and individuals can better address the nuanced challenges and pain points discussed in the podcast, fostering a more inclusive and supportive environment for all.
Questions Asked that were insightful
Absolutely, the interview between Joanne Lockwood and Charlie Hart contained numerous insightful conversations that could be transformed into a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) series. Here are a few examples that encapsulate key points and useful responses:
FAQ Series on Neurodiversity
1. What inspired Charlie Hart to champion neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace?
Charlie Hart shared that their journey began with their background in HR, where they struggled with meeting behaviours and frequently encountered burnout. It was the discovery of their own autistic identity and the subsequent neurodiversity community in 2018 that ignited their passion. Inspired by their children and the Gen Z community at large, Charlie transitioned to research, speaking, and creating content about neurodiversity full-time.
2. How does the concept of neurodiversity relate to human evolution and societal changes?
Joanne Lockwood and Charlie discussed the idea that neurodiversity is a natural part of human evolution. The human species likely needed varied neurological traits for different survival skills such as creativity, attention to detail, and problem-solving. However, modern societal norms have disproportionately valued certain traits over others, creating a neuro-normative expectation.
3. What are the differences in how ADHD and autism can manifest in individuals?
Charlie Hart highlighted that individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder may or may not show developmental delays in language and intellectual abilities. They also mentioned the concept of a "spiky profile," where neurodivergent individuals may have exceptional strengths in some areas and significant challenges in others. This understanding helps in recognising the unique abilities and needs of autistic and ADHD individuals.
4. Why can the term "neurotypical" be considered a social construct, and how does it vary across cultures?
Charlie and Joanne discussed neurotypicality as a construct defined by dominant societal norms, which can vary significantly across different cultures and regions. Hence, what is considered 'normal' or 'typical' in one culture may differ in another, reflecting the broader diversity of human neurology.
5. How can workplaces better accommodate neurodivergent employees?
Charlie emphasised the importance of recognising individual needs and preferences rather than enforcing a one-size-fits-all standard. For instance, allowing for different sensory environments and ways of working can significantly improve productivity and well-being for neurodivergent employees. Employers should focus on breaking down systemic barriers, fostering an inclusive environment, and valuing employees' unique contributions.
6. What are the issues with using terms like "superpower" when referring to neurodivergent traits?
Both Joanne and Charlie questioned the appeal to label neurodivergent traits as "superpowers" because it could create unrealistic expectations or stereotypes. While acknowledging strengths is important, it’s equally crucial to understand and support areas where neurodivergent individuals face challenges.
7. How do inclusive practices in recruitment and workplace culture benefit organisations?
Charlie pointed out that accommodating neurodiverse employees is not merely a 'nice-to-have' but a fundamental practice for employee engagement and retention. When organisations create an environment where individuals feel safe to express their needs and preferences, it not only prevents high turnover rates and work-related stress but also promotes productivity and innovative thinking.
These FAQs offer a distilled view of the in-depth conversation between Joanne and Charlie. They address fundamental aspects of neurodiversity and give practical insights into creating more inclusive environments, both in workplaces and broader contexts. These can be highly beneficial for HR professionals, diversity champions, and anyone keen on fostering inclusivity.
Blog article based on the episode
Embracing Every Mind: A Journey into Neurodiversity and Inclusion
Imagine a world where every mind, regardless of its wiring, is celebrated and harnessed for its unique strengths. In the latest episode of "Inclusion Bites," titled "Embracing Every Mind," host Joanne Lockwood engages in a riveting discussion with Charlie Hart, a neurodivergent keynote speaker known for championing neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace. This conversation is brimming with insights that challenge our understanding of neurodiversity and inspire actionable change.
The Problem: Overlooking Neurodiverse Talents
Neurodiversity refers to the natural variations in human brain function and behavioural traits, encompassing conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and more. Yet, despite the diversity of human minds, traditional workplace environments often adhere to neurotypical standards—favouring those who can conform to expected norms over those who think and function differently.
Charlie Hart’s journey unveils this issue’s depth through a personal narrative. Despite a solid HR background, Charlie’s progression was continually hindered by a lack of understanding and support for their neurodivergent traits. Frequent burnout, overwhelming environments, and unmet behavioural expectations highlighted a systemic problem: the workplace often isn't designed to accommodate or celebrate neurodiverse individuals.
Real Stories: The Lived Experience of Neurodiversity
Drawing from their own life, Charlie offers a powerful account of discovering their neurodivergent identity through their son’s autism diagnosis. This journey of self-realization sparked a fervent dedication to advocating for neurodivergent and queer youth.
Joanne Lockwood aptly points out the historical reliance on conformity—questioning when society deemed certain ways of thinking more valuable than others. Charlie elaborates that neurodiversity provides a natural advantage, akin to biodiversity in nature; each unique mind adds strength and resilience to our human 'ecosystem.'
Actionable Items: Creating Inclusive Workplaces
One of the key takeaways from this episode is the need to transition from a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to a more inclusive, adaptable work environment. Here are several actionable items to help foster greater inclusion for neurodiverse individuals:
1. Redefine Meritocracy
Often, meritocracy is narrowly defined by certain skills and behaviours that favour neurotypical individuals. As Charlie suggests, organisations must broaden their understanding of valuable traits. Recognise that creativity, empathy, and keen problem-solving skills are equally important and may manifest differently in neurodivergent individuals.
2. Adjust Hiring Practices
Conventional hiring processes often inadvertently exclude neurodiverse candidates. Standard interviews and assessments may not allow these individuals to showcase their strengths. Charlie urges companies to develop more inclusive hiring practices that consider diverse ways of thinking and performing.
3. Encourage Open Dialogue
Promote an open culture where employees feel safe discussing their needs. Joanne Lockwood emphasizes the importance of creating an environment where employees can voice their challenges without fear of retribution. This can help employers make necessary accommodations to support their workforce better.
4. Foster Flexible Work Environments
Neurodiverse employees often thrive in flexible and supportive environments. Charlie recounted a scenario where their productivity improved significantly by working from home. Organisations should consider offering diverse work settings to cater to different needs—whether through remote work options, quiet spaces, or flexible hours.
5. Provide Continual Education and Training
Ongoing training can help managers and colleagues understand neurodiversity better, fostering a more inclusive workplace culture. Charlie shares how discovering the neurodivergent community online changed their life, underscoring the power of education and connection.
6. Promote Collaborative Problem Solving
Both Charlie and Joanne highlight the need to balance conflicting needs within the workplace. For example, while Charlie's manager preferred verbal communication to avoid physical strain, Charlie found these constant interruptions overwhelming. Through compromise and collaboration, they managed to create a workable solution. Similarly, organisations should tailor their problem-solving approaches to incorporate diverse needs.
Inspirational Insights from Charlie Hart
Charlie Hart provides valuable insights into the complex world of neurodiversity, stressing that 'normal' is a societal construct. By recognising and valuing each individual's unique contributions, we can create richer, more innovative workplaces. As Charlie explains, supporting neurodiverse employees isn’t just about doing the right thing—it's also beneficial for businesses, leading to enhanced employee engagement and reduced turnover.
Call to Action: Be Part of the Change
The conversation with Charlie Hart in "Embracing Every Mind" challenges us to rethink our approach to inclusion. We must move beyond token gestures and truly embrace the diversity of thought and experience that neurodiverse individuals bring.
To our loyal listeners, I urge you to take these actionable insights back to your organisations and communities. Champion the cause of neurodiversity, challenge the status quo, and help create environments where every mind can thrive.
For more enlightening discussions and insights into inclusion, make sure to subscribe to Inclusion Bites. Let's drive real change, one bold conversation at a time. Do you have thoughts or stories to share? Reach out to Joanne Lockwood at jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk, and let's continue this vital dialogue.
Here's to fostering a more inclusive world, one episode at a time. Catch you on the next bite!
The standout line from this episode
The standout line from this episode is:
"It's about look how it is. It's sort of look nice, isn't it?" - Joanne Lockwood [00:40:36]
❓ Questions
Certainly! Here are 10 discussion questions based on the episode "Embracing Every Mind" from The Inclusion Bites Podcast:
Neurodiversity in the Workplace:
How does Charlie Hart describe the journey and struggles that led them to become a champion for neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace?
Early Signs of Neurodivergence:
At what point did Charlie Hart start to realise their own neurodivergence, and how did it impact their career progression in HR?
Comparing Traits:
How do the traits of ADHD and autism overlap and differ according to Charlie Hart's experiences shared in the episode?
Challenges of Late Diagnosis:
What are some of the specific challenges Charlie faced being diagnosed with autism and ADHD later in life?
Social Constructs:
How do Joanne and Charlie discuss the concept of neuronormativity, and how is it classified as a social construct similar to gender?
Impact of Gender on Diagnosis:
How does gender play a role in the recognition and diagnosis of neurodivergent traits, according to Charlie's account?
Communication Preferences:
In what ways do Charlie and Joanne discuss differing communication preferences and needs within both personal and professional settings?
Inclusion in Recruitment:
How do Joanne and Charlie critique the traditional recruitment processes and the notion of 'CultureFit' in organisations regarding neurodiverse individuals?
Balancing Neurodiverse Needs:
What strategies do Charlie and Joanne suggest for balancing conflicting needs in neurodiverse teams, especially in open-plan office environments?
Personal Anecdotes and Insights:
How do the personal anecdotes shared by both Joanne and Charlie shed light on the broader conversation of inclusion and belonging in diverse workplaces?
These questions reflect the insights and themes discussed in the provided transcript, aiming to foster meaningful discussions on neurodiversity and inclusion at work and beyond.
FAQs from the Episode
FAQ: Embracing Every Mind - Episode 152 of Inclusion Bites Podcast
1. Who are the host and guest for this episode?
The host for this episode is Joanne Lockwood, and the guest is Charlie Hart.
2. What is the main theme of this episode?
The main theme revolves around embracing neurodiversity, particularly focusing on autism and ADHD, and fostering inclusive environments for neurodivergent individuals in the workplace and society at large.
3. Why did Charlie Hart become passionate about neurodiversity and inclusion?
Charlie Hart's passion for neurodiversity and inclusion stems from personal experiences. Diagnosed later in life with autism, ADHD, and complex PTSD, Charlie realised the significance of understanding and embracing neurodiversity, partly inspired by their own children and the broader Gen Z community.
4. How does Charlie describe the concept of neurodiversity?
Charlie explains that neurodiversity acknowledges that every human brain processes information uniquely. It does not categorise brains as 'correct' or 'broken,' but rather celebrates the diversity of human thought as advantageous, akin to biodiversity in nature.
5. Does Charlie Hart prefer person-first or identity-first language?
Charlie prefers identity-first language, such as 'autistic person,' rather than 'person with autism.' They believe that describing oneself as autistic is an important part of identity and rejecting the notion that autism should be seen as a negative attribute.
6. What does Charlie think about the term 'neurospicy'?
Charlie is not a fan of the term 'neurospicy' as they feel it trivialises the real disabilities and support needs of neurodivergent individuals. They also mention that it can be culturally insensitive.
7. What is the 'double rainbow' that Charlie refers to?
The 'double rainbow' refers to the intersecting identities of being both neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+. Charlie, who is multiply neurodivergent and gender nonconforming, speaks on this topic frequently.
8. What is monotropism, and how does it relate to neurodiversity?
Monotropism is a theory that explains the highly focused states that autistic individuals can enter, manifesting as intense absorption in tasks or special interests. It is often difficult to distinguish whether intense focus is due to autistic monotropism or ADHD hyperfocus, as per Charlie's experiences.
9. What is Joanne Lockwood's perspective on identifying as autistic or with ADHD?
Joanne Lockwood shares her curiosity regarding whether she might have ADHD, noting her experiences of hyperfocus and challenges with attention during her school years. She does not definitively identify as autistic but remains open to exploring her neurodivergency.
10. What advice is given regarding workplace inclusion for neurodivergent individuals?
Charlie emphasizes that every workforce is inherently neurodiverse. Employers should focus on accommodating individual needs and preferences, avoiding neuro-normative expectations during hiring processes, and ensuring a supportive environment that allows everyone to thrive.
11. How can listeners connect with Charlie Hart?
Listeners can connect with Charlie Hart via LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and their website www.awesomecharlie.co.uk. Charlie is also present on YouTube and Blue Sky under the handle Awesome Charlie.
12. What resources did Charlie mention for further reading on neurodiversity?
Charlie mentioned resources on monotropism, a theory related to intense focus in autistic individuals. They promised to share these resources, which can be found in the show notes of this episode.
13. How can listeners contact Joanne Lockwood or be involved in the podcast?
Listeners can contact Joanne Lockwood at jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk to share insights, or to join an episode of the podcast. The show is also accessible via https://seechangehappen.co.uk/inclusion-bites-listen.
14. Where can listeners find the Inclusion Bites Podcast?
The Inclusion Bites Podcast is available on platforms like Spotify, iTunes, and hosted on the SEE Change Happen website, ensuring it reaches a wide audience.
By addressing the key points from the episode, we hope this FAQ provides a clear understanding of the important topics discussed and how to further engage with the content and hosts.
Tell me more about the guest and their views
Charlie Hart, also known as Awesome Charlie, is a neurodivergent keynote speaker who champions neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace. Their story and insights, as shared in the podcast "Embracing Every Mind," offer a deep dive into their personal journey and professional mission. Here are some key points and views based on the transcript:
Early Life and Career
Background in HR: Charlie began their career in Human Resources, specifically focusing on the analytical and project management aspects of the department. They struggled with career progression due to behaviours that were misunderstood and went unchecked, leading to frequent episodes of burnout and feelings of being overwhelmed.
Personal Discovery and Advocacy
Neurodiversity Realisation: Charlie's journey towards understanding neurodiversity began with their child, Iggy, who was diagnosed as autistic. Realising that they shared many of the same traits, Charlie underwent their own autism diagnosis in 2018. This was a pivotal moment, helping them understand their struggles and strengths, and leading them to the broader neurodiversity community online.
Multiple Neurodivergent Diagnoses: Charlie also discovered they had ADHD and complex PTSD. Their experience and challenges have led them to fully embrace their neurodivergent identity, dedicating themselves to research, advocacy, and public speaking on these subjects.
Theoretical and Practical Insights
Neurodiversity as Natural Diversity: Charlie argues that neurodiversity is a natural part of human diversity, similar to biodiversity in nature. They emphasise that different ways of thinking, processing, and responding to the world should not be seen as broken or incorrect but as a part of the rich tapestry of human capability and experience.
Complexity of Neurodivergence: Highlighting that neurodivergent traits like autism and ADHD can lead to both strengths and challenges, Charlie advocates for understanding these conditions beyond simplistic labels like "superpowers." They note that terms like "neurospicy" can trivialise serious challenges and be culturally insensitive to some communities.
Gender and Neurodiversity Intersection
Intersecting Identities: Charlie explores the intersection of neurodivergence and LGBTQIA+ identities, pointing out that being neurodivergent can frequently correlate with questioning traditional gender norms. They identify as gender nonconforming and share insights into their own experiences and those of their children, who also navigate complex identities related to gender and neurodiversity.
Challenges in the Workplace
Neuro-Inclusion: In their discussion, Charlie stresses the importance of workplace environments being adaptable to neurodiverse employees. They argue for a shift away from neurotypical norms and for more inclusive hiring and working practices that value the unique contributions of neurodiverse individuals.
Employee Engagement: Charlie points out that creating inclusive environments is not just about fairness but also about good business practice. A workplace that accommodates diverse ways of working can foster greater employee engagement, reduce turnover, and decrease stress-related absences.
The Future of Work
Gen Z Workforce: Charlie anticipates that younger generations entering the workforce will further push for inclusive practices. They expect Gen Z, in particular, to demand workplaces that allow for greater personal autonomy and flexibility, aligning with the broader trend of recognising diverse individual needs and contributions.
Charlie's views and experiences provide valuable insights into the benefits and challenges of neuro-inclusion and LGBTQIA+ advocacy, highlighting how embracing diversity in all its forms can create more effective and supportive environments for everyone.
Ideas for Future Training and Workshops based on this Episode
Based on the enlightening conversation between Joanne Lockwood and Charlie Hart in the episode "Embracing Every Mind," here are several ideas for future training and workshops:
1. Understanding Neurodiversity
Workshop Title: Neurodiversity Unpacked: Embracing Unique Minds in the Workplace
Content:
Introduction to neurodiversity and neurominorities
Different types of neurodivergence (Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, etc.)
Real-life stories and experiences from neurodivergent individuals
Debunking myths and stereotypes
2. Developing Inclusive Recruitment Strategies
Workshop Title: Inclusive Hiring: From Job Descriptions to Interviews
Content:
How to write neuroinclusive job descriptions
Adapting interview techniques for neurodiverse candidates
Recognising the strengths of neurodivergent applicants
Avoiding unconscious bias in the hiring process
3. Creating Neuroinclusive Work Environments
Workshop Title: Building a Neuroinclusive Workplace: Practical Steps for Employers
Content:
Sensory-friendly office design and remote work accommodations
Flexible working practices for neurodiverse staff
Developing personal coping mechanisms and accommodations (e.g., quiet rooms, flexible breaks)
Tools and technologies that support neurodivergent employees
4. Managing and Supporting Neurodiverse Teams
Workshop Title: Leading Neurodiverse Teams: Strategies for Managers
Content:
Understanding and managing employee needs and preferences
Effective communication strategies
Balancing conflicting needs within a team
Encouraging neurodivergent staff to voice their needs
5. Intersectionality in Neurodiversity
Workshop Title: The Double Rainbow: Neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ Inclusion
Content:
Understanding the intersection of neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ identities
Addressing specific challenges faced by neurodivergent LGBTQIA+ individuals
Promoting a culture of acceptance and belonging
Case studies and best practices from inclusive organisations
6. Neurodiversity and Emotional Intelligence
Workshop Title: Emotional Intelligence and Neurodiversity: Enhancing Workplace Relationships
Content:
Understanding emotional intelligence in neurodivergent individuals
Building empathy and effective listening skills
Addressing misunderstandings and enhancing team dynamics
Practical exercises to develop and apply emotional intelligence
7. Overcoming Neurodiversity Stigma
Workshop Title: Breaking Barriers: Overcoming Stigma Associated with Neurodivergence
Content:
Recognising and confronting neurodiverse discrimination and stigma
Creating awareness campaigns within organisations
Changing the narrative: neurodiversity as a strength, not a deficit
Personal stories and experiences shared by neurodivergent individuals
8. Adaptive Technologies for Neurodiverse Employees
Workshop Title: Tech for All: Adaptive Technologies to Support Neurodiverse Employees
Content:
An overview of assistive technologies
Implementing adaptive technology in the workplace
Hands-on demonstrations and trials of useful software and devices
Feedback and discussion sessions for continuous improvement
9. Building Resilience in Neurodiverse Employees
Workshop Title: Thriving not Just Surviving: Building Resilience in Neurodiverse Staff
Content:
Identifying and coping with sensory overload and burnout
Building resilience through mindfulness and self-care practices
Support systems and community resources
Mental health first aid for neurodivergent employees
10. The Role of Education and Training in Neuroinclusion
Workshop Title: Educating for Inclusion: The Role of Training in Neurodiversity Awareness
Content:
The importance of ongoing education and training
Designing impactful training programmes
Engaging staff through interactive and participatory training methods
Measuring the effectiveness of neurodiversity training initiatives
These workshop and training ideas aim to delve deeper into the themes covered in the episode and provide practical, actionable insights that organisations can implement to create more inclusive environments for neurodivergent individuals.
🪡 Threads by Instagram
Joanne Lockwood discusses neurodiversity on Inclusion Bites. Charlie Hart reveals how understanding their child’s autism led to their own diagnosis and advocacy journey. An inspiring dive into neurodiverse minds and championing inclusive workplaces. Listen in and feel inspired!
Ever wondered why certain brains excel in some areas but struggle in others? Charlie Hart explains the concept of a "spiky profile"—unpacking the brilliance and challenges of neurodivergent individuals. Join Joanne Lockwood for a deep dive on Inclusion Bites.
“It's about breaking down barriers and creating an inclusive world where everyone can thrive,” says Charlie Hart on Inclusion Bites. Tune in with Joanne Lockwood to explore actionable insights on neurodiversity, neuroinclusion, and the future of the workplace.
Neurodiversity isn't about fixing people, it’s about understanding unique strengths and needs. Join Joanne Lockwood and Charlie Hart on Inclusion Bites as they demystify neurodiverse superpowers and foster environments where everyone can shine. A must-listen for all.
Ever felt overwhelmed by a supposed lack of emotional intelligence? Charlie Hart shares on Inclusion Bites how neurodivergent people often get misunderstood. Dive in with Joanne Lockwood and discover why real empathy may be hiding beneath the surface. Listen and learn!
Leadership Insights - YouTube Short Video Script on Common Problems for Leaders to Address
Leadership Insights Channel: Navigating Neurodiversity in the Workplace
Are you a leader struggling to understand and support your neurodiverse team members? You're not alone. Many leaders face this challenge, but there are clear actions you can take to create a more inclusive environment.
Acknowledge Neurodiversity: Recognise that your workforce is already neurodiverse. Everyone processes the world differently, so it's critical to acknowledge and value these differences.
Adapt Communication Styles: Everyone has their preferred way of communicating. Some may prefer emails, while others respond better to voice notes or face-to-face interaction. Be flexible and adapt to these preferences to foster better communication.
Flexible Working Conditions: Understand that some people might need different working conditions to thrive. This could mean allowing noise-cancelling headphones, providing quiet spaces, or even supporting remote work. Flexibility in the work environment can lead to better productivity and engagement.
Avoid Assumptions: Don't pigeonhole people based on their neurodivergent traits. Not every autistic person is a mathematical genius, nor is every person with ADHD hyperactive and disorganised. Take the time to understand each individual's strengths and challenges.
Focus on Strengths: Leverage the unique strengths of your team members. For example, some neurodivergent individuals excel in analytical tasks while others bring unparalleled creativity. Match these strengths to the right roles for optimal team performance.
Continuous Learning: Finally, keep educating yourself and your team about neurodiversity. This not only helps in understanding but also in breaking down stereotypes and fostering a truly inclusive culture.
By taking these steps, you can create a more inclusive and productive workplace, where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. Remember, inclusivity isn't just a nice-to-have; it's essential for a successful and dynamic team.
SEO Optimised Titles
Embracing Neurodiversity: Unlocking Hidden Strengths in the Workplace | Charlie @ Awesome Charlie
From HR to Advocacy: Charlie's Journey to Neurodiversity Inclusion | Charlie @ Awesome Charlie
The Double Rainbow: Inclusivity for Neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ Youth | Charlie @ Awesome Charlie
Email Newsletter about this Podcast Episode
Subject: 🌟 Embrace Every Mind: Dive into Episode 152 of Inclusion Bites! ✨🧠
Hey Inclusion Bites Family,
We’re back with an electrifying new episode that promises to leave you enlightened and inspired! Ready to dive into "Embracing Every Mind," our latest podcast episode featuring the fantastic Charlie Hart? Buckle up and let’s get started!
In this episode, we delve deeply into the world of neurodiversity and discover the incredible ways our minds can be wonderfully unique. Here are 5 key takeaways you won't want to miss:
Championing Neurodiversity: Charlie Hart shares their journey from HR professional to a passionate advocate for neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ inclusion. Learn about their personal experiences and how they use them to inspire change in workplaces.
Understanding Neurodivergence: Discover the real essence of terms like ADHD, autism, and the differences in how they manifest across individuals. Charlie explains these complex ideas in an accessible way.
Gender and Neurodiversity: Dive into the intriguing link between neurodivergence and gender diversity. Understand why autistic individuals are more likely to be trans or non-binary, and what this means for inclusion efforts.
Workplace Dynamics: Learn about the challenges neurodivergent employees face in traditional workplaces and how organisations can create environments where everyone can thrive.
Language Matters: Understand the importance of language in shaping our perceptions of neurodiversity. Charlie tells us why terms like "neurospicy" might not be the best, even though they sound fun.
And here's a unique fact from the episode: Did you know that there's a theory called monotropism which links the highly focused special interests of autistic people to tunnel vision, making it easier to achieve flow states? Intriguing, right?
Ready to transform your understanding of neurodiversity? Listen to the full episode now and equip yourself with valuable insights that can drive real change in your circles.
🚀 Call to Action:
Join the conversation! Share your insights, thoughts, and experiences with us. Reach out directly to Joanne at jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk and let’s create a world where everyone not only belongs but thrives.
Your voice matters, and we want to hear it. Consider subscribing to Inclusion Bites and never miss an episode. Together, let's foster a community that challenges, inspires, and unites.
Until next time, let's keep the spark of inclusion alive!
Warm regards,
The Inclusion Bites Team 🧡
P.S. Don’t forget—every episode of Inclusion Bites is a stepping stone towards a more inclusive world. Catch you on the next bite!
Listen to Episode 152: Embracing Every Mind now!
👉 Inclusion Bites - Listen Now
#InclusionBites #Neurodiversity #LGBTQIAInclusion #PositivePeopleExperiences
Attached: Transcript of Episode 152 "Embracing Every Mind"
Potted Summary
Episode Introduction
Welcome to Episode 152 of the Inclusion Bites Podcast titled "Embracing Every Mind." Join Joanne Lockwood and her guest, Charlie Hart, a neurodivergent keynote speaker, as they explore neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace. Charlie shares their journey from an HR background to becoming a champion for neurodivergent and queer youth, inspired by their own experiences and their children's. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion on creating inclusive environments where everyone thrives.
In This Conversation We Discuss
👉 Neurodiversity truths
👉 Late ADHD diagnosis
👉 Inclusive workplaces
Here Are a Few of Our Favourite Quotable Moments
"There are differences between each and every human brain and mind. We all process the world and its inputs. We all think, feel, and respond to things uniquely." – Charlie Hart
"Every human's got their own ways of working where they can thrive and things that they'd rather not be doing or that they need someone to help them through." – Charlie Hart
"Assume. Let’s consciously include people that have been previously excluded. Let’s break down barriers to inclusion and success, dismantle some systemic barriers, and give everyone the chance to show what they can do, how they can contribute." – Charlie Hart
Summary and Call to Action
Join Joanne Lockwood and Charlie Hart in this enlightening episode as they discuss the importance of neurodiversity, late ADHD diagnosis, and building truly inclusive workplaces. Discover actionable insights and personal stories that illustrate the value of embracing everyone's unique mind. Don't miss out—listen to the full episode now and be inspired to make your own environment more inclusive. Tune in at Inclusion Bites Podcast.
LinkedIn Poll
Poll Question:
Which aspect of neurodiversity do you feel workplaces need to focus on most to be truly inclusive? 🌈
Poll Options:
1️⃣ Neuro-inclusion policies 📜
2️⃣ Flexible workspaces 🛋️
3️⃣ Tailored communication 🗣️
4️⃣ Recruiting diverse talent 🌟
Opening Summary:
In the latest episode of Inclusion Bites, "Embracing Every Mind," I had an enlightening conversation with Charlie Hart on how businesses can better support neurodivergent employees. From discussing the challenges of traditional work environments to exploring the unique strengths neurodivergent individuals bring to the table, we covered it all. Join the conversation and share your thoughts!
Why Vote:
Your feedback can help shape more inclusive workplaces. By understanding the priorities for improvement, we can advocate for changes that allow everyone to thrive. Let's drive real change together! #InclusionBites #Neurodiversity #WorkplaceInclusion #DiversityAndInclusion
Highlight the Importance of this topic on LinkedIn
Absolutely blown away by Episode 152 of the Inclusion Bites Podcast with Joanne Lockwood and Charlie Hart! 🎧✨
Charlie's insights on neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion are a must-listen for every HR and EDI professional! 🌈🧠
Key takeaways:
Neurodiversity is a natural part of human diversity, not a deficit 🌳
Balance and support in the workplace are essential for productivity and well-being 💼🛠️
Inclusivity isn't just a 'nice-to-have'; it's crucial for engagement and innovation 🚀
It's time we re-evaluate our workplace cultures and practices to truly embrace every mind. Let's create environments where everyone can thrive! 🌟
🔗 Catch the full conversation here: https://seechangehappen.co.uk/inclusion-bites-listen
Let’s continue this essential dialogue and make real change. 💬👇
#InclusionBites #Neurodiversity #LGBTQIA #InclusiveWorkplace #HR #EDI #DiversityAndInclusion #ActionableInsights #TransformativeCulture
L&D Insights
Insights for Senior Leaders, HR or EDI Professionals
1. Embrace the Whole Self at Work 🤗
Charlie Hart elucidates that every workplace is inherently neurodiverse because it's composed of individuals who think, feel, and process differently (00:47:09). The emphasis on creating environments where employees feel psychologically safe to bring their whole selves to work doesn't just make good ethical sense; it's also a business imperative that reduces stress, improves engagement, and increases productivity.
2. Rethink Meritocracy and Hiring Practices 🎯
Joanne Lockwood and Charlie Hart delve into the limitations of traditional meritocracy (00:44:09). They advocate for a redefined merit that goes beyond "bigger, louder, faster" and includes softer skills like empathy and team management. This encourages more inclusive hiring and advancement practices, ensuring that people with varying strengths are acknowledged and valued.
3. Gender and Neurodivergence Intersectionality 🌈
Charlie brings to light the significant overlap between neurodivergence and LGBTQIA+ identities, creating a "double rainbow" effect (00:25:48). Understanding this intersectionality allows better support structures within the organisation, freeing individuals from having to choose between different aspects of their identity and promoting a more inclusive environment.
4. Avoid Tokenism in DEI Initiatives 🚫
The conversation warns against the trap of treating neurodiversity as a novelty or a "hot topic" (00:46:12). Leaders must understand that DEI initiatives are not just tick-box exercises but integral to creating sustainably inclusive workplaces. The commitment to inclusivity should be continuous and multifaceted.
5. Understand the Real Needs Behind "Culture Fit" 🧩
Charlie Hart effectively dispels the myth of "culture fit" as a gatekeeping mechanism (00:52:15). Leaders need to recognise that a true culture fit doesn't mean conforming to existing norms but includes building a diverse and dynamic work environment where everyone can flourish.
"Aha Moments" Uncovered 💡
1. Neurodiversity as a Core Component of Inclusion:
The realisation that every workforce is neurodiverse changes how leaders should view their teams. It's not about having different people but understanding everyone already is different.
2. The Danger of the Superpower Narrative:
The idea that attributing "superpowers" to specific neurodiverse traits can be limiting. Not all neurodivergent individuals fit into these stereotypical roles, and such a narrative can overshadow their real needs and strengths (00:48:59).
3. Tailored Communication:
Understanding that different people have different communication preferences, as demonstrated through Charlie's and Joanne's personal anecdotes on how they prefer written communication over verbal or vice versa (00:38:05).
Actionable Changes for Leaders 🛠
1. Foster Psychological Safety:
Implement practices that allow individuals to express their needs freely without fear of judgement. Regular check-ins and anonymous feedback tools could be beneficial.
2. Reevaluate Job Descriptions and Hiring Criteria:
Ensure that job descriptions are inclusive and focus on essential skills rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Reconsider what you value in candidates beyond traditional metrics.
3. Train Managers on Intersectionality:
Provide training that covers the intersectionality of neurodivergence and other identities. This will help in understanding and supporting multifaceted employee needs better.
4. Move Beyond Tokenism:
Shift from a temporary focus on hot DEI trends to a sustained, holistic approach to inclusion that recognises and dismantles systemic barriers.
5. Redefine "Culture Fit":
Broaden the definition of culture fit to ensure it’s inclusive. Encourage diversity of thought and experience rather than conformity to preexisting norms.
Social Media Hashtags 📲
#InclusiveLeadership
#NeurodiversityInWork
#IntersectionalityMatters
#CultureBeyondFit
#HolisticInclusion
These takeaways and "aha moments" are derived entirely from the detailed conversation between Joanne Lockwood and Charlie Hart, showing how profoundly understanding and addressing neurodiversity and intersectionality can transform workplaces.
Shorts Video Script
🧠 Understanding Neurodiversity: Key Takeaways 🌟
Text on screen: "🧠 Intro - Neurodiversity is Everywhere! 🌍"
Did you ever think about how we all process the world differently? Everyone has a unique brain, and that diversity includes neurodivergent individuals—people with autism, ADHD, and more.
Text on screen: "🔍 Recognise and Celebrate Individual Strengths 💪"
It's not about being 'normal'; it's about recognising and leveraging individual strengths. Everyone has unique abilities and areas where they need support. Think of it like a spiky profile—some things you're great at, and others you might struggle with.
Text on screen: "🏢 Inclusive Workplaces are Essential 💼"
Inclusive workplaces matter. Tailor your environment to accommodate different needs. For instance, some people might need a quiet space to recharge, while others may thrive on background noise. Understanding and respecting these needs can enhance productivity and wellbeing.
Text on screen: "📚 Understanding 'Flow State' and 'Hyperfocus' 🚀"
Ever heard of monotropic flow or hyperfocus? These are states where neurodivergent people can be highly productive. Whether it's an autistic person in a deep focus or someone with ADHD lost in a project, these states are super valuable and should be nurtured.
Text on screen: "🙌 DEI Initiatives are Crucial 🌟"
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives aren't just 'nice-to-haves.' They're essential. Don't think of them as just trends—they are vital for business success and employee wellbeing. It's about breaking barriers, not filling quotas.
Text on screen: "🌈 Embrace and Advocate for Intersectionality 🌍"
Intersectionality is key. Remember, people aren't just one thing. Someone might be neurodivergent and identify as LGBTQIA+. Understanding and supporting intersecting identities can make your DEI efforts more effective.
Thanks for watching! Remember, together we can make a difference. Stay connected, stay inclusive! See you next time. ✨
Hashtags:
#NeurodiversityMatters
#InclusionInAction
#ADHDandAutism
#WorkplaceInclusion
#DEIefforts
Glossary of Terms and Phrases
Certainly! Based on the transcript provided, here are some words and phrases along with their definitions as implied in the episode:
Neurodivergent:
Definition: Refers to individuals whose neurological development and functioning are atypical, including conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia etc.
Neurodiversity:
Definition: The concept that differences in neurological development and functioning are natural variations of the human brain and not deficiencies or disorders. It encompasses all neurological variations among humans.
Neurotypical:
Definition: Describes individuals with typical neurological development and functioning, often considered the societal norm.
Monotropism:
Definition: A theory suggesting that autistic individuals have a tendency to focus intensely on specific interests or tasks, leading to deep engagement in those activities.
Hyperfocus:
Definition: A state of intense concentration often associated with ADHD, where an individual becomes deeply immersed in an activity.
Intersectionality:
Definition: The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, leading to overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
Double Rainbow:
Definition: Refers to the intersection of neurodivergence and LGBTQIA+ identities, highlighting the unique experiences and challenges faced by individuals who identify with both communities.
Neurospicy:
Definition: A colloquial term some use to describe themselves as neurodivergent, though it may trivialize the real challenges faced by neurodivergent individuals.
ADHDer:
Definition: Someone with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, often used informally to identify someone with ADHD as part of their identity.
Complex PTSD:
Definition: A form of post-traumatic stress disorder that involves ongoing trauma and experiences, often linked to repeated exposure to traumatic events.
Autistic Meltdowns:
Definition: Episodes where an autistic individual experiences overwhelming sensory or emotional overload, often resulting in intense distress or outbursts.
Social Construct:
Definition: An idea or concept that has been created and accepted by the people in a society and is not grounded in objective reality but rather agreed-upon norms.
Inclusion:
Definition: Practices and policies ensuring that people of different identities and abilities feel accepted and valued within a group or environment.
Neuroinclusion:
Definition: Incorporating practices that take into account and support the needs of neurodivergent individuals in social, educational, or work environments.
Biases and Stereotypes:
Definition: Preconceived notions or generalisations about a group of people that can lead to unfair treatment and discrimination.
These terms and concepts form the backbone of the discussion in this episode, providing an in-depth analysis of neurodiversity, inclusion, and the challenges and opportunities inherent in creating more inclusive environments for neurodivergent individuals.
SEO Optimised YouTube Content
Focus Keyword: Positive People Experiences
Title:
Embracing Neurodiversity for Positive People Experiences | #InclusionBitesPodcast
Tags:
Tags: Positive People Experiences, Culture Change, Neurodiversity, Inclusion, ADHD, Autism, Workplace Inclusion, Joanne Lockwood, Charlie Hart, Inclusive Cultures, Belonging, Diversity, Acceptance, Inclusive Workplaces, Neurodiverse, Gen Z, Emotional Intelligence, LGBTQIA+, Workplace Transformation, Double Rainbow, Workplace Accessibility, Celebrating Differences, Employee Engagement, Mental Health at Work, Team Dynamics, Inclusive Design
Killer Quote:
Killer Quote: "We all have our own unique minds, and it's about finding out what an individual's strengths are and what their support needs are." - Joanne Lockwood
Hashtags:
Hashtags: #PositivePeopleExperiences, #CultureChange, #InclusionBitesPodcast, #Neurodiversity, #ADHD, #Autism, #InclusiveWorkplaces, #LGBTQIA, #MentalHealth, #Belonging, #TeamDynamics, #EmotionalIntelligence, #WorkplaceInclusion, #CelebrateDifferences, #WorkplaceAccessibility, #EmployeeEngagement, #SupportNeeds, #InclusiveDesign, #DoubleRainbow, #HRTransformation
Why Listen:
In this enlightening episode of the Inclusion Bites Podcast, I, Joanne Lockwood, delve deep into the transformative power of embracing neurodiversity for Positive People Experiences with our esteemed guest, Charlie Hart. Together, we uncover the intricate layers of neurodiversity, the beauty of individual differences, and the profound impact of inclusive cultures in the workplace.
Understanding Individual Minds:
Charlie, known as Awesome Charlie, is a neurodivergent keynote speaker who passionately champions neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion. Their journey began in HR, where Charlie’s analytical prowess shone, but the path was fraught with personal challenges. Struggling with behaviours, burnout, and societal expectations, Charlie’s world shifted when they realised their own neurotype and that of their children – an awakening that spurred a life dedicated to creating better worlds for neurodivergent and queer youth.
Spotlighting Neurodiversity:
Our discussion highlights the importance of recognising that every individual processes the world in incredibly unique ways. The rigid societal norms of today often overshadow the rich tapestry of abilities that neurodivergent individuals bring to the table. By celebrating and understanding neurological diversity akin to biodiversity in nature, we can foster inclusive environments where everyone’s strengths are acknowledged and nurtured.
Challenging Misconceptions:
Charlie’s reflections on their personal and professional experiences shed light on the challenges and breakthroughs in understanding autism and ADHD. Commonly misunderstood behaviours can lead to late diagnoses and, consequently, complex layers of trauma and burnout. The prevalence of comorbid conditions such as complex PTSD among the neurodivergent community underscores the need for systemic change and awareness.
Empathy and Emotional Intelligence:
Our conversation underscores how empathy and emotional intelligence extend beyond conventional norms. Embracing neurodiversity calls for a reevaluation of these traits, acknowledging that neurodivergent individuals often possess deep yet different forms of empathy and intelligence. By redefining these concepts, workplaces can move towards genuine inclusivity and support.
Workplace Dynamics:
From personal anecdotes to broader organisational frameworks, we tackle the dynamics of inclusion in the workplace. Charlie illustrates the necessity for employers to understand individual strengths and support needs, balancing conflicting requirements to create environments where everyone can thrive. The shift from neurotypical norms to inclusive practices is essential for fostering rich and productive workplace cultures.
Celebrating Intersectionality:
Our dialogue delves into the double rainbow – the intersection of neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ identities. This segment is particularly revealing, as it uncovers the correlations and shared challenges faced by individuals inhabiting these intersecting spaces. Charlie’s advocacy extends beyond their personal identity, encompassing a broader community striving for acceptance and belonging.
Creating Positive People Experiences:
A recurring theme in our conversation is the concept of Positive People Experiences – understanding and accommodating individual needs to create environments where everyone is enabled to succeed. Inclusion is about more than just representation; it’s about creating supportive and adaptive spaces that allow individuals to bring their whole selves to the table.
Closing Summary and Call to Action:
Understanding Neurodiversity:
Recognise that neurodiversity encapsulates the diverse ways in which people experience and interact with the world.
Encourage environments that celebrate neurological differences, drawing parallels with biodiversity for its societal advantages.
Embracing Individual Strengths and Needs:
Prioritise understanding employees’ unique strengths and support needs to enhance workplace productivity and satisfaction.
Replace neurotypical expectations with personalised approaches that empower everyone to thrive in their roles.
Redefining Empathy and Emotional Intelligence:
Shift away from traditional definitions of emotional intelligence, recognising the unique empathetic abilities of neurodivergent individuals.
Foster a culture of inclusion where diverse forms of empathy are valued and utilised.
Inclusive Work Environments:
Balance conflicting needs within the workplace to create inclusive spaces that accommodate diverse working styles.
Move away from superficial inclusivity initiatives, embedding genuine support mechanisms for neurodivergent employees.
Intersectionality and the Double Rainbow:
Understand the intersection of neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ identities, recognising shared challenges and strengths.
Promote advocacy and support for individuals navigating these intersecting identities, creating safe and inclusive environments.
Challenging Misconceptions:
Address misconceptions about neurodiversity, ensuring that individuals are not defined by stereotypes or limited expectations.
Advocate for early diagnoses and support mechanisms to prevent associated traumas and burnout.
Workforce Engagement and Retention:
Implement inclusive practices that enhance employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention.
Recognise the business benefits of neuroinclusive practices, from innovation to team dynamics and overall productivity.
Promoting Equity and Fairness:
Create equitable opportunities, ensuring that all individuals have access to the tools and support they need to succeed.
Provide training and resources to dismantle systemic barriers and biases that hinder inclusion.
Creating Positive People Experiences:
Cultivate a workplace culture that centres on Positive People Experiences, where every individual feels valued and supported.
Encourage open dialogues about personal needs, preferences, and experiences to foster a sense of belonging and acceptance.
Commitment to Ongoing Learning:
Foster a culture of continuous learning and adaptation, ensuring that inclusion efforts evolve to meet the changing needs of the workforce.
Stay informed about best practices and innovations in neurodiversity and inclusion, integrating these insights into organisational strategies.
Outro:
Thank you, our valued listener, for tuning into this episode of the Inclusion Bites Podcast. Remember to like and subscribe to our channel for more insightful discussions on fostering inclusive cultures and positive experiences. For more information and to continue the conversation, visit our website and podcast page via the following links:
SEE Change Happen website: https://seechangehappen.co.uk
The Inclusion Bites Podcast: https://seechangehappen.co.uk/inclusion-bites-listen
Stay curious, stay kind, and stay inclusive - Joanne Lockwood
Root Cause Analyst - Why!
Certainly! Let's begin by identifying the key problems discussed in the episode "Embracing Every Mind" with Joanne Lockwood and Charlie Hart.
Key Problem 1: Organisations' Lack of Understanding and Inclusion of Neurodiversity
Why 1: Why do organisations lack understanding and inclusion of neurodiversity?
Organisations often see neurodiversity as a novelty or a nice-to-have feature rather than a critical area requiring integration and support.
Why 2: Why do organisations see neurodiversity as a novelty?
Neurodiversity hasn't been prioritised at the same level as other diversity and inclusion areas, and it is often seen as a transient HR hot topic rather than a sustained commitment.
Why 3: Why hasn't neurodiversity been prioritised like other areas of diversity and inclusion?
The general focus tends to shift based on the current socio-cultural movements, such as Black Lives Matter or MeToo. These become the main priorities, pushing neurodiversity to the periphery.
Why 4: Why does the focus shift based on current socio-cultural movements?
Organisations tend to follow prevailing social pressures and media attention, often reacting rather than proactively planning and implementing comprehensive D&I strategies that include neurodiversity.
Why 5: Why do organisations react rather than proactively plan and implement inclusive D&I strategies?
There is often a lack of deep understanding and education about the diverse needs of neurodivergent individuals among leadership and HR professionals. This contributes to an inability to develop long-term strategies for inclusion.
Summary: The root cause appears to be a lack of education and understanding among leadership and HR professionals about the importance and breadth of neurodiversity. This leads to reactive rather than proactive planning, causing neurodiversity to be treated as a secondary issue.
Potential Solutions:
Education and Awareness: Implement comprehensive training programmes for leadership and HR to understand neurodiversity comprehensively.
Proactive D&I Strategy: Develop and integrate long-term strategies focused on neurodiversity within the core D&I framework.
Champion Neurodiversity: Appoint neurodiversity champions within the organisation who advocate for consistent attention and resources.
Customised Policies: Develop policies and support systems tailored to the unique needs of neurodiverse employees, ensuring they are not just included but are also enabled to thrive.
Key Problem 2: Traditional Recruitment Processes Exclude Neurodivergent Individuals
Why 1: Why do traditional recruitment processes exclude neurodivergent individuals?
These processes often involve standardised assessments and social expectation norms that do not cater to the unique skills and needs of neurodivergent individuals.
Why 2: Why do standardised assessments and social norms not cater to neurodivergent individuals?
Traditional assessments are designed around neurotypical behaviours and traits, such as ease of social interaction, which may not align with how neurodivergent individuals best express their capabilities.
Why 3: Why are assessments designed around neurotypical behaviours?
A lack of awareness and understanding of neurodiversity within the recruitment industry leads to a one-size-fits-all approach that assumes neurotypical norms.
Why 4: Why is there a lack of awareness in the recruitment industry?
Recruitment practices have historically focused on mainstream educational and personality assessment models, which do not accommodate the wide range of neurodiverse experiences and strengths.
Why 5: Why have recruitment practices focused on mainstream models?
These models are generally seen as efficient and straightforward to implement, prioritising speed and uniformity over inclusivity and diversity.
Summary: The root cause is the reliance on traditional recruitment methods, perpetuated by a lack of awareness and education about neurodiverse strengths and needs within the recruitment industry.
Potential Solutions:
Inclusive Recruitment Training: Provide recruitment teams with specialised training in neurodiversity.
Flexible Assessments: Develop alternative forms of assessment that allow neurodivergent individuals to showcase their abilities in a format that suits them.
Adapted Interview Techniques: Use interviewing techniques that do not rely solely on social cues and traditional behavioural expectations.
Pilot Programmes: Implement pilot recruitment programmes specifically designed for neurodivergent candidates to model success and build internal advocacy.
Key Problem 3: Misunderstanding and Mislabeling of Neurodivergent Traits
Why 1: Why are neurodivergent traits misunderstood and mislabeled?
There exists a lack of nuanced understanding of neurodiversity, leading to stereotypes and mislabeling of behaviours and traits.
Why 2: Why is there a lack of nuanced understanding?
Educational and societal narratives around neurodiversity often simplify or stigmatise behaviours rather than fostering a deeper understanding.
Why 3: Why do educational and societal narratives simplify or stigmatise neurodivergent behaviours?
These narratives are often shaped by outdated medical models and lack input from neurodiverse individuals themselves.
Why 4: Why are outdated medical models influencing current narratives?
Medical models have historically prioritised pathologising differences rather than celebrating and understanding them.
Why 5: Why do these models prioritise pathologising differences?
Historically, mental and neurological differences have been approached from a deficit perspective, focusing on what individuals cannot do rather than recognising their unique strengths.
Summary: The root cause lies in the deficit-based approach embedded in historical and medical models that shape societal and educational narratives.
Potential Solutions:
Educational Reform: Encourage reform in education curricula to include comprehensive, strengths-based perspectives on neurodiversity.
Media Campaigns: Utilise media to promote positive and accurate representations of neurodivergent individuals.
Community Engagement: Engage neurodivergent voices in shaping policies and narratives at both educational and organisational levels.
Strength-Based Models: Adopt strength-based models within medical and psychological professions that celebrate neurodivergent traits.
Conclusion:
By addressing these root causes and implementing the suggested solutions, organisations can create an inclusive culture that recognises and values neurodiversity, enhancing employee engagement, productivity, and satisfaction.
Canva Slider Checklist
Episode Carousel
Slide 1: Provoking Question
🌟 Ever wondered why recognising neurodiversity isn't just a 'nice-to-have' but a must in the workplace?
Slide 2: Joanne's Introduction
🗨️ "I'm Joanne Lockwood, your guide on this journey of exploration into the heart of inclusion, belonging, and societal transformation." — Joanne Lockwood
Slide 3: Charlie's Journey
🎙️ "My background is HR, and I fell into that quite by chance... I eventually realised that my child, Iggy, my firstborn, was autistic, and that so was I." — Charlie Hart
Slide 4: Key Insight
💡 "Neurodiversity is a natural part of human diversity, and it's advantageous. Like biodiversity in nature, neurological diversity in a human population, such as a workforce, is advantageous." — Charlie Hart
Slide 5: Call to Action
🎧 Transform your perspective on inclusion! Tap the link in our bio to listen to Episode 152, "Embracing Every Mind," on the Inclusion Bites Podcast. Let’s ignite the spark of inclusion together! 🚀
#InclusionBites #Neurodiversity #Podcast #SeeChangeHappen #InclusiveWorkplaces
[Incorporate eye-catching visuals and include a link to the podcast in Slide 5's caption for easy access.]
6 major topics
Certainly! Here's a detailed recap of some of the vital topics we discussed during "Embracing Every Mind." Let's dive into the heart of the conversation.
Unearthing Neurodiversity: A Journey of Understanding
In this riveting discussion, Charlie Hart, also known as Awesome Charlie, shared their deeply personal journey into the world of neurodiversity. With roots in HR, Charlie eventually found their calling in championing the cause of neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ inclusion, inspired by their child's path and their discoveries about their own neurodivergent traits. What struck me was Charlie’s revelation of feeling “broken” for years, only to find clarity and community through their autism diagnosis in 2018. The turning point? Realising the myriad ways humans process the world differently. Can you imagine the relief of understanding your own mind after so many years? It's like finding a missing piece of your identity puzzle.
Challenging Norms Within Evolution: Neurodiversity’s Role in Human History
Ever pondered about the evolution of human cognition? Together, Charlie and I delved into this fascinating concept. We challenged the modern constructs of 'normal' behaviour and thought, harkening back to prehistoric times where varied cognitive abilities probably ensured the survival of our species. Charlie eloquently pointed out how neuronormativity is a social construct much like gender. This segment made me rethink: Who truly defined what 'normal' should be in today’s world? And why are we sticking to it?
Gender Differences and Late Diagnosis: Unseen Challenges
One of the most enlightening parts of our conversation was how gender influences the diagnosis of neurodivergent traits. Charlie highlighted that despite exhibiting ADHD symptoms from a young age, the bias towards recognising these traits in boys delayed their diagnosis. Their son Iggy’s journey mirrored many of Charlie's experiences, revealing the stark disparities in how neurodivergent traits manifest and are perceived across gender lines. It’s pivotal to question: Are our diagnostic criteria inadvertently gender-biased?
The Intersection of Neurodivergence and LGBTQIA+: The Double Rainbow
Charlie introduced the concept of the "double rainbow," a powerful intersection of neurodivergence and being LGBTQIA+. With a personal stake in the topic, Charlie shared about their, as well as their children's, ongoing exploration of gender and neurodivergent identities. The statistics are compelling: a significant overlap exists between being neurodivergent and identifying as LGBTQIA+. This raises a crucial point of curiosity: How can workplaces better foster an environment that honours these intersecting identities?
Redefining Emotional Intelligence and Workplace Dynamics
Our dialogue also ventured into the territory of emotional intelligence and its perception in workplaces. Drawing from personal anecdotes, Charlie and I discussed how neurodivergent individuals often develop adept coping mechanisms that may be misconstrued as a lack of empathy or social skills. In reality, these mechanisms are survival strategies. Consider this: How are traditional notions of emotional intelligence excluding neurodiverse minds, and what can be done to reshape this understanding?
Creating Truly Inclusive Workspaces: Moving Beyond Tokenism
Lastly, we tackled the essential topic of workplace inclusion. Charlie shared insights on how employers often treat diversity and inclusion as fleeting trends rather than integral facets of their organisational culture. We agreed that true inclusion means creating an environment where everyone's individual needs and strengths are acknowledged and accommodated. It’s more than just a feel-good initiative— it’s a critical business strategy. Are current workplace cultures genuinely inclusive, or are they merely paying lip service?
This interaction with Charlie Hart beautifully encapsulated the myriad dimensions of neurodiversity, gender, and workplace inclusion. As we inch towards more inclusive societies, it is paramount to question, challenge, and evolve our understanding. Let’s embrace every mind, together.
TikTok Summary
🎧🚀 Join Joanne Lockwood on Inclusion Bites as she dives into Episode 152: "Embracing Every Mind" with the inspiring Charlie Hart! 🌟 Discover powerful insights on neurodiversity, LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and the path to creating a truly inclusive workplace. 💡✨
🔗 Dive deeper: Inclusion Bites Podcast
💬 Ready to challenge the status quo and spark real change? Don't miss out! 🌍🔥
#InclusionBites #Neurodiversity #LGBTQIA #InclusiveWorkplace #PodcastSnippet #ListenNow
Slogans and Image Prompts
Certainly! Here are some memorable slogans, soundbites, quotes, and hashtags from the episode that could be used on merchandise, along with detailed AI image generation prompts:
1. Slogan: "Embrace Your Neurodiversity"
Context: Capturing the essence of celebrating neurodiversity.
Quote: "Neurodiversity is a thing. There are differences between each and every human brain and mind." - Charlie Hart
Prompt for AI Image Generation:
"A beautifully designed illustration showing diverse human brains interconnected with vibrant colours, displaying neurodiversity as a celebration. Use bright, inclusive colours with elements symbolising uniqueness and interconnectivity."
2. Soundbite: "Ignite the Spark of Inclusion"
Context: The introduction to every episode.
Quote: "It's time to ignite the spark of inclusion with Inclusion Bites." - Joanne Lockwood
Prompt for AI Image Generation:
"An image of a match being struck, producing vibrant, multi-coloured sparks that form abstract representations of unity, inclusion, and diversity. The background should be dark to emphasise the brightness of the sparks."
3. Quote: "Every Mind Matters"
Context: Highlighting the importance of recognising all minds.
Quote: "We all have our own unique minds. We all see the world through our own lens." - Joanne Lockwood
Prompt for AI Image Generation:
"An artistic take on multiple people with varying styles of brain waves emanating from their heads. Each person has a unique colour scheme to represent different neural types, set against a minimalist background."
4. Slogan: "Inclusion is Advantageous"
Context: Emphasising the benefits of inclusion.
Quote: "Neurological diversity in a human population, such as a workforce, is advantageous." - Charlie Hart
Prompt for AI Image Generation:
"Depict a diverse group of professionals working together, their different thought processes visualised through colourful, creative patterns around their heads, all converging to form a brighter future."
5. Hashtag: #CelebrateNeurodiversity
Context: Universal celebration of neurodiversity.
Quote: "After 15 years of feeling like I was somehow broken... I realized that there were concrete reasons why I struggled with things that my peers took for granted." - Charlie Hart
Prompt for AI Image Generation:
"A series of diverse neurons interconnected with each other forming a heart shape. Each neuron is uniquely coloured and patterned to indicate diversity. The backdrop should be simple, perhaps white, to make the vibrant heart stand out."
6. Soundbite: "Together, We Thrive"
Context: Inclusion leads to a thriving environment.
Quote: "Who decided that we needed to think in a specific way?... We needed people who had attention to detail. We needed people who were creative." - Joanne Lockwood
Prompt for AI Image Generation:
"A kaleidoscopic image of multiple hands forming a circle, each hand uniquely patterned and coloured. Inside the circle, a flourishing tree symbolising growth and unity."
7. Hashtag: #DoubleRainbow
Context: Intersection of neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion.
Quote: "The intersecting identity...when you're both neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+" - Charlie Hart
Prompt for AI Image Generation:
"A vibrant and artistic representation of two rainbows intersecting with each other over a sky filled with different identity flag colours. Include elements like stars and hearts to add warmth and positivity."
8. Slogan: "Mono to Multi: Every Brain Counts"
Context: Inclusiveness in thought processes.
Quote: "Monotropism... is about being able to put the blinkers on and have tunnel vision to the thing you're researching or the problem that you're trying to solve." - Charlie Hart
**Prompt for AI Image Generation:
"A brain in the centre of the image with different pathways radiating outwards, each filled with various symbols of research, creativity, and tech. The pathways should be in bright, diverse colours, transforming from monotone to a multi-colour spectrum."
9. Quote: "Neurospicy and Proud"
Context: Self-identification and pride.
Quote: "If you have got someone that does like to call themselves neurospicy, that's fine." - Charlie Hart
Prompt for AI Image Generation:
"A playful and vibrant design featuring a brain with ‘spicy’ elements like small, colourful flames or chili peppers. Add a touch of dynamic typography for the words ‘Neurospicy and Proud’. The background should be neutral to make the design pop."
10. Hashtag: #FosteringBelonging
Context: Creating an inclusive world.
Quote: "Here's to fostering a more inclusive world one episode at a time." - Joanne Lockwood
Prompt for AI Image Generation:
"A group of diverse individuals standing together with their shadows combining to form a globe. Each person is unique in colour and style to represent different identities, standing against a lush, green background symbolising growth and unity."
These slogans, soundbites, quotes, and hashtags focus on the themes from the conversation, and the AI image generation prompts are designed to bring them to life vividly for merchandise.
Inclusion Bites Spotlight
Charlie Hart, our guest on Embracing Every Mind, this episode of The Inclusion Bites Podcast, brings an enlightening perspective on neurodiversity and inclusion. As a passionate neurodivergent keynote speaker, Charlie is committed to advocating for neurodiverse and LGBTQIA+ individuals within the workplace. Drawing from personal experiences and a profound dedication to creating a better world for neurodivergent and queer youth, Charlie's insights offer invaluable guidance.
Charlie delves into the understanding that every mind is unique, challenging the traditional societal constructs that dictate how we 'should' think and respond. They bring a wealth of knowledge, advocating for the inclusion and support of neurodivergent individuals, ensuring that their strengths and needs are recognised and valued. This episode explores Charlie's journey from an HR background to becoming an influential voice in the neurodiversity community. Their story illuminates the power of self-discovery and the impact of understanding and embracing one's neurotype.
Charlie's contributions highlight the importance of viewing neurodiversity as a natural and advantageous part of human diversity. They stress that neurological diversity within a workforce mirrors biodiversity in nature, providing significant benefits and fostering a more inclusive and productive environment. Their discussion underscores the necessity for organisations to create spaces where all individuals can thrive, not just conform to a perceived norm.
Through their extensive work, including the powerful metaphor of the "double rainbow," Charlie champions the cause of those with intersecting identities, particularly within the neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ communities. Their message is clear: inclusion and acceptance are not optional but essential for the well-being and success of both individuals and organisations.
In this episode, Charlie takes us on a thought-provoking journey, sharing their insights on neurodiversity, the importance of understanding individual needs, and how we can all contribute to a more inclusive society. Tune in to discover how we can break down barriers, challenge the status quo, and embrace the full spectrum of human diversity.
Join us on Inclusion Bites as we unravel these important themes with Charlie Hart and strive towards fostering a more inclusive world, one episode at a time.
YouTube Description
Opening Hook:
Is your organisation ready to truly embrace neurodiversity and harness its potential? Discover the secrets to creating a more inclusive environment that celebrates every mind.
Summary of Insight:
In this eye-opening episode of Inclusion Bites, Joanne Lockwood hosts Charlie Hart, a neurodivergent keynote speaker and advocate for neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace. Together, they unpack the complexities of neurodiversity, sharing personal stories, struggles, and triumphs. Joanne and Charlie delve into what it means to be truly inclusive, exploring terms like “neurospicy” and the societal constructs that shape our perceptions of neurodivergent individuals. They discuss the importance of understanding and accommodating different neurotypes in the workplace, not as a novelty or a nice-to-have but as an essential part of fostering an engaged, productive, and innovative workplace.
Closing Takeaways and Actions:
Challenge traditional views of workplace culture and inclusivity. Are your practices truly inclusive, or just ticking boxes?
Recognise the unique strengths and needs of neurodivergent individuals instead of forcing them to conform to a single standard.
Encourage open, honest communication about individual needs and preferences.
Implement policies and practices that genuinely accommodate all employees, thereby enhancing engagement, reducing stress, and bolstering productivity.
Reflect on Thinking, Feeling, and Acting Differently:
By shifting the narrative around neurodiversity and embracing inclusive practices, organisations can cultivate a workforce where every individual feels valued and empowered to contribute their best. Understanding that everyone processes the world differently enhances our collective empathy and drives meaningful change.
Hashtags:
#InclusionBites #Neurodiversity #LGBTQIAInclusion #InclusiveWorkplace #Neurodivergent #HRTrends #WorkplaceCulture #DiversityAndInclusion #MentalHealthAtWork #EquityInclusion
Be sure to listen to the full conversation and transform the way you see inclusion in your workspace. Are you ready to ignite the spark of inclusion? 🔥
Subscribe, engage, and let us know your thoughts! ⬇️
Links:
📧 Contact Joanne: jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk
🎧 Listen to more episodes: Inclusion Bites Podcast
About the Podcast:
Inclusion Ignited: Real Talks that Drive Change — Disrupting Norms with Conversations that Challenge.
Welcome to Inclusion Bites, hosted by Joanne Lockwood, where we delve deep into the transformative world of Inclusive Cultures and Nurturing Belonging. Uncover the untold stories, challenges, and triumphs as Joanne engages with changemakers. This is your call to action. Unplug from the noise and tune into Inclusion Bites for bold conversations and actionable insights.
#InclusionBites #PositivePeopleExperiences
10 Question Quiz
Certainly! Based on the transcript of "The Inclusion Bites Podcast" episode titled "Embracing Every Mind," I've created a 10-question multiple-choice quiz. Here it is:
Quiz: Understanding Neurodiversity and Inclusion from “Embracing Every Mind”
Who is the host of the Inclusion Bites Podcast?
A) Charlie Hart
B) Marie Lockwood
C) Joanne Lockwood
D) Awesome Charlie
What is the primary focus of Charlie Hart’s advocacy?
A) Economic Inclusion
B) Neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion
C) Technological Advancements
D) Environmental Conservation
Which of these roles did Charlie hold before focusing on their current advocacy?
A) IT Specialist
B) Data Analyst
C) HR Professional
D) Marketing Executive
What inspired Charlie to begin their journey into understanding neurodiversity?
A) Their professional experience in IT
B) A friend's recommendation
C) Their children's experiences
D) Reading a book on the topic
What did Charlie say about their skills in the HR job they had?
A) They found it easy and stress-free
B) They struggled with meeting behaviors and frequently got overwhelmed
C) They had no challenges at all
D) They were the best in their team without any effort
How did Joanne Lockwood describe the evolution of human thinking in relation to neurodiversity?
A) Humans evolved to think in a uniform way
B) Neurodivergent individuals are a new phenomenon
C) Historically, societies benefited from diverse ways of thinking and tasks
D) There was no need for logical thinking historically
What is the concept of 'monotropism' that was discussed?
A) A focus on multiple tasks simultaneously
B) An exclusive focus on one interest to the exclusion of others
C) The ability to quickly switch between tasks
D) The simultaneous focus on emotions and logic
According to Charlie Hart, how should autism be referred to, to avoid pathologizing language?
A) Person with autism
B) Autism sufferer
C) Autistic person
D) Autism patient
What impact did the global pandemic have on the discussion around workplace inclusion, according to the conversation?
A) It halted all progress
B) It increased awareness of mental health and inclusion needs
C) It decreased the focus on inclusion
D) It made no difference
Which of the following statements about Charlie Hart's perspective on workplace inclusion is correct?
A) Inclusion should only be targeted at those with visible disabilities
B) Workplace inclusion is about engaging employees so they can excel
C) Neurodiversity inclusion is a temporary trend
D) Employees should be the same to ensure seamless teamwork
Answer Key and Rationale:
C) Joanne Lockwood
Joanne Lockwood identifies herself as the host of the podcast in the introduction. (00:00:00)
B) Neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion
The transcript mentions Charlie Hart champions neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace. (00:00:40)
C) HR Professional
Charlie’s background in HR is mentioned in their discussion about their journey. (00:02:36)
C) Their children's experiences
Charlie was inspired by the experiences of their children and the realization that they were also neurodivergent. (00:02:36 – 00:03:48)
B) They struggled with meeting behaviors and frequently got overwhelmed
Charlie mentioned having difficulties with meeting behaviors and experiencing burnout in their HR role. (00:02:36 – 00:03:48)
C) Historically, societies benefited from diverse ways of thinking and tasks
Joanne discussed that neurodiversity was necessary historically for different societal roles. (00:06:11 – 00:06:24)
B) An exclusive focus on one interest to the exclusion of others
Monotropism refers to the highly focused interest, often found in autistic individuals, creating a flow state. (00:30:58)
C) Autistic person
Charlie prefers being described as an autistic person rather than a person with autism to avoid pathologizing language. (00:19:38 – 00:20:22)
B) It increased awareness of mental health and inclusion needs
The discussion highlighted how the pandemic brought attention to the whole self to work and psychological safety. (00:46:12 – 00:47:09)
B) Workplace inclusion is about engaging employees so they can excel
Charlie emphasized that ensuring employee engagement and their ability to thrive is crucial for workplace inclusion. (00:48:23 – 00:48:58)
Summary Paragraph
In this episode of Inclusion Bites, hosted by Joanne Lockwood, the conversation with Charlie Hart covered significant insights into the realm of neurodiversity and workplace inclusion. Charlie, a former HR Professional, now champions neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion inspired by their children's experiences and personal journey. Throughout the discussion, they shared their struggles with meeting behaviors and burnout in their previous roles, highlighting the importance of understanding individual needs. Joanne and Charlie explored the concept of monotropism, emphasizing the value of highly focused interests. Charlie advocates for using terms like 'autistic person' to avoid pathologizing language. The impact of the global pandemic increased awareness of mental health and inclusion needs, highlighting the importance of engaging employees to help them thrive. This episode reinforces that workplace inclusion is not a temporary trend but a significant step in ensuring everyone can excel, regardless of their neurodiverse conditions.
Rhyme Scheme and Rhythm Podcast Poetry
Embracing Every Mind
In the landscape of our minds, diverse and vast,
Lies potential, unique, and immensely steadfast.
From neuro-norms to the diverging shade,
Each brain is a marvel, its own accolade.
In the prehistoric dance of survival and skill,
Different minds played a role, and they do still.
Attention to detail, a burst of creativity,
Our strengths diverse mark humanity's nativity.
We speak of autism, ADHD's fervent flame,
Not just labels, but identities they proclaim.
In workplaces and schools, let's be wise and kind,
Embracing each nuance of the multifaceted mind.
Some sit alone in breaks, finding their peace,
Their productivity after, a notable increase.
In quiet understanding, not forced integration,
Lie the seeds of future fruitful collaboration.
From forced norms of behaviour, let’s liberate,
Crafting spaces where talents don’t dissipate.
A world more inclusive, where all can thrive,
That's where innovation and empathy revive.
With insight to ponder and hearts to engage,
A call to action to turn the societal page.
Share this wisdom, let compassion guide,
For in each unique mind, our bright future abides.
With thanks to Charlie Hart for a fascinating podcast episode.
Key Learnings
Key Learning and Takeaway:
This episode of Inclusion Bites, titled "Embracing Every Mind," features an insightful discussion between Joanne Lockwood and Charlie Hart about the profound importance of recognising and embracing neurodiversity in various contexts, particularly the workplace. Charlie shares their personal journey of being diagnosed with autism and ADHD later in life and details how these experiences have shaped their advocacy work. The conversation underscores the significance of understanding neurodiversity, accommodating diverse cognitive profiles in professional settings, and valuing individual strengths without resorting to unhelpful stereotypes or superficial labels like "superpowers."
Blurb #1: Understanding Neurodiversity
Charlie Hart explains the concept of neurodiversity and how everyone's brain functions differently. This diversity should be seen as a natural variation rather than a problem or deficit. Embracing these differences can lead to innovative and more inclusive work environments.
Blurb #2: Late Diagnosis and Self-Discovery
Charlie's story about their late diagnosis with autism and ADHD highlights the personal impact of understanding one's brain wiring. It underscores the importance of awareness and proper diagnosis for better self-comprehension and mental health.
Blurb #3: Workplace Inclusivity for Neurodivergent Individuals
Joanne and Charlie discuss the barriers neurodivergent individuals face in traditional workplace settings. They advocate for creating accommodating environments that allow everyone to thrive by recognising and supporting diverse working styles.
Blurb #4: Moving Beyond Stereotypes
The episode challenges the stereotypes often associated with neurodivergence, such as the "superpower" narrative. It calls for a balanced approach that recognises individual strengths and needs without pigeonholing or diminishing the complexities of neurodivergent experiences.
Book Outline
Objective: Transform the podcast transcript with Charlie Hart into a structured, coherent book outline, effectively capturing key themes, ideas, and insights.
Preprocess the Transcript:
Remove Redundancies:
Eliminate interruptions, filler phrases, and off-topic segments from the guest's perspective.
Segmentation:
Organise the transcript into thematic sections by extracting keywords and summarising topics. Only use content from the guest.
Speaker Identification:
Focus solely on contributions from Charlie Hart.
Identifying Key Themes and Topics:
Keyword Extraction:
Neurodiversity
Autism
ADHD
Workplace Inclusion
Gender Identity
Intersectionality
Complex PTSD
Meritocracy
Theme Analysis and Summarisation:
Structuring the Book Outline:
Title: Embracing Every Mind: Redefining Neurodiversity and Inclusion in the Modern World
Chapter 1: Understanding Neurodiversity
Introduction to Neurodiversity
Discovering Neurodivergent Traits
Recognising Autism and ADHD
Deconstructing Neuro-normativity
Chapter 2: Journey Through Diagnosis
Realisation and Personal Experience
Iggy's Diagnosis and Influence
Navigating Late Diagnosis
Personal Story on Autism: Challenges and Revelations
Chapter 3: Neurodiversity in the Workplace
Challenges in Conventional Workspaces
The Importance of Neurodiverse Talent
Real-life Examples: HR and System Support
Chapter 4: Breaking Stereotypes
Beyond Superpowers: Real Abilities and Challenges
Addressing Misconceptions in the Workplace
Effective Inclusion Strategies
Chapter 5: Intersectionality and Neurodiversity
Interplay of Gender Diversity and Neurodivergence
Real-Life Family Stories
The Double Rainbow: Neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ Identities
Chapter 6: Practical Adjustments for Inclusion
Recognising Sensory and Social Needs
Balancing Conflicting Requirements
Creating an Inclusive Environment in Every Context
Chapter 7: Enhancing Emotional Intelligence and Communication
Neurodivergent Emotional Intelligence
Adjusting Communication Styles
Practical Exercises for Better Interaction
Chapter 8: Navigating Social Constructs
Gender Identity and Social Expectations
Dealing with Neuro Intersectional Identities
Creating Safe Spaces for Expression
Chapter 9: Learning from the Pandemic
How COVID-19 Shifted Work and Home Dynamics
Personal Stories of Coping Strategies
Lessons on Resilience and Adaptation
Chapter 10: A Call to Action
Understanding Individual Strengths
Strategies for Empowering Neurodiverse Individuals
Building True Meritocracy
Specific Employee Engagement Tips
Incorporating Quotes and Examples:
Direct Quotes: Highlight impactful quotes from Charlie Hart to maintain authenticity.
Real-Life Examples: Use anecdotes shared in the podcast to illustrate key points.
Adding Supplementary Content:
Research for Depth: Supplement insights with up-to-date research and case studies on neurodiversity.
Visual Aids: Include diagrams on brain functioning, charts on neurotypical vs. neurodivergent behaviours, and images representing inclusivity modifications.
Interactive Elements:
Reflection Questions: e.g., "How can you incorporate neurodiverse perspectives in your work environment?"
Exercises: e.g., "Create a sensory-friendly space in your office and observe the impacts."
Action Steps: e.g., "Conduct a neurodiversity audit in your organisation."
Conclusion and Call to Action:
Summary: Recap the key insights underscoring the need for neurodiversity inclusion.
Call to Action: Encourage readers to implement the discussed strategies and provide resources for further learning and advocacy.
Refinement and Feedback:
Edit for Coherence: Ensure a smooth flow from one chapter to the next, with seamless transitions.
Feedback Loop: Incorporate reviews and suggestions from neurodiversity experts and individuals from the neurodivergent community.
Final Touches:
Title Suggestions:
"Embracing Every Mind"
"Neurodiversity Unveiled"
"Rewriting Inclusion: The Neurodiverse Way"
Chapter Summaries:
Provide a brief summary of the focus and key points of each chapter.
This book outline transforms the insights shared by Charlie Hart in the podcast into a comprehensive guide on neurodiversity and inclusion, providing practical advice, personal stories, and expert insights to enhance understanding and promote actionable change.
Maxims to live by…
Maxims to Live By for Embracing Every Mind
Celebrate Unique Minds: Recognise and value the diversity in how each individual thinks, feels, and processes the world. Understand that neurological differences are natural and advantageous.
Enable Thriving Through Inclusion: Create environments where everyone can thrive, not just survive, by recognising and supporting diverse neurological needs.
Understand Neurodiversity as Evolutionary: Realise that our diverse thinking styles are a product of evolution and have historically contributed to human survival and innovation.
Reject Normativity: Challenge neuronormativity—the expectation that everyone should think and respond in "normal" ways—as a social construct. Embrace that diversity in thought and behaviour is beneficial.
Tailor Support to Individual Needs: Understand that support needs differ between people. Provide the specific assistance required to help each person achieve their potential.
Break Down Activity Stereotypes: Avoid pigeonholing people based on stereotypes, such as assuming that autistic individuals are naturally gifted in mathematics or other specific areas.
Promote Honest Communication: Encourage clear, honest communication about needs and preferences without fear of judgment. Authenticity should be respected and valued.
Value All Human Contributions: Recognise that everyone has strengths and areas where they need support. Encourage collaboration to leverage individual talents for collective success.
Foster Emotional Intelligence: Cultivate environments where emotional intelligence is understood beyond social scripting and is appreciated as genuine empathy and insight.
Embrace Individual Identity: Support each person’s right to self-identify how they see fit, whether it's in terms of gender, neurodivergence, or any other aspect of personal identity.
Design Inclusive Workplaces: Ensure workplaces are designed to be inclusive, where different neurological needs are considered from job adverts to office environments.
Support Flexible Work Preferences: Acknowledge and respect diverse working styles and needs, from quiet spaces for focused work to flexible communication methods.
Value Psychological Safety: Prioritise creating psychologically safe environments where individuals can express their true selves and their challenges without fear of repercussion.
Nurture Continuous Learning: Engage in ongoing education about neurodiversity and related fields to stay updated on best practices for inclusivity.
Champion Intersectional Identities: Advocate for the awareness and support of intersecting identities, recognising the complex and multifaceted nature of individual experiences.
By integrating these maxims into everyday life, you can contribute to creating a world where everyone is valued and empowered to flourish.
Extended YouTube Description
Title: Embracing Neurodiversity & Inclusion with Charlie Hart | Inclusion Bites Podcast Episode 152
Description:
Welcome to Episode 152 of the Inclusion Bites Podcast, "Embracing Every Mind." Host Joanne Lockwood (she/her) dives into an engaging conversation with Charlie Hart (they/them), a neurodivergent keynote speaker championing neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace.
Key Takeaways:
Charlie's journey: From HR to a passionate advocate for neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion.
Understanding the spectrum: Autism, ADHD, and the concept of neurodiversity.
The role of historical and social constructs in defining "typical" brains.
Personal experiences of coping mechanisms and diagnosis journeys.
Workplace adjustments and the importance of accommodating different neurotypes.
Intersectionality and the "Double Rainbow": Neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ experiences.
Practical tips for fostering inclusion and belonging in professional and personal settings.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction by Joanne Lockwood
01:33 - Meet Charlie Hart: Background in HR
03:36 - Realizing neurodiversity through personal and familial experiences
06:11 - Historical context and societal constructs of neurotypical behaviour
08:00 - Diagnosing and experiencing ADHD as an adult
10:05 - Personal stories and hyperfocus traits
12:00 - Intersectionality: Neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusivity
15:25 - Defining autism: Language and identity
19:00 - Gender and neurodiversity: Social conditioning and diagnostic criteria
25:00 - Importance of workplace inclusion and understanding neurodiverse traits
31:35 - Practical workplace adjustments for neurodivergent individuals
34:32 - The future workforce: Gen Z expectations and company inclusivity
41:39 - Concluding thoughts and insights on promoting neurodiversity and overall inclusion
In-depth Description:
In this enlightening episode, Joanne Lockwood hosts Charlie Hart, who shares their compelling story from navigating the world of HR to becoming a dedicated advocate for neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion. Delve deep into Charlie's experiences and insights, starting from their realization of being neurodivergent after observing their child's journey and leading up to their current role in educating and inspiring others.
Key moments include Charlie's discussion on the misconceptions and biases around neurodiversity, the challenges faced by late-diagnosed individuals, and the overlap between gender identity and neurodivergent traits. Joanne and Charlie break down complex ideas, such as how historical and societal norms have shaped our understanding of "typical" behaviour and why it's crucial to rethink these patterns.
The conversation also explores practical strategies for creating a more inclusive workplace. Learn about the dynamic needs of neurodivergent employees, from requiring quiet spaces to the importance of emotional intelligence and empathy in managing teams. Discover how acknowledging these needs leads to a healthier, more productive working environment.
Charlie also introduces the "Double Rainbow" concept, addressing the intersecting experiences of those who are both neurodivergent and identify as LGBTQIA+. This segment provides valuable insights into the unique challenges and strengths of this community, pushing for a broader and more inclusive approach to diversity.
This episode is a treasure trove of information, easily navigated with the provided timestamps. It’s perfect for HR professionals, D&I champions, and anyone interested in cultivating a more inclusive society.
Call to Action:
👍 If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to like and subscribe for more thought-provoking content on inclusion and diversity.
🔔 Hit the bell icon to stay updated with our latest episodes.
💬 Share your thoughts and stories in the comments below. We love hearing from our community!
🌐 For more resources, visit our website: SEE Change Happen
📧 Got insights or want to be a guest? Reach out to Joanne at jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk.
Hashtags:
#InclusionBites #Neurodiversity #LGBTQIAInclusion #Neurodivergent #MentalHealth #DisabilityInclusion #InclusiveWorkplace #GenZExpectations #DoubleRainbow #HR #DiversityAndInclusion
Join us for this episode of Inclusion Bites and be part of the movement to drive real change. Your involvement helps challenge the status quo and promotes a world where everyone can thrive.
Watch another episode of Inclusion Bites for more insights and stories: Next Episode
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Substack Post
Embracing Every Mind: Unveiling the Power of Neurodiversity
In a world where diversity can often seem like a buzzword, truly inclusive cultures that nurture a sense of belonging and equity remain elusive. Many of us grapple with the question: What does it genuinely take to create such environments where everyone not only belongs but thrives? In this week’s episode of Inclusion Bites, we tackle this head-on with a deep dive into the often overlooked yet incredibly impactful realm of neurodiversity.
Neurodiversity: The Unseen Spectrum
In Episode 152 - Embracing Every Mind, I had the absolute honour of welcoming Charlie Hart, also known endearingly as "Awesome Charlie," to the show. Charlie, a neurodivergent keynote speaker, is a fervent advocate for neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace. Our conversation explores, with depth and detail, the personal journeys that have shaped Charlie’s mission and the broader significance of embracing neurodivergence.
We delve into how neurodiversity is not merely a set of diagnoses but a natural part of human diversity that enriches our workforces and communities. This episode is an essential listen for HR professionals, D&I leaders, Talent and Recruitment leads, and those in Learning and Development who are committed to embedding true inclusivity in their organisations.
Insights from the Conversation
Charlie's profound insights shed light on the multifaceted nature of neurodiversity:
1. Understanding Neurodiversity
Charlie’s journey from HR professional to neurodiversity advocate unveils the complexities and unique strengths that neurodivergent individuals bring to the table. “After years of feeling broken,” Charlie shares, “I realized that my brain was simply wired differently, not defectively.” This perspective is a call to reframe how we view neurodivergent traits—not as disorders but as different, valuable ways of processing the world.
2. Intersectionality in Inclusion
One of the fascinating aspects of Charlie’s work is the focus on the intersection of neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ identities, often referred to as the "double rainbow.” Charlie explains, “There’s a significant correlation between being neurodivergent and identifying as LGBTQIA+.” This intersectionality underscores the importance of multifaceted inclusion strategies that respect and celebrate all aspects of an individual’s identity.
3. The Science Behind Neurodiversity
We discuss the broader implications of neurodiversity, drawing parallels between historical needs for diverse cognitive strengths and modern workplace demands. From attention to detail to creative problem-solving, the diverse minds in our teams can be our most significant assets. As Charlie eloquently puts it, “Neurodiversity is advantageous, just like biodiversity in nature.”
Practical Takeaways
Reflecting on our conversation, here are three actionable insights that you can implement in your organisation today:
1. Create Safe Spaces for Self-Expression
Encourage employees to share their neurodivergent traits and create accommodating environments. Flexible workspaces, sensory-friendly areas, and open communication channels can make a world of difference.
2. Train Leaders in Neurodiversity Awareness
Equip your leadership team with knowledge about neurodiversity. Understanding that "thinking outside the box" often means thinking differently can foster a culture of respect and appreciation for all cognitive styles.
3. Inclusive Recruitment Practices
Revamp your hiring processes to include neurodiverse candidates. This might mean rethinking traditional interviews and considering alternative assessments that highlight a candidate's unique skills over conventional performance metrics.
A Sneak Peek into the Episode
For a brief and impactful glimpse into our conversation, take a moment to watch this one-minute audiogram. It captures some of the most thought-provoking moments with Charlie, offering a taste of the depth and inspiration this episode holds. Watch the audiogram here.
Tune In and Transform
Listening to the full episode promises even more valuable insights and practical advice. Dive deeper into the discussion and find out how you can foster a more inclusive environment by embracing every mind in your organisation. Tune in here and let this conversation inspire you to take meaningful action in your workplace.
Reflecting on Our Roles in Inclusion
As we close this chapter, I leave you with a thought: How can you, in your role, foster a culture that celebrates neurodiversity? Consider the strategies discussed in this episode and think about the steps you can take to ensure everyone, regardless of how their brains are wired, feels valued and included.
Let’s move beyond tokenism and make inclusion a lived reality for all. Together, we can create workplaces where every mind is seen, heard, and empowered.
Stay Connected
Continuing this journey of inclusion is just a click away. Stay engaged and up to date with the latest discussions and insights:
YouTube – Watch episode highlights and more.
TikTok – Engage with short, insightful content.
LinkedIn – Join regular discussions and stay updated.
Website – Explore articles, blogs, and learn how we can help your organisation.
Feel free to reach out if you’d like to discuss how I can support your organisation’s speaking, training, and inclusion needs.
Until next time,
Joanne Lockwood
Host of the Inclusion Bites Podcast
The Inclusive Culture Expert at SEE Change Happen
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