THE NEURODIVERSITY EDGE

A debut guide offers a comprehensive program for companies rigorously incorporating neurodiversity.

In her book, cognitive scientist Dunne lays out a detailed vision of workplaces that do more than signal their willingness to accommodate neurodiverse workers (her most common examples are employees with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, or synesthesia). These companies offer authentic inclusion, in which systems and practices are in place in order to level the playing field and give neurodiverse workers the support they need. The author stresses that this approach not only has “unambiguous moral and ethical social value,” but boosts productivity and increases profits as well. Dunne asserts that the authentic inclusion of neurodiversity is more than just a moral imperative—“it’s a functional driver of superior performance.” Each of her chapters contains illustrations from various sources, charts, and “key takeaways” designed to clarify the measures she advocates to make everyone in a workforce feel included. Her useful points touch on everything from the hiring process to the challenges of the modern hybrid office and the intricacies of remote work. Dunne’s writing is passionate in its convictions, although it’s partly based on sweeping statements, like neurodiverse people are responsible for “a disproportionate share of our important innovations.” More problematic is the head-scratching nature of many of her stories. When a company, for instance, assigns a report to “an external autistic consultant” and then weeks later neither needs the report nor pays for it, the author helps the company create a more formal assignment process whose “biggest payoff was among neurodivergent employees where imprecise or vague messaging about expectations tends to have the most deleterious impact.” But she doesn’t explain why being messed around with and shortchanged is a particularly neurodivergent problem. Still, the intelligence and breadth of the narrative will convince many readers to rethink how they view genuine inclusivity.

A broadly based, highly readable overview of how to rethink workplace diversity.