ADHD and dyslexia case study 1

An engineers story of their diagnosis for ADHD and dyslexia and how their workplace has understood their neurodiversity.

Please share your neurodiversity – diagnosed or undiagnosed, and the area of engineering or technology that you work in e.g. civil engineering.

Diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD combined type. I received my dyslexia diagnosis at 35, and ADHD at 43.

What behaviours or processes do work well for you in the workplace?

My organisation has a dedicated email address for accessing reasonable adjustments, as well as a dedicated IT area for managing these. This makes the process much quicker, and the team who work on them have an understanding of what the adjustments are and why we might need them.

I’ve found being part of an ERG/network is great for peer support and communicating problems back to the organisation. A lot of positive changes have come from this. The network has a slack channel for members to get quick support and access help outside of the regular meetings.

At my currently workplace, I had an impartial person advocating for my requirements, which stopped me minimising my needs and allowed me to get the support I needed.

I find that having a clear ‘why’ when it comes to projects or processes is helpful for motivation and focus. If it’s not clear why we are doing something, its easy to lose interest.

I really value opportunities for verbal processing. Having the opportunity to speak to someone about a task before I get started and priorities my tats at the start of the week is really helpful.

What behaviours or processes do not work well for you in the workplace?

I find that not having an opportunity to speak to my manager regularly around general topics and projects leads to self-doubt and confusion.

I also find it frustrating when it falls down to the individual to advocate and support their own adjustments and needs, or when they are left to use an accessibility software without training or guidance on how to use it.

Similarly, the neurodivergent individual having to educate their colleagues on their limitations and disclose their disability takes energy and time away from being able to do my job.

It’s great to be recognised for doing a good job, but if additions to duties and responsibilities are made to my role without having the conversation with me first about my capacity to add them, it creates a lot of stress.

Finally, I find it difficult to deal with micromanagement and strict processes in a workplace, for example, enforcing quiet offices and strict start and end timings.

What tasks do you excel in?

I excel in Excel! I taught myself to code and created new tools when dealing with lengthy processes that were less efficient.

I’m also very good at extracting and analysing information, showing the evidence of any issues I find and suggesting ways to fix them.  

I’m also good at making connections between things and how improvements can be applied across multiple processes and projects.

Every time I excel is when I’ve had a really positive manager who recognises my strengths and encourages them.

What workplace adjustments have been made to support you? If none, do you know of any that could support you?

I received a screen reader and was able to use headphones to listen to music or block noise out. The headphones are not connected to anything so I can easily move about. A standing desk also helps with this.

More recently I have received Dragon dictate software, Read&Write and Mindview (a mind mapping software), and I received training on how to use all of these which was really helpful.

Alongside this, I was given basic training in accessibility software that is embedded in Microsoft and other general work programmes that I was not aware of.

Coaching from places like Genius Within and co coaching with my manager who was told directly what I needed by someone who could explain really well where I struggled to do this. Coach recommended scheduled breaks where no one can contact me and I can focus.

I was directed towards quadrant sheets to help for planning, which I print out and fill with post-it notes of my tasks - this makes them much easier to visualise and prioritise.

Finally, I use ‘Drama to calmer’ worksheets, which give guidance on how to work with people who communicated differently to me.

What do you want employers and colleagues of neurodivergent colleagues to know about your neurodiversity?

Think about how we can access offline communities of neurodivergent people.

Sometimes a disability isn’t a disability until you’re in a disabling environment or situation.

Kind language and inquisitive language – asking why you did it this way not just saying its wrong.