Quartz article on neurodiversity in the workplace

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One area leaders are shifting their collective attention to in 2023 is neurodiversity. Approximately two-in-ten people worldwide are neurodivergent versus neurotypical—a term for people with variations in mental functions like dyslexia, ADHD, and autism. Unfortunately, a lot of neurodiversity gets missed because it is not always obvious, creating more hidden workers that companies already struggle to nurture.

With neurodivergence being so prevalent in society, failing to accommodate people with this status is a missed opportunity on the journey toward creating more equitable, inclusive, and diverse workplaces. As we look to the future of work, leaders must prioritize engaging with neurodivergent people. Leaders can follow five fundamental principles to embrace neurodiversity inclusion well.

How companies can better understand neurodivergent employees: A talent strategy that omits neurodiversity misses the mark, by Melanie Green and Aarti Shyamsunder, Quartz, Thursday, March 2, 2023:


The "five fundamental principles," which the article then elaborates on, are:


That actually appears to me to be six "fundamental principles," not just five, but whatever. An editing glitch I would guess.

Be that as it may, it will be interesting to see whether this article actually represents any kind of trend in the business world. If so, that would certainly be an improvement for at least some autistic and other neurodivergent people.

I am confused what would going beyond the business case mean?

Go beyond the business case

If you use closed captioning, text messaging, or noise-canceling headphones, or have pushed a stroller or ridden a bike over the ramps at the end of sidewalks/curbs (see the curb cut effect), you’ve benefited from design that prioritized users who had these needs but are not the convenient ‘majority’ for whom many products are designed. Designing for difference enables innovation and productivity while setting up an enterprise to be future-fit and successful. While these are crucial benefits, organizations that purely focus on business outcomes of neurodiversity inclusion to drive action limit themselves, as these changes shouldn’t just be in place to improve the bottom line. Creating equitable and inclusive workplaces should be a part of an organization’s responsibility to its people and society.

To go beyond the business case, organizational leaders need to truly understand the needs of their people. Moving from the business case to the people case for neurodiversity means building personal connections with team members so that they can best enable them for success. This may also unlock opportunities for leaders who are neurodivergent to share their personal experiences of neurodiversity, allowing leaders to unlock more meaningful, deeply-rooted, and beneficial relationships.

As the article explains: