13/08/2026
Employers rate their own “neurodivergent readiness” at 70-75%.
Only 32-38% of neurodivergent staff feel safe enough to actually tell them.
That gap is the story of the moment.
In the last three months we’ve taken more neurodivergent-related enquiries than at any point in my career. The numbers back it up - 517 employment tribunal cases mentioned neurodivergence in 2025, up from 265 in 2020.
But it’s rarely malice. Employers who end up in front of a judge are seldom villains. They asked an employee to “prove” a diagnosis when that’s not what the law requires. They ran a performance process never built for a brain that works differently. They moved to manage someone out over “attitude” without asking if a disability was in play. Any of that can end in a discrimination claim.
A Lidl manager with ADHD was awarded £45,000+ after a tribunal found his diagnosis hadn’t been properly taken into account. Greene King failed to make reasonable adjustments for a dyslexic chef who’d asked for a headset. The Government’s own taskforce estimates unsupported ADHD costs the UK economy £17bn a year.
To be fair to employers, the fear is often genuine. A reasonable adjustment isn’t whatever the employee asks for - it’s about helping someone perform to their potential, not granting every request.
The best businesses I work with treat this as a design question, not a problem to manage. They don’t wait to be asked. Flexible hours, quiet space, clear written instructions - most of it costs little or nothing, and benefits everyone.
Inclusion can’t be performative. A wellbeing poster and good intentions aren’t a strategy. Structure is.
Awareness was the easy part. What we do next is the test.
📖 Read my full piece in the Yorkshire Post - link in bio.
Where does your organisation sit - closer to the 70% or the 30%? Do you even know? Genuinely curious.
