Supporting Neurodivergent Employees: Why Lived Experience Matters in the Workplace
In my work at Cape-Able Consulting, supporting neurodivergent employees isn’t a side initiative—it’s the core of what I do every day. As someone diagnosed with dyslexia, dyscalculia, and ADHD at eight years old, I’ve lived the reality of navigating school, college, and the workplace through a neurodivergent lens.
That lived experience shapes how I coach professionals, train leaders, and partner with organizations that are serious about building environments where neurodivergent employees are not just accommodated, but genuinely supported and activated.
In this article, I’ll break down what neurodiversity looks like in the workplace today, why traditional systems fall short, and how companies can move from good intentions to practical, sustainable action.
What “Supporting Neurodivergent Employees” Really Means
When many organizations talk about neurodiversity in the workplace, they default to accommodations: extra time on tests, quiet rooms, or written instructions. These are important—but they’re only one piece of the puzzle.
Supporting neurodivergent employees means:
Recognizing that ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, autism, and other learning differences don’t “go away” after childhood.
Understanding that performance challenges often reflect environmental or structural barriers—not lack of capability.
Designing work, communication, and expectations so that diverse thinking styles can actually thrive.
In the first episode of the I Am Capable podcast, I share how I was told as a teenager that my SAT scores and learning disabilities meant I would “amount to nothing”—and how that message fundamentally misunderstood my strengths, leadership experience, and long-term potential.
Supporting neurodivergent talent means making sure no one in your organization receives that message again—explicitly or implicitly.
From Diagnosis to the Workplace: Why Traditional Systems Fall Short
I was diagnosed at eight years old. My family had the resources to pursue private evaluations and even move school districts so I could access learning supports all the way through college.
That level of support is rare. But even with it, the transition from school to work felt like going from a structured highway to an unmarked field.
In school and university, systems were clear:
Classes started and ended at specific times.
Assignments had due dates and rubrics.
Disability support offices existed to coordinate accommodations.
In the workplace, those systems are largely gone. Employees are expected to:
Manage open-ended priorities.
Interpret ambiguous expectations.
Self-advocate without a formal structure or clear process.
For neurodivergent professionals, the challenge is rarely “Can I do the work?” It’s “Can I do this work in this environment, with this level of structure, communication, and support?”
When companies don’t recognize this mismatch, neurodivergent employees are often mislabeled as:
Disorganized
Inconsistent
“Not detail-oriented”
Resistant to feedback
In reality, many are overcompensating—working late, masking their struggles, and burning out in the process.
When Work Is Hard, Not Just Challenging
There’s an important distinction I make with clients and companies:
Work should be challenging, not hard.
Challenging means you’re stretched, growing, using your strengths.
Hard means you’re constantly fighting the environment just to get to baseline.
In my early career, I knew how to be a “professional student.” I knew how to advocate in academic settings. But in my first job, when I disclosed my dyslexia and ADHD, my manager didn’t know what to do with that information—and even saw it as a liability.
I didn’t have language for what I needed. I didn’t know how to say:
“I’ll produce my best work if I have clear written priorities.”
“I may need editing support on final deliverables, not because I don’t understand the content, but because written accuracy is a known challenge.”
“Short, regular check-ins help me stay aligned and avoid last-minute surprises.”
Without that structure, I spent years in roles where I was capable of far more than my environment allowed me to show. This is an incredibly common experience for neurodivergent professionals.
Why Lived Experience Matters in Neurodiversity Training
Cape-Able Consulting didn’t appear overnight. I’d been thinking about this work since I was 16, when a tutor reduced my potential to test scores and paperwork.
Lived experience matters because it changes how we design training and coaching:
We don’t treat neurodiversity as a theoretical topic; we treat it as a daily reality.
We understand the emotional weight of stigma and the effort of masking.
We know that strengths like creativity, strategic thinking, leadership, and empathy often coexist with executive functioning challenges.
When employees hear their experiences reflected—accurately and without judgment—they’re more likely to engage, self-advocate, and participate in solutions. When leaders hear practical language for what they’re seeing on their teams, they’re more likely to respond with curiosity instead of frustration.
That’s the bridge.
Bridging the Gap Between Employees and Employers
A producer on our podcast once described my role this way:
“So… you’re a translator.”
Exactly. My work is about bridging the gap between neurodivergent employees and the companies that genuinely want to support them but don’t yet know how.
From an organizational perspective, challenges often show up like this:
Work is submitted late or at the last minute.
Follow-through is inconsistent.
A talented employee gets stuck on “simple” administrative tasks.
Communication breaks down under stress.
From a neurodivergent employee’s perspective, the same situation might feel like:
“I don’t know how to prioritize this list of tasks.”
“I’m afraid to ask clarifying questions because I don’t want to seem incompetent.”
“This system is overwhelming, but I don’t know how to explain why.”
Neither side is wrong. But without translation—without shared language and frameworks—both sides lose.
5 Practical Ways to Start Supporting Neurodivergent Employees
To make this actionable, here are five concrete steps organizations can take now to better support neurodivergent employees.
1. Build Structure Around Prioritization
Many neurodivergent professionals don’t struggle with the work itself—they struggle with deciding what should happen first.
Managers can:
Give a clear, ordered list of priorities (e.g., “If nothing else gets done, focus on #1 and #2.”).
Clarify deadlines: what is truly urgent vs. what is flexible.
Use short, regular check-ins to re-align priorities as things change.
2. Normalize Collaborative Communication
Instead of waiting for employees to “confess” they’re stuck, build communication routines into your workflows. Encourage questions such as:
“Here’s what I understand about this task…”
“Here’s where I’m unclear…”
“Here’s what I think needs to happen first—does that align with your expectations?”
This shifts the conversation from “I’m failing” to “We’re problem-solving together.”
3. Design Roles Around Strengths
Neurodivergent employees often excel in:
Big-picture thinking and strategy
Creative problem-solving
Pattern recognition
Relationship-building and empathy
Map roles and responsibilities so that:
Strengths are core to the job, not an afterthought.
Known challenge areas (e.g., detailed data entry, heavy administrative work) are shared, automated, or supported with tools.
4. Use Tools as Cognitive Accessibility Supports
Think of tools as “ramps” for the brain: they don’t lower standards—they create access.
Examples include:
AI assistants or note-taking tools to summarize meetings.
Shared task boards (e.g., project management platforms) for clarity and visibility.
Text-to-speech or speech-to-text tools.
Editing tools like Grammarly for written communication.
When implemented intentionally, these supports increase productivity and reduce cognitive load for everyone, not just neurodivergent employees.
5. Train Managers With Intention
Your managers are the daily experience of your company. If they don’t understand neurodiversity training for managers, even the best policies won’t translate into practice.
Effective training should give managers:
A basic understanding of neurodiversity and executive functioning.
Practical, non-clinical language to use in conversations.
Frameworks for adjusting communication, feedback, and workflows.
Confidence in navigating accommodations in partnership with HR, not in isolation.
What This Looks Like in Practice
At Cape-Able Consulting, we see consistent patterns when organizations start doing this work intentionally:
Employees report feeling “seen” for the first time—not just as performers, but as whole people.
Managers gain tools, not just awareness, and feel less frustrated by “mystery” performance issues.
Teams become more transparent about what they need to do their best work—whether they identify as neurodivergent or not.
Turnover decreases, especially among high-potential employees who previously felt they had to leave to find a better fit.
These changes aren’t cosmetic. They are structural, cultural, and strategic.
Measuring the Impact of a Neurodiverse Workplace
If you’re investing in supporting neurodivergent employees, you should be able to measure the impact. Consider tracking:
Retention of employees who disclose ADHD, learning disabilities, or other neurodivergent traits.
Engagement scores broken down by role or team, especially where high cognitive load is expected.
Manager confidence in supporting diverse thinking styles (pre- and post-training).
Qualitative feedback from listening sessions or coaching engagements.
Over time, patterns will emerge: fewer crises, smoother communication, more consistent performance, and more employees stepping into roles that align with their strengths.
That’s not just inclusion. That’s operational excellence.
Moving From Awareness to Action
If there’s one message I want neurodivergent professionals and employers to hear, it’s this:
You are not the problem. The system is.
And systems can be redesigned.
Supporting neurodivergent employees is not about lowering the bar. It’s about designing work in a way that allows more people to meet—and exceed—it. It’s about replacing stigma with strategy, and assumption with conversation.
At Cape-Able Consulting, we help:
Neurodivergent professionals build individualized strategies, language, and tools to navigate their careers.
Companies and teams create environments where cognitive diversity is recognized as a business advantage, not a risk.
If you’re a neurodivergent professional seeking individualized support, or a company ready to build an inclusive and high-performing workforce, reach out to us here.
