IWD: What you can do to help neurodivergent women thrive

Rachel Morgan-Trimmer

To celebrate International Women's Day on 8th March we're sharing stories of strong, successful, human women - who like all of us, have something to say.

Rachel Morgan-Trimmer is a Manchester-based, world-class neurodiversity consultant, TEDx speaker, author and founder of Firebird.

Diagnosed later in life with autism at the age of 46, then subsequently with ADHD three years later, Rachel has experienced firsthand the challenges - and most importantly - the joys of navigating life on the spectrum.

I picked up my bag, grabbed my jacket, and headed for the door of the office.

A male colleague looked up. “Off home already are we?” he asked snidely.

“Yes,” I replied. “I’ve finished my work, so I’m going home. It’s 5:30.”

He looked unconvinced. But I didn’t see why I should stay any later if I wasn’t getting paid any more.

Rachel Morgan-Trimmer

This sort of scenario is familiar to so many neurodivergent women. We’re expected to fit into a culture where the rules aren’t written and don’t make sense. We finish our work early because we work fast, and yet are shamed for it. Often, the reward for working well is to be given more work, yet no more responsibility and no more money.

Neurodivergent employees of all genders are affected by the challenges of the modern workplace not meeting our needs, but neurodivergent women tend to be more disadvantaged.

As well as the issues affecting all women, such as the gender pay gap and being overlooked for promotion, neurodivergent women also tend to have people-pleasing tendencies and avoid confrontation. This means other people’s needs continually get put ahead of their own.

So what can we do about it? 

How can we empower neurodivergent women, in the workplace and beyond?

Neurodivergent women are frequently seen as less capable than their peers. Sometimes called “hysterical” as a result of our emotional dysregulation, or considered less intelligent or even valuable than others.

Like anyone else, we are a huge spectrum of people with different talents, skills and qualities, some of which are obvious, some which are less so.

For example, we might easily be able to see if someone is a good technician, or a fast writer. It’s less easy to see if someone has a skill of connecting people or being open- minded. And it’s these “soft skills” which neurodivergent women often possess, yet which are undervalued.

There are a number of ways of addressing the invisibility of talented neurodivergent women.

One is to implement a neurodiverse-inclusive recruitment process

We know that what works well for neurodivergent people works well for everyone. In addition, actively recruiting with neurodiversity in mind also reduces other hiring biases, so it’s a great opportunity to address any gender imbalances that might exist.

We can also promote and uplift neurodivergent women by focusing on what they bring instead of what they lack.

For example, management roles are often focused on managing people, which might not suit an autistic woman. Instead, enabling people to climb a career tree rather than a career ladder means they can move upwards without taking on management responsibilities that don’t suit them.

The narrative around neurodiversity still focuses on “managing challenges”

That’s great as far as it goes, and neurodivergent women do need to have their challenges understood, as well as managed, to feel safe and supported in the workplace. But what if we were to go beyond that? What if we looked at empowering neurodivergent women so they could thrive at work?

Giving them challenging but exciting tasks, offering projects where they could make a real impact. This is how we work towards gender parity, not just by managing challenges but by giving opportunities.

And what about outside the workplace?

There are many networking events, conferences, social events and other fun activities that are not accessible to neurodivergent women - especially in male-dominated spaces.

Having women-focused events to address the gender imbalance is something that is already happening, but what if these events were open to neurodivergent women too? Perhaps with structured networking, quiet rooms or video walkthroughs of the spaces – so everyone could come and access the opportunities that such events provide?

There are many ways we can make the world better for neurodivergent women. So that when neurodivergent girls leave school, they can enter a world where people take them seriously, value them and make an effort to understand them. In short, a world where they are welcome.

Rachel has worked with many businesses and organisations in Manchester and the surrounding areas to support workplaces in becoming more inclusive and accessible.

Her company Firebird is an online consultancy platform that helps companies and organsations become more inclusive to people with disabilities and neurodivergence. She has worked with the likes of BBC, NHS and MoneySupermarket.