Here you’ll find answers to the questions we hear most often about neurodiversity at work: from definitions and figures to what neuro-inclusion delivers in practice and how our workshops and guidance work. Each answer stands on its own and refers to more in-depth articles where useful. Is your question not listed? Let us know.
What is neurodiversity?
Neurodiversity describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one “right” way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences are not viewed as deficits (Harvard Health).
It is a property of a group, just as biodiversity is a property of an ecosystem. Individual people are neurotypical or neurodivergent; a team or organisation is neurodiverse.
What does neurodivergent mean?
Neurodivergent is the term for a person whose functioning diverges from what is considered typical.
In scientific usage, it mainly refers to neurodevelopmental profiles: autism, ADHD and dyslexia are widely recognised as neurodivergent. Giftedness and high sensitivity are sometimes included as well, although there is no consensus on this.
The term was nevertheless deliberately intended to be broad. Kassiane Asasumasu, who coined it in 2000, describes neurodivergent people as people “whose neurocognitive functioning diverges from dominant societal norms in multiple ways”: not a selection criterion, but an inclusive term.
It is about different needs, working styles and qualities, although that does not mean there are no challenges or support needs. Many neurodivergent people also have what is known as a spiky profile: exceptional strengths in some skills, alongside challenges in others.
How many people are neurodivergent?
An estimated one in five people is neurodivergent. How high that figure actually is depends on which profiles you count and whether you only count diagnoses: many neurodivergent people have no formal diagnosis. So neurodiversity is already present in your team, even if nobody talks about it openly, and a diagnosis is not a requirement to work on it.
What is neuro-inclusion?
Neuro-inclusion means setting up work environments in which different ways of thinking and working come into their own. It goes beyond tolerance: you design the work, communication and environment so that everyone can perform, instead of every employee having to adapt.
There is no approach that works for everyone, no “one size fits all”: what helps one employee may not work for another. Neuro-inclusion therefore plays out at the different levels of the IGLOO framework: individual, group, leader, organisation and outside environment. Where possible, you design the environment universally, so that a better way of working benefits everyone; whatever is still needed after that, you solve with an individual adjustment.
Which strengths do neurodivergent employees often bring?
Many neurodivergent people excel at creative thinking, approaching problems from unexpected angles, recognising patterns and seeing the bigger picture, or strong visual thinking. Such a list is not a profile description: no neurodivergent employee has all of these traits, and strengths differ from person to person.
Where those strengths meet the right role and environment, they lead to innovation, better solutions to complex problems and sharper decisions. Read the examples in the strengths and added value of neurodivergent employees.
Is it true that much neurodivergent talent goes unused?
Unfortunately, yes. In the United Kingdom, only 29% of the people who reported autism as their main condition were in employment, according to the Office for National Statistics (2022). For autistic people with mild challenges at work, unemployment estimates run up to 80%.
An important cause lies not in the people, but in workplaces and recruitment processes built around a single norm. Read more in autism in the workplace: guide for managers.
Is neuro-inclusion only useful for people with a diagnosis?
No. Everyone thinks and works in their own way, with or without a diagnosis. Adjustments that take into account what people need to work well therefore benefit all employees.
What is collective intelligence and how does it relate to neurodiversity?
Collective intelligence is a team’s ability to solve complex problems together more effectively than the individual members could on their own. Research into high-performing teams (Woolley et al., among others) shows that this barely correlates with the individual IQ of team members, but with three crucial factors: equal participation in conversations, mutual understanding, and cognitive diversity.
That very diversity in thinking styles is already present in your teams: with one in five people being neurodivergent, some of your colleagues naturally think, process and communicate differently. Neuro-inclusion ensures those different perspectives are actually put to use: through deliberate team dynamics and clear working agreements, room is created to arrive together at solutions no one would have come up with alone. Our team workshops focus explicitly on laying those building blocks.
Isn’t neuro-inclusion just a well-meant perk?
That idea exists: pleasant for the employees, but it costs money and it yields nothing. Both assumptions are wrong.
Because “it yields nothing” ignores that comfort is a means, not an end: when the environment matches how people function, the noise that drains energy disappears and that energy is released for the work itself. It also paves the way for psychological safety: employees who do not have to hide have energy left to ask questions, name problems and put forward new ideas. That safety also depends on how managers and team members treat each other; together with comfort, it contributes to a resilient team, also under pressure.
And “it costs money” is only half the truth: doing nothing costs money too, and turnover, absenteeism, conflicts and missed insights never show up as a separate line item in the budget. In contrast, many adjustments cost little: clear agreements, predictable scheduling or a quiet workspace require attention rather than budget. Together, this makes neuro-inclusion an investment rather than a cost, with returns for the organisation. You can read what those returns are in the next question.
What does neuro-inclusion deliver in practice?
At the organisational level: better financial performance, more collective productivity, more sustainable employability, access to a broader talent pool and a stronger employer brand. Companies that deliberately employ people with a disability, including neurodivergent employees, achieved on average 28% more revenue and double the net profit, according to research by Accenture.
At the team level: fewer misunderstandings and friction, more creativity and better collaboration. In addition, EY reports retention of up to 92% for neurodivergent talent in programmes with a neuro-inclusive approach. Read more on why invest in neuro-inclusion.
Who are the workshops for?
For HR professionals, managers, policymakers and teams. No prior knowledge is required and the workshops are open to everyone.
What does a workshop look like?
Bjièn’s workshops are interactive and are delivered in English, Dutch or French, on site or online. The “Getting started” workshop, for example, lasts three hours and can accommodate up to 30 participants.
An experienced facilitator, who is neurodivergent themselves, combines evidence-based insights with practical, achievable strategies, in a lively and humorous way that makes heavier topics easier to discuss. You leave with concrete first steps for your team or organisation.
You choose between a tailored in-company session or an open workshop with individual registration.
Are workshops better when the facilitator is neurodivergent themselves?
Bjièn’s facilitators are neurodivergent themselves and we work according to the “Nothing About Us Without Us” principle. Lived experience makes the stories authentic and credible, and shows how theory works in practice.
In addition, we bring the necessary professional expertise: insights from recent scientific research, proven experience in leading teams, and trained knowledge of team coaching, psychological safety and communication. That combination of lived experience and professional expertise is exactly what sets our workshops apart.
Why don’t you offer disability simulations or empathy exercises?
Social psychological research shows that disability simulations and empathy exercises (“experiencing what it is like for a moment”) often backfire: participants experience acute frustration and afterwards rate the target group’s competence and independence lower (Silverman et al., 2015; Nario-Redmond et al., 2017). The cause lies in the mechanism that French (1992) described: a simulation only shows the very first moments, without coping strategies, tools or context, leading the participant to equate the condition with helplessness.
Translated to neurodiversity: a simulation of sensory overload only shows colleagues the acute stress and the shortcomings, without doing justice to someone’s talents, coping strategies or the right workplace adjustments. Bjièn therefore focuses on concrete work contexts and strengths, not on artificial helplessness. Our serious game offers exactly that alternative: in concrete work scenarios, players discover both the strengths and the challenges of the personas, and look for approaches that work for the whole team.
Do you also offer guidance or coaching?
Yes. Besides the workshops and advice, Bjièn offers a tailored guidance programme for a manager and a neurodivergent team member.
The programme lasts three months with individual sessions (twice a month) and one joint session per month, and covers themes such as workload, communication, team dynamics and reasonable accommodations.
How does Bjièn differ from other providers?
At Bjièn, neuro-inclusion is not a niche within a broader training or consultancy offering: it is our only discipline. We are also pioneers in Belgium in consultancy on neurodiversity and neuro-inclusion at work.
We guide organisations from first insight to embedded policy, with keynotes, workshops, advice and guidance in English, Dutch and French, for which we develop the materials ourselves, such as our serious game. That way, you work with one partner for all the languages of your organisation.
You can find all the reasons at a glance in Why work with us?.
What does a workshop or masterclass cost?
We work with a quote tailored to your context. Request a free quote or schedule a no-obligation introductory call.
How do we best get started as an organisation?
Do you want to get started on your own first? By all means. Download the free eBook as a first step, or browse our articles to go deeper.
And when you want to go further than insights, towards practice and embedding in your organisation, we are happy to help. Schedule a free introductory call: together we make sure that what you build keeps working.