Why We Need More Training with Neurodiversity

Hmm, come on, you can do it. Ah, there we go. Good morning everyone, this is Danielle and Jessica with Indie Out Loud today. So, uh, Miss Vida is off Dealing with disasters and all of that kind of thing. Hey, we all have disasters today, so that just—

it is what it is.

So today we're talking about training to understand neurodiversity and why it's so important to get the training that you need for neurodiversity. And I say need, and I say need on purpose, because everyone needs training. There, I don't remember the stat. I'm hoping Jessica, because she's the numbers and stats person, will remember how many new people are being diagnosed with ADHD and autism right now.

Oh, it's, it's, it seems crazy, but it's not. It's not that it's overdiagnosed. It's just we're more aware of it now and understanding, and it's an awakening. That's what I would call it.

Um, yeah.

It really is.

And it's a lot of parents going, oh, this, this is why, this is why I've always struggled, as they're looking at their kids going, okay, this is not right. I don't want them to struggle like I did.

Yeah, I went through the same thing with my kids. I started learning about it when I was going through— I originally was going to be a dual education special ed teacher. And started learning about the different disabilities. And they came up with autism. First time I ever heard of it. I think it was like 2003, 2002, somewhere in there. My kid was pretty young. And I'm just going, this is my kid. This is my kid. Not thinking this is me at all. Of course, couldn't be me.

I mean, I knew I was ADHD. But I didn't realize I was autistic too, and worse than my son, until I went and was going through— and it took me years to get him diagnosed. I got diagnosed before he did, going through all of that process. But the reason why we want to talk about training behind this is it is so prevalent. And neurodiversity covers— it's a really big umbrella of things. It could be learning disabilities. It could be other mental health issues like bipolar disorder. And schizophrenia and, and, and, and, but it also covers a lot of autoimmune disorders. It covers ADHD. It covers autism. It also covers epilepsy.

Yes.

So why is training so important? Especially let's handle workplace training. Why is that training so essential and so So lacking. I am appalled and mortified at how lacking it is in corporate world.

I think half of it is, it's almost a fear. What I'm finding, you know, between my research and the survey I've done to try to make more awareness of this and help the training come out and be more beneficial, is they're scared. Like, it's because it's, oh, then we're going to be told we're not taking care of these disabilities. And oh, then we're going to be sued. And And it's like, okay, so you're letting that fear take over versus helping the majority of your workplace. Because, you know, in my research, it shows 73% of the average working US adult has some kind of invisible disability, which covers—

73% people.

Yeah, 73%. And yes, I want invisible disabilities, which means anything, you know, Partial blindness, you know, partial hearing, anything that you cannot physically, physically see in a person. Diabetes is covered under that, gastrointestinal issues, all your nervous— so all your neurodiversity. It's, it's a lot of things. And it's, we don't know what we don't know. And because we can hide those things and mask them, and And just try to get along and go from job to job to job because there isn't that psychological safety, because the training isn't there for the managers to understand and be open and see that, hey, there's something more underlying that a person's not feeling safe to talk about and trying to learn and get along and grow in your company. But it's just a mishmash of— Bleh.

And one of the big things that we hear often is, well, if I have to do it for one person, I'll have to do it with it for everyone. Well, damn right you would.

And what's wrong with doing it for everyone, not just people with a disability? What's beneficial for those with disabilities is beneficial for everyone. If you put in a ramp, if you've got to carry boxes, our ramp's gonna help to carry boxes because going up a ramp is a lot easier than going upstairs. I mean, there's It's, it's, ah, it's like, why?

90%, 90, well, I want to say even 95% of accommodations that were, that people on the neurodiverse, uh, hidden disability spectrum need are going to help every single person be more efficient, uh, be more loyal to their job because they'll be less frustrated with things. Uh, be more likely to actually do their job 100%.

Yeah, when you feel supported and valued, you work harder. And it is actually shown in research, like, especially people that are neurodiverse or have an invisible disability, if even if they still don't have to disclose, if they are feeling valued, they are actually more apt to work harder than person without a disability. There is— I can't off the top of my head pull the research out. But I do have it somewhere if someone does request it. Like there, there is research done on that, like a person, it's because you go through your life feeling so invaluable and, and just doubted and all these things internalize things, even our RSD and everything else going on. So when you do get that Hey, here's some help. Hey, you're doing a great job. Hey, here, here's a raise. Like, I see that you're working so hard. Like, just, just those little things. It's just like brightness goes off and you're just— it makes you feel value to your life. And then you're like, oh, if I keep doing this, it's gonna go better. And we want that. And we want to be good. And we want to work hard. And we just need a little help in some ways.

And one of the biggest problems in the workforce, and they've been complaining about it since COVID is people don't care. They're silent quitting. They're doing XYZ. It's because they don't— they aren't seen, they aren't heard, and they aren't supported.

Mm-hmm.

Because if somebody goes to HR and says, I'm struggling with a manager because they're not giving me notes after a meeting, Don't fire that person. The manager needs some training.

Or find out why, why is it so hard to give notes?

Like, what is the issue here? There's so much AI options out here now that it's free to give somebody the freaking notes. But I mean, that one, I hear that one often. I had a client a month ago, I don't know, who's like, I got pulled into the office and reprimanded and had to sign a training because I was asking for too many things during a meeting. She was asking for clarification. She was asking for an agenda, and she was asking for notes following the meeting.

Those should be standardized business practices for everyone. If you want your team to have that clear communication and be able to follow through and be accountable, you need to have an agenda. What's this meeting about? Okay, we go— we went through it. Here's our meeting minutes. Now here's our follow-up later. Boss can come. All right, you were assigned the— here's the notes, here's the agenda, here's the notes.

There's more follow-up, there's more accountability. Your team will be more efficient. They'll get things done faster. There'll be less questions. I mean, there's so many reasons why that is a better thing. But as a career development person, as people who has trained corporate teams, I will tell you, any manager who says no to any one of those things, to me is a red flag as a terrible manager, terrible leader, and a terrible human. And yes, I'm going there because if a manager won't provide those things to anyone on the team, if one person is asking for it, everybody needs it. End of story. Period. And if a manager won't do that, here's what that tells me. One, they're ineffective. Two, they're the ones causing the most problems on your team. 3, they're lying somewhere and costing your company money. And 4, they're a terrible human being, and why would you want them as a major person on your team leading people?

Yeah, if a manager doesn't want notes taken about them, about what they've said, they're hiding something. Like, that means they do not want to be held accountable. Like, that's what it tells me right there. If my boss says— if I come in and be like, hey, can I record this meeting? No, I don't want my voice recorded. It's like, all right, what do you not want someone to know you're gonna about to say? Like, there should never be anything said in a business— I mean, unless it's proprietary information, stuff like that. Yes, that's understandable. But then there's disclosure agreements that it doesn't go outside the business, and, and you've already signed those as a worker.

But the other, the other part of the training. So one, hire good managers. Stop hiring your least effective person on your team and promoting them to a manager because you're hoping that they'll magically become amazing there. The Dilbert principle. Oh my gosh, that Dilbert principle comes up in the neurodiversity world so much. And I can't believe I refer back to those books from what, 1990-something?

Oh, because they're great.

As often as I do. But it's hire somebody to come in and make sure your managers are well trained and to look to see where your gaps are in your company. And that's what Jessica does with her software. She can optimize. You can optimize how your team works. Why? I don't understand business owners who don't want more efficient, better supported employees so they get more work out of them.

Yeah, right now businesses don't really know their, their full disability numbers because of the ability to be hidden, because of the invisible, and because of the fear of disclosing that's because of no psychological safety, because businesses don't know what they don't know. So if you have that ability to put the survey out that is totally anonymous, so you're still not going to know who's what, where, but you'll know more.

Everyone in your company. Yeah, because, okay, so top 3 reasons why you should test everyone in your company with software like Why. Um, one, you want to know how much better your company is going to get when you know how to support the brains on your team. And I don't care whether they're neurodiverse brains or high achieving, which 90% of high— 98% of high achieving brains are also neurodiverse. Um, but are they high achieving? Are they working, not working to potential? Do you need to increase your productivity? This software will increase your productivity again for everyone there if you actually listen and follow it once you get the report. That is the next part of that.

Yes.

But support your team. Do you have a mom on your team who has— who is a single mom who has 5 kids at home, who is— her brain is always on the things that she can't do or that she feels guilty for or whatever? You want to know how much of your brain— her brain you're getting at work? Oh, if she could just come in a half hour later every day. Yep. Or if she could just work on Saturdays instead of working at certain times during the day and she shrinks her time, you wanna know how much more effective you just made her?

Or if she could flex her schedule and some days she comes in and some days she can work from home. 'Cause number one, that will reduce her need for childcare and stuff. Because believe us, moms can work even with our kids around. That don't, don't discount that or whatever. And most of the time, you know, they have school-age kids, so it's easier for them to get them off to the bus and they can literally, instead of that commute and all that figuring out, they can get them off to the bus, get to work, and bam, bam, bam, get it all out before kids even get home.

And this antiquated old white man reason for having to work in an office Has been disproven so many times. Don't even get me started. Now, I'm somebody who's been really blessed. I've actually worked from home even in corporate IT because I was in IT. I knew how to set up systems to work from home, and I've been working from home for 25 years. And yes, that's, that's been possible. And you want to know what? I built a $12.5 million a month company doing that.

I, I've— I had been fighting for that since Like 2010, I showed them that I could work from home just fine because I would get sick a lot and I'd take my work computer home and they're like, how, how are you getting into our system from home? I'm like, it's not that hard.

This is not— and now I will tell you, it's even easier to do than it was previously. Like way, way easier to do now than it was in 1997. Oh my gosh. But remote work— not everybody is made for remote work. I'm going to tell you, there are some personalities that aren't great. But you want to know what? That wide survey is going to help you figure that out. And 2, remote work, you relieve so much stress from people. And maybe you want people in the office one day a week so that you do have that community feel and you do connect face-to-face. Great. One day a week. Is not a reason to be there 5 days a week.

No. Or 1 day a month. I'm very much avoidant of workspace.

Some of us thrive working from home. Not everybody does, but they— and they need structure. Uh, your business should have structure and processes and all of that in place, and they should carry over to remote work. And if they aren't, then you need to hire somebody to come in and do that because your So inefficient. If the difference between somebody being in the office and remote work causes issues in your business, oh, that's— I mean, unless you're manufacturing or have to— or a doctor have to physically be on site, there are, there are positions that, sorry, remote work just does not work for. But if office people, if somebody works in an office, remote work always works.

Yes.

Yeah.

If you, if you're just doing reports or emails, you could sit on a beach and do that work. I mean, it's—

And you should encourage your people to do that because you're going to have much more efficient, productive people when they feel supported, seen, and heard.

Yes, definitely.

Now, if you are neurodivergent, get learned. And I say that that way for a reason. Get learned. Learned your brain.

Yes.

And, and it's a constant thing. And it is— you're rarely your best person to teach yourself. Connect with a community. Um, don't go to Facebook communities. Oh my gosh, I saw in one ADHD Facebook community this morning, I saw 27 wrong things. Like huge— not like personal opinion, like somebody saying, oh well. And this was a therapist posting, and I was like, oh my gosh, Facebook groups are just trash. Don't go there. Um, Reddit also can be the Wild West, just putting that out there. Uh, but find a dedicated community group and build a community of people that you can trust. Get trained, hire a coach, and even a just for a short period of time to learn how your brain works. You need to know how your brain works, how to optimize your own brain, and how to overcome overwhelm.

And check with your companies. A lot of companies actually provide mentor coaching. They may not be specifically in ADHD or neurodiversity, but they will still have some knowledge and at least help you pull information out of yourself. They are still trained to do that, get to get you to talk, To get you to try to understand you and how you function. And they may learn alongside you, which is great. You know, you may be teaching them. I'm teaching mine at my business right now. She's not necessarily trained in ADHD, autism, but she's learning a lot. And she still knows the questions to ask, to pull out, and to get me to think about how I'm doing my work and where I want to go with my work. And it is beautiful.

And that's something that we do here at NDL Loud. Companies can bring us in as part of your resources, as coaches. We take FSA and HSA so that somebody— we can either come in and train all of your managers so your managers can get trained. We can come in and support your managers. I just had a client hire me last week who manages a team of 80, and she thinks quite a few of them are neurodiverse. So she on her own went out and found me and hired me to work with her. I'm only working with her like once a month and through chat so she can ask questions. As she has questions.

Yeah. And it's great. Yeah. And it's great to go to different things. I mean, not— don't just stop with whatever your work may offer you. Find people. Come to NDE Out Loud. We have a great, wonderful community. Uh, Vida's there. Danielle's there. I'm there. We're like there all the time. Yeah. Yeah. We don't go nowhere. Um, and we'd love to help. It's that, that's, you know, we're learning too. We're still learning about us. And sometimes we learn about ourselves through helping others too.

And oh my gosh, I learned something last week that I didn't know from one of my clients that just started with me. I was like, oh my gosh, that's mind blown. And but that's, that's why a community is so important. Are you a company that wants to learn about neurodiversity and how to support it in your workplace? We have one, we have the Wired software. 2, we have trainers who can come in and train. 3, we have coaches who can work with your employees to make them better employees. And again, all of these things, like there's so many levels to learn these things. If you are neurodivergent, learn how your brain works. Learn what your energy levels are. Learn to recognize your patterns. Learn to decrease your overwhelm because when you learn to do that, you become better at your job. Um, support yourself, learn all of the things. It is so important. And we do that here for like as low as $19.99 a month.

Yeah, and it is important to keep— I mean, I just got reminded this last week, got hit down with a really bad cold, had to call out work and then come back here on Monday and emails after emails. And I had to remind myself, you don't have to do it all at once. You're still a little sick. Slow down. And, and it's self-advocating. It's just letting, you know, letting my boss know, be like, hey, I'm here, I'm still under the weather, a little slow. And he's like, just take your time. And, and that's what a good boss does. It's not— they're not going to push you, push you, push you. It's, hey, if you still need to rest, go back out on some time out, do what you can. Like, that's what your boss should be telling you is like, how is this working for you? What's your pace? It's not everyone works at the same pace. It's what's— what works for you? What's your pace? Because then when you have that safety and know it, your pace could end up being faster than you really realize. I know I do half the time. And sometimes it's slower. It all evens out. So yeah, it's learning yourself, self-advocating, understanding. Yeah, never stop learning. That's what I say.

Never stop learning. I think that's it. I think that's it. Never stop learning and never stop— no, start supporting your teams as a company. I don't care if you're a tiny business or have 50,000 employees, never stop supporting your team and finding new ways to support them. The more you do to support your team, the better work product you get from them.

Yep.

It's, I mean, it's a very, very, very simple equation here. If you have questions, if you need support, if you are corporate level and have 50,000 employees, if you have 5,000 employees, if you have 5 employees, we can help you. And DOutLoud, we have so many ways to help you, and we want to because we want those in our community, the neurodiverse community, to live better lives. If you have questions, always ask. We're happy to answer them. Have an amazing day, everyone.

Have a good one.