WIREDGOV

Blog posted by: Abigail Agyei, 29 March 2022 – Categories: A Modern Civil Service, A Skilled Civil Service, An Ambitious Civil Service, An Innovative Civil Service, Uncategorized.

Abigail Agyei, a civil servant in the Department of Health and Social Care, shares her experiences with ADHD and dyspraxia, and explains how we can all support colleagues with neuro-differences.

Last week (21 to 27 March) was Neurodiversity Celebration Week: a worldwide initiative that challenges the stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences and creates a balanced view which focuses equally on people’s talents and strengths.

The term ‘neurodiversity’ was coined in the late 1990s to describe brain differences in areas such as attention, learning and sociability - which are normal, rather than weaknesses. Neurodiversity commonly refers to people with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other learning disabilities. Current estimates suggest that around one in seven of us in the UK is neurodivergent.

Neuro-differences can often be stigmatised, invisible, or masked. When we look at how neurodiversity interacts with social, cultural and political identities, then we find there can be even more significant obstacles to success.

Click here for the full blog post