Neurodiversity Week Write up: Story#3

This story was created using the Circleback AI tool to sumarise a discussion between Trevor and Tony. Tony has extrapolated Trevor’s story, using this and the transcript to create a more compelling narrative that hopefully explains the life, frustrations, and celebrations of a neurodiverse individual like Trevor.

Overview

• Trevor shared his personal experiences living with ADHD, especially with a late diagnosis in adult life.
• Trevor emphasized how executive dysfunction impacts daily tasks, with his struggles with remote working and the lack of human interaction.
• Pattern recognition emerged as a significant strength, particularly in understanding human behavior and project planning
• Critical recommendation: HR needs to properly share occupational health reports with new managers to ensure continuity of support
• During the conversation we identified three key workplace needs: local HR specialists, better access to work support, and manager training on neurodiversity

Living with undiagnosed neurodiversity

Trevor had a late diagnosis of his ADHD, with his symptoms not being diagnosed until late adulthood. During the Pandemic and the subsequent requirement to work from home the symptoms of ADHD became more apparent. The isolation and lack of human interaction led to him feeling that he was having a mental breakdown.

‘Being stuck in front of a PC for the whole day on my own, my wife would leave at 08:00 in the morning and not come home till 06:00 at night. I didn’t leave the PC. And I would go into hyperfocus and would then be doing completely pointless stuff and that was, really, really is difficult for me. Doing pointless stuff really, really does frustrate me. I was actually crying at an end of one call because I was dealing with people all over Europe, and I’ve done that all my whole life. And I’ve been able to deal with people with not very good English, but I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I came off a meeting not understanding a single thing that happened in that meeting and just sat at the top of the stairs and cried. And it was that that triggered going into depression and going and see a psychiatrist.’

Prior to his diagnosis, he viewed the exhibited traits as personality characteristics rather than neurodiversity. He was even told by colleagues in a previous workplace that he was being mistaken for using cocaine due to his high energy levels.

Impact of remote work on ADHD

During the pandemic, Trevor struggled severely with fully remote work, prior to Covid, he’d always worked from the office and been around and with people. People who had known him and accepted his ‘eccentricities’. But during Covid he experienced serious depression. He found the isolation particularly challenging with no office interaction and often worked without breaks or medication when hyper focused on a task or project. Covid was not a good time for him, and even post covid, working from home remains challenging. Thankfully the medication and awareness has improved his balance.

Executive dysfunction and daily challenges

Part of the issue around Executive dysfunction is that making decisions remains challenging. Some parts of life become too difficult to undertake or complete. For example, Trevor mentioned that he has temporary window blinds in his office and that they remain uninstalled as there is always other things to do.

Part of the problem with executive dysfunction is that it can come with a cost, referred to as the “ADHD tax”, these are the financial impacts of executive dysfunction:  Trevor had a recent example where he ended up with a £6,000 tax issue due to administrative challenges that he found difficult to overcome because of his ADHD. Another example is in simple administrative functions such as filing expense reports despite financial incentive to complete them. This isn’t about attention to the details or lack of focus, as these are not common attributes of ADHD, but more the focus needed to get one with such administrative tasks.

Pattern recognition abilities and reframing differences

There was a discussion around the common statement that neurodiversity was a ‘superpower’ , while this was rejected, it was agreed that for many with ADHD and Autism they identified exceptional pattern recognition in their behavior. Trevor emphasized his own ability to handle last-minute presentations effectively, recognize situations and relevant points that others might miss and adapt quickly to unexpected changes. In fact his prevarication does at some times lead to exceptional abilities to get jobs done quickly and well, particularly when under pressure.

Workplace accommodations and support needs

The question was asked, as to what accommodations and support would help him perform better in the workplace and for others with similar needs. Trevor recommended regular checkpoints for projects. Twice-weekly check-ins preferred over monthly deadlines, as these prevent the prevarication that can occur. He also identified a need for structured accountability, ensuring that the relevant person or group understood what was needed of them and of him. He emphasized the importance of understanding different work styles and how those differences can enhance productivity. He qualified this by asking that managers and colleagues mustn’t pigeon-hole someone with a neurodiversity and equally don’t expect them to operate in the same way as other colleagues. Be flexible and the work will get done, probably to a standard that is better than if forced into a regular working pattern. Trevor recommended a need for better support with access to work equipment procurement, his current experience with trying to procure software to aid in his work, being an example of a failure in our own processes, despite have the approval of management.

HR processes for neurodiverse employees

Finally we discussed the ways HR can provide additional support for neurodiverse employes and Trevor specifically identified issues with centralized HR structure including delays in processing access to work payments for over 4 months. Difficulties in coordinating between international teams. The use of Occupational Health reports and their implementation failure including, manager training on neurodiversity and providing better support systems for neurodiverse employees and the need for specialized HR support for neurodiversity.

 

Tony Fagelman, Program Director T&T, Xerox UK.

Trever Joseph, DocuShare Senior Solutions Architect at Xerox EMEA

 

https://www.neurodiversityweek.com/

Neurodiversity Week 17 – 23 March 2025

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