Last week, I attended Mark Ainsworth’s fascinating talk on Neurodiversity. Entitled “understanding your exceptional autistic and ADHD colleagues”, I found the session hugely informative, not only explaining ADHD and Autism, but also other specific learning disorders such as dyspraxia and dyslexia.
In particular, I valued how Mark challenged society’s views of neurodiversity and how, by changing our understanding and providing a more enabling environment, we can move on from a focus on “disability” to instead look at harnessing the strengths that may be associated with neurodivergent conditions. For example, whilst our autistic colleagues may tend to struggle with ambiguity and might have a “black and white” view of the world, the related strength might be a fierce sense of justice and promoter of rules. Where our SLA members with ADHD described struggling with routine or boring work, they also recognised their amazing creativity and problem solving ability.
With empathy and consideration, we can reframe our beliefs about these conditions. This powerful conclusion from Mark really made me think about people in my life – family and colleagues – who display neurodivergent behaviours. It made me consider various events from a new angle and certainly made me think about how sharing this presentation could be massively useful for companies and individuals alike.
A hugely valuable and enjoyable hour – thanks again Mark for a such an eloquent and thought provoking presentation!
A huge thank you to Kerry Smith, one of our committee members who has worked in many retailers, including most recently as Location / Portfolio strategy professional at the The Coop. She is currently on a career break after having her little girl and is considering new opportunities in the near future. She chairs our Membership and Engagement group.
This is the first of what we hope will be a regular feature on our website; reviews of our events from our committee members and also any other SLA members who would like to contribute in this way.
If you would like to write about any of our upcoming events please email info@thesla.org.