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Thanks for reading!

Welcome to Building Confidence at Work: A self-help toolkit for neurodivergent individuals. My name is Claire, and I’m looking forward to guiding you through this journey of emotional understanding and growth. I am a late-diagnosed autistic woman and I’ve had the privilege of working with thousands of clients across the globe. Work is such a huge part of life for many of us, and it's an area where I've experienced very significant struggles in the past. Until I started working for myself, the longest I’d ever stayed in a job was two years, usually after experiencing a long period of confusion and mental and physical ill health. Before I discovered I was autistic, I had no idea why I struggled so much in jobs that I was highly qualified for. So many of my clients face similar issues, and on a wider scale, we know that unemployment and career instability is a part of many autistic people’s lives. 

We’ll be looking at a couple of core questions in this course. Why do neurodivergent people face common challenges in the workplace, and what can we do to create a working environment where our needs are met and we can work safely and effectively?

When we understand why we, and other neurodivergent people, face issues at work, we can move away from the point of thinking there’s something wrong with us towards acknowledging that workplace environments are often fundamentally not suited to neurodivergent minds. Like many of my clients, I spent years feeling that I was a failure for being unable to hold down some good jobs. When I realised, with hindsight, that there was very little I could have done to improve the situation, at that time, it meant I could stop blaming myself for ruining my career, as I’d always thought of it. 

When we understand that workplaces tend to be designed with a one-size-fits-all mentality, and that everyone’s ways of processing the world should be accommodated, we gain an insight into what makes workplaces more inclusive and accessible. And these changes don’t just affect us as individuals. By advocating for our needs, we can help to create lasting changes in workplace culture. 

Stating our needs, and advocating for any adjustments and accommodations that put us on an even playing field with our neurotypical colleagues, isn’t always easy, and this course guides you through the practical process of identifying what you need at work and how to communicate this to managers and HR.

My only solution was to set up a business, after I realised I simply couldn’t make it in a workplace environment. I don’t regret this, in fact it’s the best thing I ever did, but if I’d known I was autistic and that I could communicate my needs to my workplace and have a right to have those needs respected, I’d have had other options instead of the stark prospect of unemployment or working for myself. I also appreciate that I was in a position to draw on my talents and become self-employed, which simply isn’t an option for everyone.

Working for an organisation, in a way that allows you to demonstrate your strengths and fulfil your financial, emotional, self-care and creative needs is possible. You deserve to have the same opportunities as anyone else in the workplace, no matter what your career history has been like so far. Keep this in mind as we work through the following modules and remember, neurodivergent people often have skills and strengths that other people tend to lack. With the right support and awareness, you can have a wonderful working life and be a valuable asset to any company. 

Take a few moments to consider what you’d like to gain from this course and where you want to see yourself in a few weeks, before we move onto exploring some of the reasons neurodivergent people often find the workplace challenging to the extent that it negatively impacts our career choices. 

Throughout the course, you’ll find self-reflective questions and at the start of the course you’ll have access to a downloadable PDF where you can ask yourself what you want from the course and what you’re learning as you go through it. 

You’ll also find loads of resources which can help you with everything from identifying what accommodations might make your workplace more accessible, to asking for specific recommendations during the interview process. 

I hope you get a lot from the course. Working shouldn’t be as difficult as it is for many of us and with neurodivergent minds, that often thrive on learning and creativity, discovering what you need could mean that you finally have a working environment that allows you to thrive.