Q&A: Prof James Brown, founder of ADHDadultUK
We sit down with Professor James Brown, who has ADHD and is the founder of ADHDadultUK, to cut through the myths about people with neurodiversity and find out how employers can unlock their potential.
What do you think when you hear people say ‘We’re all a bit ADHD’ or ‘We’re all on the spectrum’?
I like to assume it’s coming from a place of empathy, but these statements are not true. The traits of ADHD exist throughout all of society. Everybody makes careless mistakes at times. Everybody makes an impulsive decision at times. Everybody is forgetful at times. The difference is the severity and the impact. Everybody occasionally does some of the things that are ADHD traits, but people with ADHD do them a lot – and it has a negative impact on their life.
What strengths can be associated with ADHD?
This is a really interesting but controversial area. The word ‘neurodiversity’ is often just applied to people who are neurodivergent, but actually the whole of society is neurodiverse – there’s no such thing as a typical brain. We’ve all got different traits, behaviours, abilities and impairments.
One of the reasons that ADHD is often branded as a superpower or strength is because it’s really damaging to a child to say: ‘You’ve got a disorder.’ Language has power. But we all have different lived experiences. If you are in an environment where you’re supported, you’re allowed to thrive, you’ve got a job that you find rewarding, ADHD will feel like a strength and a superpower. If you’re in a job you don’t find rewarding and you’re struggling to engage with work every day, then it will feel like a disability. So, it is both and neither.
If you look at the scientific evidence, the strengths of ADHD are spread through the ADHD community just as equally as they are through the non-ADHD community. There is some evidence that some of us are more creative thinkers and more entrepreneurial. But there’s no evidence of a universal strength. It really is about the situation that somebody is in.
Are there benefits to having neurodivergent workers?
Yes, absolutely – as long as they’re supported. An organisational psychologist called Adam Grant [author of 2013’s Give and Take] did some work on the three different types of worker: givers, takers and matchers. Givers are workers who take on extra tasks. They say yes, they cover other people, they help other people. That’s about 25% of the workforce. Takers are the opposite. They say no, they absolutely work to rule, they don’t help colleagues. Again, that’s 25% of the workforce. And the rest of the workforce are matchers – they do a bit of both. Now, we know that givers are both the most and least productive and successful. We recently did a poll of just over 1000 people with ADHD, and 70% identified as givers. Because people with ADHD often have issues with rejection, impostor syndrome and low self-esteem, they do say yes – they people-please. What Grant’s work shows is that the way to take givers from being the least to the most productive and successful, is to empower them to ask questions and protect them from burnout.
If you support people like that, they become the most productive and successful people in the workplace. So having a system that is neurodivergent-friendly empowers people who are neurodivergent to be supported. The most important thing is, it makes it easier for everyone else too.
How can we support those with ADHD in our workplaces?
ADHD is a protected disability under the 2010 Equalities Act, so every employer has a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments to the working conditions of an employee.
The first thing that employers can do is to have an effective process for either occupational health assessments or Access to Work [a UK government scheme]. That means you support the member of staff after they’ve got their report and agree to as many of the reasonable adjustments as possible.
Beyond that, look at the structure of the organisation. Do you have a neurodiversity support group where people can share their problems, worries and successes?
Do you have a neurodiversity policy? Do your other policies – such as recruitment, annual review, grievance, dismissal – mention neurodiversity?
If you were to replace the word ‘ADHD’ with a physical disability, what changes would you make for those members of staff? I’m pretty sure that if you had an employee that didn’t have the use of their legs, you’d put a ramp in to help them with the stairs. Would you do the same thing, metaphorically speaking, for somebody who had a neurodivergent condition?
Some organisations are now only employing neurodivergent workers. What’s your view on that?
I don’t like the artificial separation between ‘neurodivergent’ and ‘neurotypical’. I don’t think it helps the broader cause of people who are neurodivergent, because it can feed that ‘us and them’ mentality. If you see that somebody else has been offered flexible working hours, but you haven’t, that can cause resentment and misunderstanding – because it’s difficult to see that someone has ADHD. So, while I think there are definite positives to embracing neurodivergence in the workplace, there is a risk of ‘othering’ people who are neurodivergent from the rest of society. We should be looking to integrate, not to ‘other’ people.
For more from Professor James Brown, including facts about ADHD, read the latest issue of IOSH magazine. Listen to the full interview on the IOSH Podcast or watch the video here.
