We all wear masks to some extent.
However, for people who are neurodivergent (e.g. autistic, dyslexic, dyspraxic or have ADHD), our masks become a necessity if we wish to gain access to academia.
Like many other workplaces, academia has a culture that values efficiency, accuracy, and speed, while ideas such as networking and team collaboration also make forced socialisation a required skill.
When we work in a system that privileges neurotypical ways of working, anyone who cannot work in this way must adapt themselves to be considered “good” at their jobs – or be perceived as a failure.
Learning is easy – right?
For example, imagine learning to ride a bike and being told that the best way to do this is to read a book about riding a bike. You know that this is not the best way for you to learn this skill. You know it will take you much longer and be much harder to learn in this way.
But everyone around you has learnt like this and has succeeded. So, you ask yourself, why can’t you? Is there something wrong with you? Maybe you just need to try harder – or concentrate more carefully on what you are doing?
The consequences of not masking
Neurodivergent adults have the highest level of unemployment of any disability group. A report by The Institute of Leadership and Management found that 50 per cent of managers admitted concerns about employing someone who is neurodivergent. Consequently, many neurodivergent colleagues endure job insecurity and a fractured career path.
Is it any wonder we work so hard to maintain our masks?
However, constantly adapting while performing the illusion that everything is OK is exhausting, with burnout being a common issue for neurodivergent employees. For myself, working and communicating through text-based messages can often be overwhelming.
When I respond to an email, my dyslexia means I often have to make notes as my brain struggles to perform the dual process of decoding text while holding onto the meaning. When I respond, recalling, sequencing and writing words is a gruelling process. At the same time, my ADHD insists on distracting me with more interesting things to think about while locking me in a daydream that eats away time.
Now consider the quantity of emails, chat messages, reports and documents employees are expected to manage in academia, and the necessity for neurodivergent colleagues to work additional hours becomes clear.
Losing time
Neuroscientist Sally Shaywitz once said, “dyslexia robs a person of time.” When you are neurodivergent, losing time can be one of the most challenging and disabling factors.
For example, when workloads increase, neurodivergent colleagues will have less time to manage the additional work. They are then often faced with either refusing the additional work – and appearing ‘lazy’ compared to their neurotypical colleagues – or working to the point of exhaustion.
When you already work additional hours to maintain the mask, any further increase in workload means completely giving up your evenings and weekends, which has a pronounced knock-on effect on our personal lives and wellbeing.
The danger of misconceptions
Factors such as these often mean we must adopt different ways of working to cope. To others, these different approaches can appear lazy, rude or careless. In previous institutions, I have found my need to isolate myself when I needed to focus has angered colleagues, as they have perceived this as rudeness.
This has led to ongoing criticism and harassment, which can be especially challenging for those of us with ADHD, as our neurodivergence results in us experiencing emotions more intensely. The impact of experiencing harassment can be disabling, preventing us from functioning effectively.
Removing the mask?
Ironically, our efforts to maintain our masks disguise the disabling system. In the report by ILM, 71 per cent of neurotypical employees interviewed felt that workplaces were inclusive for neurodivergent people, whereas only 55 per cent of neurodivergent employees felt the same.
It is evident that when the system is designed to benefit the neurotypical majority, it disguises the problems this creates for neurodivergent individuals. Perhaps, the answer lies in us removing our masks and speaking up about the difficulties we face and for academia to create an environment where it is safe for us to do so.
Change
Many universities have started recognising the need for change. For example, Falmouth has an established policy of endorsing flexible and hybrid working, giving neurodivergent employees more control over their working environments. They are also working on a listening project to understand more about students’ and staff’s experiences of inclusivity at the university.
Elsewhere, companies such as JPMorgan Chase have spearheaded Autism at Work programmes which have changed the culture in the workplace, recognising neurodiversity as a necessity for enhancing innovation and creativity.
Hope
The masks we wear as neurodivergent employees are necessary to allow us entry into this space. Maybe one day, academia will promote an environment where our masks will not be necessary because our true selves will be valued as more than enough.
When academia chooses to embrace inclusion for neurodivergent colleagues, we will gain thinkers who are passionate, innovative, creative, hard-working (as we know no other way of being), empathetic and hyper-focused. All we require is patience, flexibility and understanding.
I work for a UK HEI and have an NHS diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Condition, specifically Asperger’s Syndrome. One of the difficult things about HE is that many of the skills required for success in academia, in many teaching and non-teaching roles, are things that Aspies are typically very good at, particularly the highly-focused interests and attention to detail which are very common in AS. Thus, HE is a place where Aspies should really thrive, and I suspect, may have done for a long time. (And yes, I know that we’re not really supposed to talk about Asperger’s anymore (or… Read more »
Thank you for your comment. I don’t have to hot desk but agree fully with how academia, fundamentally a wonderful profession for many of us, is changing in ways that pushes us out.
And seemingly every job in Higher Education now expects you to be a “strong team player”, have “excellent networking skills” et cetera. They might as well put “neurodivergent people need not apply” in their job adverts.
Thanks. Your post resonated with me, as someone with ADHD (fairly recently diagnosed) working as an academic. Like you, I feel that I have all the key skills to thrive, e.g. intellectual ability, creativity, a passion for my subject, and the ability to hyperfocus, e.g. on research or teaching prep. However, my career has hardly progressed after over a decade, and I feel that it is the organisational and “soft” skills that have held me back, e.g. dealing with emails, deadlines, paperwork, tedious bureaucratic meetings and difficult colleagues. I can’t help but feel cheated seeing people with equivalent talents successfully… Read more »
That is very true and written with a hint of humour that makes it quite readable. The problem with a business led model in education is that the education aspect suffers.
Thank you for being able to express my own thoughts so beautifully!
Thank you so much for sharing your story. What you have said has resonated so much with me. You make a really good point at the end. Hopefully, if more of us feel safe to share our stories, then we can work towards gradual change.
As someone with ADHD I find I tend towards generalist career – loving teaching, research and admin equally, but eventually bored and tired if spending too long on one only. The problem is that HE loves to silo and box things – so I noticed that enthusiastic generalists tend to be thanked and praised publicly, but never promoted. Some HE are staring to recognise that performing on many fronts can be an asset, but our metrics driven models (REF/TEF/KEF about says it all) strengthen the tendency to try to fit people into boxes
That’s a really interesting point, John. Thank you. I often think our ability to see how things link and connect enables us to make things richer. As you say, we can often draw on and connect ideas from various disciplines or different departments. For those of us who have this skills (as I realise not everyone does), this is often an underappreciated skill.
This is a really thoughtful piece, with interesting research presented. I am so pleased that you ended on hope, which presently seems hard to muster, but you make me think that it’s an important part of dealing with the trauma of being neurodivergent in a callous environment.
Being ND and masking comes at a cost, often a very high personal cost, especially if one’s mask slips… Academic’s to a degree have once identified and declared some protection, admin and even more so technical and estates staff have little protection from their line managers vindictiveness if they declare their ND or other disability. This is often made worse by those in the (in)human resources directorate in ‘professional services’ who see the individual through the line managers eyes (reports) as a problem to be eliminated to avoid on-going costs rather than supported. Academia’s multi-tier (like a class and caste… Read more »