People think, learn and process information in different ways.
So, when work is designed for so-called “neuro-typical” people, employees who have neurodiverse conditions – including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism and dyslexia – may feel stressed or overwhelmed.
Technologist and occupational safety professional Cam Stevens believes accommodating neurodiverse workers begins with employers embracing a more flexible, individual approach to work design.
He says this can be accomplished using the same skills needed to help keep workers safe.
One of the challenges, he cautioned, is that some safety pros tend to “pour concrete” over established processes and procedures.
“If we’re designing for diversity,” Stevens said, “we should be designing with flexibility and agility in mind. That what works today might not work tomorrow. And that’s OK.”
‘Already present – often invisibly’
What should be present in every workplace, experts say, is a culture that welcomes people with neurodivergence and accounts for all workers – all the time.
Researchers from Lindenwood University in Missouri, as part of a 2023 study, estimated that about 17% of workers have neurodivergence. The study cites research stating that individuals with autism and ADHD “can be found in a wide range of professions and industries, and their employment choices often depend on their individual strengths, interests and preferences.”
However, a poll published in April by management consulting company Gallup shows that 37% of workers with neurodivergence choose not to share that information with co-workers. A common fear is that “peers and leaders will stigmatize their natural ways of thinking, feeling and behaving.”
Gallup also found that 46% of such individuals don’t request accommodation during the job application process, often to avoid being labeled “needy.”
Jennifer Dewees, president of the Maryland Center for Construction Education and Innovation, hopes this changes. “Neurodiversity is not rare,” Dewees said. “It’s already present – often invisibly – in our workforce.”
Common accommodations
Stacey Beichler is the assistant vice president of neurodiversity and community workforce development at the Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins University. The institute works to provide programs and resources for individuals with neurological, rehabilitative or developmental needs.
During a webinar co-hosted with MCCEI (Dewees was also a speaker), Beichler acknowledged that the range of neurodivergence often calls for varying considerations. She recommended that employers begin by considering accommodations that often are “simple to put into practice.”
Stevens agreed.
Their recommendations include offering neurodiverse workers:
- Simple, plain-language summaries of procedures chunked into short steps
- Voice-based entry into forms
- Voice-based interaction for hazard and incident reporting
- Closed captioning at meetings or events
- Note-taking through artificial intelligence
- The option to dim or adjust lighting in their work environments
Additional accommodation suggestions from the Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability:
- Visual task lists (with images) to provide work examples at various stages, and image-based calendars to mark projected milestones
- Backup plans to help eliminate the stress of unscheduled or last-minute changes
- Advance preparation for major schedule changes, such as training sessions
- Flexible workdays and hours to maximize peak performance
- Fragrance-free environments for sensory sensitivity
“The most important question you can ask is, ‘What can I do to support you? How can I support you?’” Beichler said. “Ask the person, ask your employee, ‘What do you need?’ And then work together to navigate that, to put the supports in place.
“And that in itself creates a culture of safety and support where everyone feels valued for what they have to offer the organization. And it doesn’t matter how it gets done; it’s done in a way that is valued.”
‘Design for neurodiversity’
Neurodiversity affects both the physical completion and mental processing of work, Stevens says.
Recalling his past work at a recycling facility, Stevens described the process of workers visually scanning conveyor systems to ensure hazardous items didn’t pass through. The task involved employees making quick decisions – at the same time that they had to manage the risk of neck and eyestrain.
“Once you start layering neurodiversity into that,” he said, “it’s even more pronounced.”
Still, Stevens identified strategies related to this example that could incorporate design strategies intended to assist workers with neurodivergence – as well as the entire work population. Those include slowing the speed of the conveyor system, providing visual job aids for button-pressing sequences and creating a color-coding system.
During the MCCEI and Kennedy Krieger Institute webinar, Olivia Danielson-Veed, a senior project interior designer at the global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm HOK, outlined three guiding principles for designing for neurodivergence:
- Options/variety: Provide settings with different attributes to accommodate a range of needs and work styles.
- Choice: Enable individuals to select from diverse workplace settings.
- Control: Allow individuals to adjust their immediate environment to match their preferences.
“Good workplace design principles, in general, support the very best possible professional experiences for people in all of these groups,” Danielson-Veed said.
Sally Augustin offered additional views in a separate webinar conducted by the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of California, Berkeley.
Augustin, an environmental/design psychologist, said that although challenges exist with supporting multiple neurodiverse groups, “issues are minimized” when workspaces are designed using “principles that apply to the population as a whole.”
A space that’s effectively developed supports the worker’s physical and mental well-being, Augustin said. For example, if a worker is given autonomy over lighting choices, allowed to have a plant or given a view of a comforting area, that can bolster feelings of security and help provide comfort and assurance.
Still, individual neurodiversities ultimately can carry different influence on how workers process and experience their workplaces, so employers should be prepared to offer accommodations accordingly.
Examples from Augustin include:
ADHD: Inattention, hyperactivity and impulsiveness are the cogs of this condition. A key consideration is to eliminate workplace distractions. Use cabinets and organizers to keep papers, resources and other possessions in order. Steer clear of cabinets with glass fronts or doors, as these can add to visual complexity and, therefore, distraction.
Autism: “In the autism world, there’s a saying: ‘When you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism,’ because different people have different mixes,” Augustin said. “And when people on the spectrum are thrown out of equilibrium by some event in their world, it can be great for them to have the opportunity to go into a space that’s visually and acoustically shielded from the others in the workplace and take whatever actions they have learned are useful for them in terms of reestablishing their equilibrium.”
To help keep workers with autism engaged, minimize visual complexity in the workspace and eliminate opportunities for compulsive activities such as counting. Using natural materials or sounds that recall nature also can raise comfort levels.
Dyslexia: Workers with this condition – difficulty processing written language and knowledge gained from reading – often are accustomed to accommodation from their school days, Augustin said. Show acceptance and understanding if these workers continue with practices such as following a line of text with their fingers.
Also, consider using signage with symbols or pictograms to help reduce stress, which “really exacerbates dyslexia,” Augustin said.
“We can actually design for neurodiversity, so we don’t have to make it about individuals and individual needs,” Stevens said. “Because if we make something good for a neurodivergent population, we make it good for everyone.”
This article was written by Kevin Druley for the March 2026 issue of Safety+Health magazine and was originally titled “Neurodiversity in the Workplace”.
