An irreverent take on the issue of neuro-diversity, which examines some of the more tried-and-tested techniques for making the office a welcoming place for "normies", and how we (the autistic community) can work towards being more inclusive and accommodating to our easily-distracted, detail-averse and excessively-social colleagues.

1. NEURO-DIVERSITY: THINKING DIFFERENTLY
LDNUG, DECEMBER 2017
RICCARDO M BENNETT-LOVSEY @COUNTINCOGNITO

2. A LITTLE ABOUT ME
 Developer, Architect and Technical Strategist
 Began my career as a doctor of bioinformatics
 Former Enterprise Fellow with the RSE
 Student of the IDesign school of architecture
 Also autistic

3. AUTISM AND AUTISTIC SPECTRUM
 1.1% of UK population 1
 ~700,000 people
 Developmental condition
 Life-long
 Cannot “grow out of it”
 Exists as a spectrum
 Not linear
 No-one is “a bit autistic”
1 http://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is/myths-facts-stats.aspx

4. TERMS USED
 Within
 “On the spectrum”
 “Autistic”
 “Autists”
 “Aspies”
 Without
 “Off the spectrum”
 “Neuro-typical”
 “Normies”
 “Humans”

5. PEOPLE WITH AUTISM
 Around 1/3 of adults are in paid employment 1
 Around half of those are in full-time employment
 Life expectancy 16 years lower than average 2
 40% have some form of anxiety disorder 3
 Occurrence of depression way higher than average
1 http://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is/myths-facts-stats.aspx
2 https://www.nhs.uk/news/neurology/people-with-autism-are-dying-younger-warns-study/
3 http://www.autism.org.uk/about/health/mental-health.aspx

6. ANOMALY
Over-representation
in STEM fields!

7. ANOMALY

8. QUESTION
Why are “Normies” so under-
represented in technology industry?

11. BEING NEURO-TYPICAL

12. NEURO-TYPICAL TRAITS
 Easily distractible 1
 Obsessively social 1
 Suffer deficiencies in attention to detail 1
 Don’t always say what they really think
 It’s not “simply an excuse to justify good behaviour”
1 Steve Silberman, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity

14. BAD THINGS TO SAY
 “You don’t look neuro-typical”
 “I have a friend who is neuro-typical, do you know them?”
 “I couldn’t tell you were neuro-typical – well done”
 “Does that mean you’re really bad with numbers/computers?”
 “How can you be neuro-typical if you’re not married?”

15. ROLE MODELS

16. ROLE MODELS

17. VERBAL COMMUNICATION

18. CONVERSATION
 Highly improvised
 Tone
 Context

19. EXAMPLES
I never told her to say that to him
I never told her to say that to him
I never told her to say that to him
I never told her to say that to him
I never told her to say that to him
I never told her to say that to him
I never told her to say that to him
I never told her to say that to him

21. SENTENCE MEANING PERMUTATION CALCULATOR
+ A
A = (words – pronouns) * emphasis
B = pronouns
C = contextually relevant preceding clauses
0 < D < ∞ (metaphors + idioms)
+ BC2( ) + DMeanings = 1

22. METAPHORS AND IDIOMS
 Metaphor = when a word or phrase is applied to a thing to which it
is not literally applicable
 i.e. literally using the wrong words to try to say something
 Idiom = a group of words with a meaning not deducible from those
of the individual words
 i.e. literally using the wrong words to try to say something

23. Idiom Meaning
“Blue sky thinking” Finding creative ways to solve problems
“Brainstorming” Finding creative ways to solve problems
“Thinking outside the box” Finding creative ways to solve problems
“Thought shower” Finding creative ways to solve problems
EXAMPLES

24. SUGGESTIONS
Idiom Meaning
“Muddy water spouting” Finding creative ways to say the same thing, repeatedly
“Muddy Waters pouting”

25. NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

27. EYE CONTACT
 Inherent distrust of those who don’t look at them
 Try somewhere else
 Teeth
 Nose
 Just behind the head
 Remember
 Follow the noise

28. BODY LANGUAGE
 Facial expressions
 Body posture
 Hand gestures
 Used extensively in poker, less so in video games

29. DOCUMENTATION
 Many ‘self-help’ manuals available with examples
 Like ‘body language phrase books’
 Unfortunately, many neuro-typicals also read them
 Purposely alter their behaviour to project a different image
 Find out which books they are reading
 At least you can work out what impression they would like to make

30. OFFICE ENVIRONMENT

32. OFFICE ENVIRONMENT
 Open-plan office
 Minimise quiet/private areas
 Intended to encourage creativity and discussion
 Makes it much easier to look busy, even when nothing is happening
 Also cheaper
 Find a dark corner with a power socket and a chair

33. OFFICE ENVIRONMENT
 Music
 Creates ‘atmosphere’
 Sound should cover the entire office footprint
 Avoid breaks in the playlist
 Recommended: Spotify, Absolute Radio or Magic FM
 Purchase noise-cancelling headphones and anti-depressants

34. OFFICE ENVIRONMENT
 Cultural Fit
 Shared character, values, opinions, and use of language
 A bit like ‘Groupthink’
 Diversity of opinion is good, as long as isn’t challenging
 If you have a dissenting opinion
 Check if you are popular enough to be different
 Post an anonymous comment on Glassdoor

35. SOCIALISING

37. SMALL TALK
 “Conversation about unimportant or uncontroversial matters”
 Especially on social occasions, with people you don’t know
 Meant to be generally pointless and uninformative
 Intended to help people relax
 Generally does the exact opposite
 Try looking too busy to talk or pretend to be on the phone

38. ALCOHOL
 “The Devil’s Lubricant”
 Avoid at all costs
 Neuro-typicals get nervous when “masking” fails
 Stick to diet coke, or just don’t join in

39. ALTERNATIVE APPROACH