8. Superpowers: ADHD
• “Like trying to concentrate while ten squirrels are jumping
up your legs”
• Filter-Weakness
• Different types
• Comes with a lot of acquired behavior
13. Superpowers: Autism
Spectrum Disorder
• “Like being part of a movie where everybody else has the
script”
• Senses can have the gain turned up or down
• Pattern-matching
• Detail orientation
• Thinking in systems
21. Social Aspects
• Neurodiversity is not visible
• Discrimination happens a lot
• “The poor are crazy, the rich just eccentric” - Ellen Raskin,
The Westing Game
22. Who’s affected? Us!
• Mautinoa: ~10 Employees, almost everybody somehow
affected
• We figured out a way to deal with it
23. Who’s affected: You!
• Many nerds match the descriptions of neurodiversity
• Even if you are neurotypical: Many fellow hackers aren’t.
• And you want to take them seriously, right?
25. Affective Empathy
• Being affected by the emotional arousal of others
• Empathic concern — sympathy/compassion for others
• Personal distress — discomfort/anxiety
• A self-oriented response to others’ suffering
• Somatic empathy: somatic nervous system response,
probably based on mirror neurons
• Essential for establishing rapport
26. Cognitive Empathy
• Understanding others’ perspectives / states of mind
• Perspective taking: understanding what motivates
someone to act a certain way
• Tactical empathy: using perspective-taking deliberately
• Some overlap with theory of mind
29. What to do
• Leading by example
• Maintaining a deep bench
• Praise and criticism
• Practical Examples
30. Leading by example
• “Yes, we are also affected”
• “It’s okay to be vulnerable”
• Listen.
31. Maintaining a deep bench
• Downtimes are normal — accept them
• Make sure everything is covered — keep bus numbers
high
32. Praise and Criticism
• Praise in public, criticize in private
• Find understanding ways to criticize
• Praise for simple things (Psychological visibility)
33. Practical examples
• Anxiety check-in
• Provide both freedom and structure
• Pairing is Caring - Within people’s limitations!