I've recently seen a move away from specialist (condition-specific) training towards general 'neurodiversity'* training and, like many other autism advocates and specialists, I'm concerned.
General 'neurodiversity'* training is a good place to start as an introduction to the topic for organisations and individuals who are new to the subject and seeking initial insights, but (and this is a big BUT) in a 6 or 3 hour training programme you really are just getting an introduction and leaving with an important understanding that adjustments need to be tailored to individuals because of the common 'overlap' of neurodivergent conditions, for example, autism and dyspraxia or dyslexia and ADD/ADHD.
Like me, many others are worried that the nuances of autism and effective support for autistic people get's 'lost' in the overall message and neurodiversity movement, which tends to be populated by 'louder' neurodivergent voices that don't often include autistic voices.
I'm biased, of course I am because I'm autistic (not ADD/ADHD) and so is my adult child and my friends, my life partner and everyone I've supported professionally over the last 11 or so years, but my bias is also because I see, and know the extra social struggles of autistic people, due to a lifetime of neuronormative communication pressure and 'conditioning' and the nature of the condition itself, creating a primary barrier to communicating with others so that needs are met and adjustments are made.
If you can't communicate your needs, then you must rely on others to have a really deep understanding of your condition and needs.
I often work with employers who are adamant that they don't need a reasonable adjustments process or request form because their culture fosters conversations with line managers about adjustments and needs. This is great for those that feel confident enough to 'have a chat' with their managers, but doesn't work for the majority of autistic employees I've supported. There is still so much stigma associated with being autistic in the workplace that many just don't speak up, The Buckland Review (2024), Nimante, D., Laganovska, E., & Osgood, R. (2023), and when they do, they are not 'heard', Romualdez, A. M., Walker, Z., & Remington, A. (2021),
So my argument is, every organisation needs specialist training in autism that follows general 'neurodiversity'* training.
So how should organisations go about choosing an autism training provider?
My best advice is to research, and choose someone who bases their 'teaching' about the condition and recommendations for best-practice approaches and adjustments on:
- Lived-experience - this doesn't mean the experience of non-autistic people supporting, caring for or living with autistic people and, while being a valuable 'point of view' to also include in training content, should never be the primary focus
- Robust and current academic research - preferably by autistic researchers but always including autistic 'voice'
- Practitioner expertise - including suitable vocational qualifications and experience as a practitioner, spanning a significant time period and demonstrating good outcomes and results for a large, wide and varied community of autistic people with co-occurring neurodivergent, mental and physical health conditions
- Context and specific situational and environmental conditions -for example, relevant and essential information about how to support autistic people in the workplace will be different for colleagues, line managers, HR professionals, recruiters and EDI professionals.
You can, and should absolutely ask the question..
'how do you include lived-experience, good research, practitioner-informed best-practice approaches and adapt the content for specific audiences in specific situations and environments in your training?'
*neurodiversity is an umbrella term for a group of people with different neurotypes, including 'neurotypicals'. When referring to people who's neurotype differs from the 'typical', we should say 'neurodivergent' or 'neurodivergence' training (see our free learning video on language and terminology here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMa-ZvyR_7k)
