Inclusion Round-Up | April 2023

Contents:

• World Autism Acceptance Week and the power of different experiences
• Faith and religious inclusion in the workplace

World Autism Acceptance Week and the power of different experiences

From 27th March to 2^nd April, we commemorated World Autism Acceptance Week. The word “acceptance” reminds us of the fact that many autistic people experience exclusion across all parts of society on a daily basic. According to the Office for National Statistics, there are 700,000 autistic people in the UK – that’s more than 1 in 100. And yet, just 21.7% of autistic adults in the UK are in any form of paid employment.

One of the biggest privileges of my experience of working at Inclusive Employers and this field has been the opportunity to truly get to appreciate the power of neurodiverse thinking. As a person who has relatively recently come to understand my own experience as someone who has dyspraxia and ADHD, I have much to thank the Autistic community for the work done to advance the dialogue on Neurodiversity as a wider umbrella topic – the term ‘Neurodiversity’ itself arose out of the Autism rights movement.

While much progress has been made in changing the way society thinks about Neurodiversity, as an ally looking in, there is still much misunderstanding around what it means to experience the world through the lens of Autism. Unsurprisingly, many of the conversations still rely on old tropes of representations which often fail to capture the nuance and complexity of experiencing the world through an autistic lens. The consequences of this run deep – from lack of understanding and adjustments that discourage autistic people from applying to and succeeding at getting jobs, to a persistent ‘neurotypical’ views of approaching everyday situations, which serve to undermine the perspective of people from the community.

The power of collaboration and different ways of working

Appreciating the advantages of the skills inherent to different neurodivergent experiences can sometimes be a balancing act, as each individual will have a very different experience, and it’s also potentially risky speaking in ‘broad brushstrokes’ terms.

As someone who acknowledges that my ADHD can generate thoughts that are as exciting and creative as they are chaotic, I feel I have generated some of my best work, or lines of thought, when in collaboration with autistic colleagues and friends. They have supported me with stability and structure when my overly creative and active mind has failed to follow a structured train of thought; they have provided me with much-needed detailed expert information when I had long lost interest in something because my dopamine-hungry brain had found something else to be interested in. They were the people to give me the straightforward answer or feedback I needed to help me see through a fog of different thoughts. And somehow, I’d like to think that my ADHD energy has helped them through different perspectives. This digression and detour (do I sense an ADHD lens here?) is to give a personal perspective on how that appreciation of difference – both in others and myself – has led to real value to myself and the workspace at different occasions.

This leads me back to Autism Acceptance Month – it should be much more than just ‘acceptance’; it’s about appreciation, acknowledgement, and inclusion.

For powerful and inspiring accounts from some of my colleagues with lived experience, I recommend reading the blogs below:

• What you should know about adult autism diagnosis
• Why I’m becoming an Autistic role model

Faith and religious inclusion in the workplace

One of the biggest privileges of living in a different country is the opportunity to experience the world through a different lens. Most of us will have been born into a monoculture – a culture that is led or dominated by a single shared belief, objective, or another element that defines the group.

I was born and raised in Brazil, and while it is one of the most diverse countries in the world when it comes to ethnic, cultural and religious groups, there is definitely a sense of a ‘dominant’ culture, and what is not part of that dominant culture is often ‘othered’.

When it comes to religion, that is no different – Brazil has the highest Catholic Christian population in the world, and those numbers translate into the dominant culture when it comes to visibility and what is seen as the ‘default’ culture when it comes to religion and belief.

Interfaith spaces for inclusive workplaces

One of the personal joys of living in the UK has been the opportunity to be exposed to different faiths and religions other than the ones in my ‘monoculture’, and April provides the perfect month to reflect on this, as people across the UK and the world celebrate or observe dates that are deeply meaningful not only to their faith and or religion but also to their sense of self – Easter, Vaisakhi, Passover and Ramadan, to name a few of the religious dates remembered this month.

This is a reminder of the importance of creating interfaith spaces in the workplace and the need to remain flexible to the individual needs of people to observe faith and religion in a way that feels authentic to them.

The 2021 Census clearly shows a shift towards an ever more diverse society regarding faith and religion in the UK, which enriches our society and workspaces. While “Christian” remains the most common response to the religious question, less than half of the population (46.2%, 27.5 million people) described themselves as “Christian”, a first for a census of England and Wales. There were increases in the number of people who described themselves as “Muslim” (3.9 million, 6.5% in 2021, up from 2.7 million, 4.9% in 2011) and “Hindu” (1.0 million, 1.7% in 2021, up from 818,000, 1.5% in 2011).

Foster inclusive workplaces

While Religion and Belief are indeed protected characteristics under the Equality Act, more than just fulfilling their obligations as employers, I encourage all organisations and line managers to see this as a real opportunity to foster inclusive interfaith spaces and also to make use of flexibility and flexible working arrangements to solidify their commitments to a positive employee experience.

Across our member organisations, I saw fantastic examples of flexibility to cater to employees’ different needs. These ranged from using flexible hours to support Muslim colleagues fasting during Ramadan to flexible arrangements so Jewish colleagues who celebrate Passover could be off during the day to celebrate it with their loved ones. I have also seen great examples of organisations using this month to raise awareness and educate others – from talks to training sessions to engaging with staff networks. As you look at the rest of the year, consider how you are empowering employees and line managers to foster an environment of interfaith dialogue and education and ensure it is a component of your Inclusion & Diversity strategy.

Want to prepare for the months ahead?

Look at our awareness days and events calendar to help you plan and prepare for upcoming events.