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What is neurodiversity?

‘Neurodiversity’ is used to describe the concept that “all humans vary in terms of our neurocognitive ability.“5

In this report, we use the term ‘neurodivergent’ to describe people who identify as neurodiverse and whose neurotypes include:

  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), also known as variable attention stimulus trait (VAST)6
  • Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which affects how people experience their environment and how they communicate
  • Dyslexia – literally ’difficulties with words’7
  • Dyspraxia or Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) - ’difficulties with movement’8
  • Dyscalculia – ’a specific and persistent difficulty in understanding numbers’9
  • Dysgraphia – ’impaired writing ability and fine motor skills’10
  • Hyperlexia – often associated with autism, a condition where preschool children display an intense early interest in letters in a way that is very advanced for their age and can decode words accurately, but without understanding their meaning11
  • Synesthesia – senses which are normally experienced separately are involuntarily joined together, such as experiencing colour when hearing sounds12
  • Tourette syndrome – a neurological condition characterised by involuntary movements and noises.13

It is estimated that between 14% and 20% of the UK population are neurodivergent,14,15 of whom:

  • 2-5% have ADHD16,17
  • 1-2% are autistic18,19
  • 10%-20% are dyslexic20,21
  • 5% are dyspraxic22
  • 1-2% have Tourette syndrome.23

These figures relate to the population overall and there is very little data available on the extent of neurodiversity amongst those employed in engineering and technology specifically.

A 2022 survey of IET Volunteers (members of the engineering and technology community who are actively engaged with IET activities) found that 9% of those who responded identified as neurodiverse while another 10% said they were unsure if they were neurodiverse.24

In a report published in September 2020, ‘Mapping the UK’s Engineering Workforce’, regulatory body the Engineering Council estimated that there are 820,000 neurodiverse engineers working in the UK.25

We didn’t specifically ask focus group participants to tell us their neurotype, but of those who did, all identified as having singular or co-occurring ADHD, autism or dyslexia.

Some participants don’t consider themselves to be associated with a specific neurotype, some don’t know, and more than half have no formal diagnosis of their neurodiversity.

Others who do have a diagnosis have chosen not to share that information.

References

5 https://geniuswithin.org/what-is-neurodiversity/

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6 ‘ADHD needs a better name. We have one’, ADDitude website, October 2023 https://www.additudemag.com/attentiondeficit-disorder-vast/

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7 https://geniuswithin.org/what-is-neurodiversity/dyslexia/

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8 https://geniuswithin.org/what-is-neurodiversity/dcd-dyspraxia/

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9 https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyscalculia

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10 https://www.additudemag.com/what-is-dysgraphia-understanding-common-symptoms/

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11 ‘Helping children with autism and hyperlexia learn to understand what they read’, Q&A with Gigi Luk, Dianne Macdonald and Eve-Marie Quintin, September 2021 https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/helping-children-autism-and-hyperlexialearn-understand-what-they-read-333217

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12 https://uksynaesthesia.com/

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13 https://geniuswithin.org/what-is-neurodiversity/tourette-syndrome/

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14 ‘Workplace Neurodiversity: The Power Of Difference’, The Institute of Leadership, October 2020,
https://leadership.global/resourceLibrary/workplace-neurodiversity-the-power-of-difference.html

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15 ‘Neurodiversity at Work 2023’, Neurodiversity in Business https://neurodiversityinbusiness.org/research/

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16 https://geniuswithin.org/what-is-neurodiversity/

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17 ‘Neurodiversity: The Little-Known Superpower’, Korn Ferry, 2022 https://www.kornferry.com/institute/neurodiversity-the-little-known-superpower

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18 https://geniuswithin.org/what-is-neurodiversity/

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19 ‘Neurodiversity: The Little-Known Superpower’, Korn Ferry, 2022 https://www.kornferry.com/content/dam/kornferry-v2/pdf/institute/kfi-neurodiversity-the-little-known-superpower.pdf

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20 https://geniuswithin.org/what-is-neurodiversity/

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21 ‘Neurodiversity: The Little-Known Superpower’, Korn Ferry, 2022 https://www.kornferry.com/content/dam/kornferry-v2/pdf/institute/kfi-neurodiversity-the-little-known-superpower.pdf

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22 https://geniuswithin.org/what-is-neurodiversity/

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23 https://geniuswithin.org/what-is-neurodiversity/

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24 ‘My story of improving neurodiversity awareness in engineering’, Laura Norton https://www.myfoothold.org/blog/my-storyimproving-neurodiversity-awareness-engineering/ OR ‘Improving our understanding of EDI within our volunteering community’, IET Member News, March 2023 https://flipbook.brandbits.com/4c5933e4e9/index.html

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25 ‘Opening up new opportunities for the engineering community with the launch of our Engineering Neurodiverse Futures programme’, Michael Hargreaves https://www.myfoothold.org/your-foothold-is-here/news/opening-up-new-opportunities-forengineering-community-with-the-launch-of-engineering-neurodiverse-futures-programme/

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