Challenges faced by neurodivergent engineers and technicians

In its survey on neurodiversity at work, Neurodiversity in Business found that the biggest challenge, identified by 78% of respondents, was ‘looking after yourself mentally’.²⁸ 77% identified concentration, and 70% asking for help.

In total, the survey identified 15 challenges

Our study found five main types of challenges experienced by neurodivergent engineers and technicians:

• challenges that relate to an individual’s neurotype
• the behaviour of line managers and colleagues
• the day-to-day working environment
• sustaining mental health and well-being
• and the additional challenges experienced by under-represented groups.

Challenges related to an individual’s neurotype

Our study found a number of challenges at work specifically related to neurodiversity.

• Dealing with complex bureaucratic processes and form-filling: including the professional registration process.
• Difficulties scheduling work, meeting deadlines and procrastinating: Often as a result of being asked to complete tasks that neurodiversity makes challenging.
• High volumes of reading: “I’ve deliberately avoided being an assessor because those panels review up to 20 people in one sitting. That’s 150 pages. It terrifies me. But it’s hidden. I don’t think colleagues realise how difficult it is for me to contemplate reading that much.”
• Communicating thoughts and ideas verbally and/or in writing: “It’s a challenge to get the information that’s inside of me out. I struggle with essays, articles, journals.”
• Dealing with emotions: “A lot of my work used to be in negotiations. I got good at that, but it was interesting, as soon as someone tried to play on my emotions, that was extremely difficult for me. I just froze. It took a lot of practice and work with a mentor to overcome that.”
• Neurotypical meeting behaviours: “They start talking about a subject. I think about everything I know about that subject, and before I get a chance to contribute they move on. I bring it back to the previous subject but people get frustrated; they say they’ve moved on. But I need to clear my brain.”
• Being assertive: “I try to fit in with what is happening around me, so I find it hard to be assertive and make my own decisions. I’m led by others, then I worry that I’m not really driving myself.”

Many of the people we spoke with also described challenges around building relationships at work, often resulting in feelings of loneliness and isolation.

• Social interaction: when “social cues are not my strength” and “I don’t see expressions.”
• Collaboration: “I’m not so good at that. People feel I’m not collaborative, I don’t want to be part of a team.”
• Dealing with disagreement: such as “how to react when people don’t agree with what I say, but I know I’m right.”
• Sustaining professional friendships: “I can upset people without having the intention to do so and I won’t even know I’ve done it.”

Behaviour of managers and colleagues

Many line managers and colleagues appear to lack understanding and awareness of neurodiversity, seem uncomfortable talking about difference or simply don’t know what to do or say.

Neurodivergent engineers and technicians told us that they mask their differences, adapting their behaviour to fit into neurotypical expectations of how a ‘professional’ person behaves and living with a constant awareness of how their behaviour might be interpreted. Masking is exhausting, requiring a lot of cognitive and emotional effort.²⁹

Ayo Sokale, an autistic civil engineer who has written about his experiences, describes autistic masking as a ‘survival strategy’ which can in itself lead to burnout and chronic exhaustion.³⁰

There are good grounds for concern about career progression: one recent study found that “adults with ADHD… are 18 times more likely to be disciplined at work for perceived behaviour problems, such as fleeting attention span, long periods of intense focus, and difficulty managing time and paperwork; they are also 60% more likely to lose their jobs”.³¹

Another found that neurodivergent people are often excluded from top jobs due to a ‘neurodivergent leadership ceiling’ and because they may not be considered a good fit with existing leadership teams.³²

We heard from several neurodivergent engineers and technicians operating at a senior level, but others were disappointed that they have not been able to achieve their career potential in roles that often don’t suit their neurotype.

Some said they often found themselves stereotyped as low achievers or constrained by promotion criteria designed for neurotypical people.

Day-to-day working environment

A brightly lit, noisy workplace can feel distracting and overwhelming for some neurodivergent people. For others, seating arrangements matter a lot, and hot-desking can represent a particular challenge.

Location can be important to psychological safety: “I don’t like it if I am approached from behind. It shocks me. So I choose to sit somewhere where I can’t be approached from behind.”
Identifying and accessing appropriate workplace adaptations can be a challenge.

Many engineers and technicians experience their organisation’s processes as overwhelming and complex. As one explained: “When I asked HR for an adaptation, I was told to go to IT. They passed it to someone else, then someone else, then they questioned if I really needed it. I had to jump through so many hoops, that in the end, I gave up.”

Responsibility for securing adaptations generally falls on the neurodivergent person which can often feel ‘awkward’ and off-putting. Not all are aware of the measures that would benefit them or are available. Even those who are reported mixed experiences.

Sometimes the process was straightforward, but at other times it was deeply frustrating: “I say clearly what I need but soon everyone forgets. They appreciate what I say, but then two or three months later they forget.” This is consistent with another study of the experiences of 181 autistic adults which found that the kinds of workplace adjustments they require are often not understood by employers, or forthcoming.³³

Sustaining mental health and well-being

Neurodivergent engineers sometimes struggle to decide whether or not they should seek a diagnosis. Those who do can experience a range of responses. For some, being diagnosed comes as a relief. One said: “It’s given me a language, and I now have the weight of disability equality law behind me”. Others, however, described the emotional blow of being diagnosed, and having to “reframe my whole history post-diagnosis.”

Whether diagnosed or not, the effort to fit into the neurotypical culture of work can exact a significant emotional, mental and physical toll. Many described the stress of being neurodivergent in a neurotypical workplace, and “the sheer effort of appearing normal.” Some described feeling lonely at work; for others, anxiety is “in the background, all day and every day.”

As one engineer explained: “Anxiety, the fear of being judged or rejected, makes me even more withdrawn.”
All these factors are likely to contribute to the fact that engineers and technicians who are on the autistic spectrum have rates of suicide and attempted suicide three times greater than the general population.³⁴

One study of dyslexic employees found similar experiences of exhaustion, fatigue and burnout, along with chronic fear and indecision about disclosing their dyslexia at work.³⁵ Maintaining good mental health was definitely a challenge for a number of the engineers and technicians we spoke with.

Additional challenges experienced
by under-represented groups

Challenges at work appear to be magnified for women and people from minoritised ethnicities, who are already under-represented
in the industry.³⁶

Many neurodivergent women deal on a daily basis with a sense of exclusion in a male-dominated working environment. They feel a double pressure to conform, not just by masking their neurodivergent experience, but also in terms of meeting other people’s expectations:

“People see me as abrupt and argumentative. I wonder
if part of it is that I don’t fit the stereotype of how women are supposed to behave.”

One young engineer we spoke to said: “I’m the youngest in my team and I’m already stereotyped for that. A person from a minoritised ethnicity explained: “I’m already worried about needing to look like I’m more capable than other people. It would be another negative, different from the norm, not a plus. It would be something else I’d have to overcome at work.”

References