This email in 30 seconds: Last week I looked at the systemic layer - the organisation, HR, and managers. This week I'm bringing it closer in. The team. The individual. And an honest conversation about what shared responsibility actually means in practice.
Hello Reader,
Last week I started a conversation I've been sitting with for a while.
Who is actually responsible for neuro inclusion at work?
I talked about the organisation, HR, and managers – the people and structures that shape the conditions in which neurodivergent professionals either thrive or struggle. If you missed it, it's worth reading first; this week picks up where that left off.
Because here's the thing. When we talk about neuro inclusion, we can fall into a pattern of placing all the responsibility onto the people and systems surrounding the neurodivergent professional. And while those layers matter enormously, the picture isn't complete without two more.
The team. And the individual themselves.
The Team
The team is where inclusion is felt most directly.
Policies and strategies exist at an organisational level. Managers shape the immediate environment. But the day-to-day experience of feeling included – or not – often comes down to the people you sit alongside, collaborate with, and spend the majority of your working week with.
Team members have a role in normalising difference. Not neurodivergence specifically – difference, full stop. Different working styles. Different communication preferences. Different ways of processing information and contributing ideas.
We know that diverse teams – not just neurodiverse teams, but genuinely diverse teams – bring better problem solving, stronger creativity, and a broader understanding of the world. That isn't a nice-to-have. It's the point.
Creating that kind of team culture isn't solely the manager's job. Every person in the team contributes to whether difference is welcomed or merely tolerated. Whether someone feels comfortable asking for what they need. Whether the team's default way of working leaves room for people who think and operate differently.
This week's question Think about the team you're part of right now. Does the way you work together - how you run meetings, communicate, make decisions - genuinely make room for different ways of thinking? Or does it suit some people more than others?
The individual
Everything I’ve covered so far has placed responsibility on the people around the neurodivergent professional. And that responsibility is real. But it isn’t the whole story.
The neurodivergent professional also has a role to play.
That role is self-advocacy. And self-advocacy takes work.
It means taking the time to understand your own strengths and challenges – not just in broad terms, but specifically enough to be able to communicate them to the people who need to know. It means being able to say: this is what I find difficult, this is why, and this is what would help. Not as a demand, but as information. The kind that allows a manager to actually support you.
I was running a self-advocacy workshop this week and I've been reflecting on one question. Someone said: "I need more information to do my job correctly and I'm not getting it from the people who should be sending it to me. What do I do about that?"
This isn’t a self-advocacy question. That’s a management question. Not getting the information you need to do your job isn’t something you should have to request as a reasonable adjustment. It’s something your manager should be providing as a basic part of their role - for everyone, not just for you.
That distinction matters. Self-advocacy is about asking for support in areas where your neurodivergence creates a genuine challenge. It isn’t about compensating for management that simply isn’t working. When we blur those two things, we risk putting even more weight on the people who are already working hardest to stay afloat.
Adjustments work when they’re a two-way process. A manager doesn’t need to be an expert on neurodiversity or an expert on you. What they need is enough information to set you up for success – and that’s something you can help shape by sharing what you know about how you work best.
This week's question If you're neurodivergent - can you articulate clearly what you need and why it matters? If you manage or work alongside someone who is - have you created the kind of environment where they'd feel safe enough to tell you?
Putting it together
Across these two newsletters, I've talked about five distinct roles – the organisation, HR, managers, the team, and the individual. Each one matters. None of them works in isolation.
What I keep coming back to is this: neuro inclusion stops working the moment it becomes a them-versus-us conversation. When organisations wait for individuals to speak up before anything changes. When individuals expect organisations to fix everything without any input from them. When managers feel unsupported by HR, and HR feels bypassed by leadership.
The organisations I've seen make real progress are the ones that treat this as genuinely shared work. Not perfectly. Not all at once. But consistently, and with honesty about where the gaps are.
That's what I'm here to help with.
If you'd like to explore what this looks like in your organisation – whether that's a conversation, a workshop, or something more structured – always happy to have a chat. Just reply to this email and we can set something up.
Until next week,
Tania
Founder, PegSquared
P.S. If these two newsletters have prompted a conversation in your team or organisation, I'd genuinely love to hear about it.
Missed Part 1? You can find it [here].
