Neurodiversity
The natural variation in human neurocognitive functioning — including autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia — and the framework that treats this variation as difference to be designed for rather than deficit to be corrected. In workplace terms: how sensory, attentional and processing differences interact with environments and policies.
A meaningful share of every workforce processes environments differently — sensory sensitivity, distractibility, need for predictability — and conventional workplace design has largely assumed a neurotypical median. Designing for neurocognitive variation improves environments measurably for the whole population; ignoring it excludes silently and legally consequentially.
- How does sensory and attentional variation distribute across a workforce?
- Which environmental conditions disable which people, and which enable them?
- What do predictability, retreat and control mean as design requirements?
- How can needs be expressed without forced disclosure?
- Neurodiversity and inclusive-design research (an emerging, uneven literature)
- Consent-based self-expressed need data (Workplace Passport, in aggregate)
- Sensory processing research
- Lived-experience and participatory research
Sensory zoning and low-stimulus provision as base kit requirements; predictability and legibility in wayfinding and booking; consent-based channels for expressing needs; environmental variety so adjustment doesn't require disclosure.
Workplace Passport
A consent-aware individual workplace profile — proprietary to the Workplaced platform — through which employees express the conditions under which they can work effectively.
Kit of Parts
The definition of the complete workplace setting system — every setting type, its purpose, quantity, requirements and behavioural logic — from focus and team settings to hospitality, wellbeing and specialist environments.
Architectural Guidance
The translation of the concept and kit into design-governing guidance: spatial, environmental, acoustic, lighting, thermal, biophilic, accessibility, technology and identity requirements the design team must satisfy.
Dynamics Assessment
A structured workforce assessment capturing reported People and Process demand: work patterns, activities, locations, preferences, experience and reported occupancy.
Two symmetrical failures: tokenism (one 'sensory room' as the neurodiversity strategy) and diagnostic overreach (assessments claiming to determine individuals' ideal environments from profiles). The evidence base is young and heterogeneous; interventions should be framed as inclusive design, never as clinical provision, and no profile determines a person's ideal desk.
Workplace-specific neurodiversity research is early-stage: prevalence estimates vary widely, intervention evidence is largely qualitative, and the field is actively developing. Claims should be calibrated accordingly.