A new report is focusing on supporting neurodivergent individuals in navigating their careers and outlines strategies to help them thrive in the workplace.
ACCA’s latest report ‘Neurodiversity in accountancy: navigating your career’ says the narrative around neurodiversity is changing.
Organisations are beginning to recognise the significant strengths of neurodivergent individuals and the contributions they make to the workplace. More importantly, neurodivergent professionals themselves are reclaiming their own stories, reshaping expectations of what workplaces should provide, and proving that when the environment changes rather than the person, everyone benefits.
The research explores not just individual experiences, but the conditions that enable success. The report also shares some of the practical strategies organisations can adopt to support neurodivergent employees better, as well as advice for individuals themselves.
The report identifies five key areas where individual action creates conditions for success and reflects on some of the strategies explained by interviewees in this research:
- Understanding your own cognitive profile: for many neurodivergent professionals, formal diagnosis provides transformative reframing.
- Making strategic disclosure decisions: disclosure is not an obligation – it’s a choice.
- Leveraging technology: the right technology can amplify your capabilities and make you strategically resourceful.
- Advocating individualised support: the most effective workplace support is co-created, not prescribed.
- Building your own personal support system: you can’t control organisational culture, but you can build a personal system that enables you to thrive.
Jamie Lyon, global head of skills, sectors and technology at ACCA, said:
“The narrative is moving from ‘what can neurodivergent people do for organisations?’ towards ‘what systems need to change to enable everyone to work effectively?’ This reframe matters because it shifts responsibility: individuals should not need to adapt to the workplace – the workplace needs to be designed better. But the gap is still far too wide.”
Tania Martin, neuroinclusion consultant, trainer and speaker at PegSquared, said:
“As someone who has navigated my own career with ADHD, I know how much a small change in environment or approach can transform someone's working day. This research is a reminder that neuroinclusion is not about grand gestures – it's about the practical steps that make a real difference to real people, right now.”
