Neurodiversity 101 - awareness, action or a nudge?

I do a lot of training and awareness raising sessions relating to neurodiversity and they can often be a starting point for companies to put an action plan together. They can also indicate to the outside (and internal) worlds that a company is making it public that they are interested. We are just coming up to Celebrating Neurodiversity Awareness week and it has made me think of how we can have a lasting impact.

How do we ensure awareness activities are most impactful?

The people working in the neurodiversity movement are a passionate lot and we want to make sure that as many people as possible are aware of the challenges that exist and also the talents we have.

When you care about an issue or a cause, it’s natural to want others to care as much as you do. We want to shout from the hilltops how important neurodiversity is and why it is important for all to know. Especially as a parent and grandparent I want future generations to have the best possible chances of success.

Plugging the gap

The?Information Deficit Model was introduced in the 1980s to describe a widely held belief that if only the public knew more they would do more. It seems logical... raise awareness and then more people will do better and be better.

But there is also a lot of research showing that people who are simply given more information are actually unlikely to change their beliefs or behaviours.

Campaigns for real change need to use messaging and concrete calls to action that get people to change how they feel, think, or act, and as a result create long-lasting change.

When awareness campaigns are done wrong they can carry risks too and may actually lead to no action; they could reach the wrong audience; they could generate a backlash; they could highlight difference; and they may lead to people feeling they know so little and shy away from conversations.

Sometimes we try to even be humorous to get our messages across - while entertaining - it may not actually make changes happen and may make trivialise the issues that are trying to be highlighted.

What can we do?

I really think we need to be inclusive in all we do by default rather than retrofitting the actions. When we have to consciously decide to include people we don't do so consistently.

When 'Closed Captions' are automatically switched on then we don't need to think about it. There is no effort. The same goes when we create an inclusive recruitment process in that it takes less effort as we are not having to think what do I need to do for this person or that person.

Moving the needle

To really move the needle on the issues we care about the most, research and experience both show that we must define actionable and achievable calls to action that will lead a specific group of people to do something they haven’t done before.

We need to test, and review messages and see the impact that different approaches makes.

There is an academic discipline called “public interest communication,” which is the development and implementation of science-based, planned strategic communication campaigns with the goal of achieving significant and sustained positive behavioral change or action on an issue that transcends the particular interests of any single organization.

"The World Public Relations Forum Global Alliance chose the theme?‘connecting with courage’?.

It said:

• "It takes courage to represent public interest, steer ethically and be conscientious.
• The courage to adapt, have an understanding of, and communicate across cultures.
• The courage to acknowledge the gaps in and evolve our professional capabilities.
• The courage to question our tried and tested approach, think ahead and be creative."

The challenge in trying to make change happen is that it won't suit everyone. It will be more effortful for some. We have to be conscious of both needing and wanting to do something.

Nudge, nudge, nudge

Can we use nudge theory to move things in the right direction? Nudge theory was first introduced by Thaler and Sunstein in their book: ‘Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness’ in 2008

Nudge Theory is based upon the idea that by shaping the environment, also known as the choice architecture, one can influence the likelihood that one option is chosen over another by individuals. One key factor of 'Nudge Theory' is the ability for an individual to maintain freedom of choice and to feel in control of the decisions they make.?

There are 3 types of nudge:

• Perception nudges - we change our decisions we make whether they are seen as gains or losses e.g. being inclusive will mean more people will be attracted to your jobs and more people will stay in your business.
• Motivation nudges- such as 75% of people are already being inclusive - what are you doing....
• Ability and simplicity nudges - It is important to enable people to change and the changes to be simple to do.

I am still wondering is it ethical to nudge or are we using a different approach to effective marketing of information to encourage change in behaviours?

Learning from health care literacy to encourage change

For example:

The 5 Rs

• Relevance?
• Risks?
• Rewards?of adopting a behavior
• Roadblocks?to changing the behavior,
• Repetition?of the personalized five Rs messages

Combining universal design principles with nudge...

There is an industry supporting the myth that gaining diagnosis is the answer to all and sometimes leading to emphasis placed in the wrong place. I am not saying we don't need accurate diagnoses but we will never have enough professionals. It also means that there is inequity in provision.Additionally, a diagnosis sadly doesn't always lead to intervention or support either. This can be very disappointing when this happens.

By taking universal design principles there is the potential to reduce the 'industry' we see growing that is associated with diagnosis and intervention and maximise the resources we have to reach more people.

The blog author

I am Amanda Kirby, CEO of?Do-IT Solutions?a tech-for-good company that delivers web-based neurodiversity and wellbeing screening tools and training that help 1000s' of people. We deliver person-centered solutions .

Contact me if you want to discuss how we can help your organisation be more neuroinclusive.

I am a mixed bag of experiences and skills and have 25+ years of working in the field of neurodiversity.I am a medical doctor, Professor, and have a Ph.D. in the field of neurodiversity; parent and grandparent to neurodivergent wonderful kids and am neurodivergent myself.

Theo Smith and I wrote together the award-winning book?Neurodiversity at Work?Drive Innovation, Performance and Productivity with a Neurodiverse Workforce. My 10th book has just come out called?Neurodiversity in Education?. Thanks to my wonderful co-authors Paul Ellis and Abby Osbourne.