To find it ridiculous that my work is encouraging those with neurodivergence to add details of their neurodivergence to their email signatures “so colleagues can accommodate your needs?”

[SnugShaker]

I get the intention behind it but it just feels like an uncomfortable and unnecessary step. Why should employees be expected to disclose their neurodivergence in a public way, especially when it could lead to unwanted assumptions or even stigma? There’s a line between creating an inclusive environment and putting the burden of disclosure on individuals, and it seems like this might be crossing that line. Shouldn’t accommodations be handled in a more private, respectful way without having to broadcast personal information?

Utterly ridiculous. Autism and adhd ate classed as disabilities. I think this is an ill advised and well meaning attempt at inclusivity that has not been properly thought through. What next, signing off with

'all the best,
Daniel Peppercorn,
Dyslexia and a life long skin condition, also needs glasses and I get occassional migraines'

My work does have sessions for understanding ND and being ND at work etc but they are optional and helpful.

It's not a fuss about nothing, and the hidden disability lanyards are a minefield too.

I'll tell you a tale of when I got on a train, with a lanyard and my ear defenders on.

It was loud, so I put on my ear defenders, I missed over the tannoy that the train would have to divert to a different station and would be terminating there. Everyone got off the train en masse, which confused me and the conductor came up to me, removed my ear defenders and said "maybe if you weren't wearing those stupid things you'd know you need to get off. It's always the same with YOU PEOPLE", so I had to get off the train, in a panic, at a destination I had absolutely no idea of, no phone signal, everyone avoiding me because I had outed myself as disabled. I'll spare the rest of the story because it's quite traumatic, but yes wearing disability lanyards, or anything that can out you as disabled outrightly does get you targeted for discrimination.

I had another incidednt where I wore my lanyard in a shop, and the cashier started speaking to me really slowly and loudly, even though I told her I can hear her just fine, yes I would like it if she could put the things in the bag for me, and she held the queue up, while people just stared at me as though I was the cause of the hold up.

We get enough guff for being disabled and trying to highlight we need accomodations, without our employers adding to this.

Stating your neurodivergence in your email sign offs will absoslutely cause people to misunderstand, misinterpret, intentionally change your words, talk down to you, discriminate against you, avoid you, and even cause tensions if you have reasonable adjustment accomodations that they feel they should also be entitled to. It puts a big fat plumbob on your head as a "special one", so people know who exactly to direct their vitriol towards.

So optional or not, it is the employers responsibility to manage each person on an individual basis without pointing it out to all and sundry. It doesn't matter whether the indication is a physical indication or a digital one. The employer can't expect all it's employees to know or understand the varying needs of neurodivergence.

Exactly. Real inclusivity isn’t about broadcasting personal diagnoses in a one size fits all way, it’s about rethinking structures and processes to accommodate a wider range of working styles. Slapping a label in a signature doesn’t equip colleagues to help or systems to flex. It just shifts the emotional labour and risk onto the individual.

They’re opening themselves open wide to claims of a hostile work environment with implicit pressure to disclose…

it’s like a lot of things, it might help some people, it might harm some people and some of the people disclosing will be judged negatively by some people..

They are personal medical information just like adhd / asd but if you want a comparison which is also a disability I can give you one.
Will Danny from accounts who is a wheelchair user be asked if he'd like to disclose his disability in his email sign off ? Or Sandra who has a prosthetic limb? Bob who is a cochlear user ?

That's a really helpful way to communicate the accomodations someone needs.

I take it you don’t HAVE to do it, you can choose to do it, if it will help make life easier, at work.

I really don’t see why people are so angry about it, nobody is forcing you to write anything on your sign off.

Workplaces can be hard for ND people, and we should be supporting them to be in work, and if reasonable adjustments help with that, great.

If someone was in a wheelchair, would you arrange a meeting on the 2nd floor of a building that had no lifts?

This whole thread smacks of “ND is a made up condition, that lazy people use to get out of doing proper work”

Exactly this. Very well said.

Also to the PP you replied to, yes, they're disabilities.

Not being sarky but why would disclosing your ND mean you can then tell others how to script and format emails.
I fully get where you are coming from regarding badly formatted emails and walls of text and word salad etc but you can’t go around telling people how to script emails to your liking.

Might as well wear a badge and be done with it.

Why don't you just make something up?

I would

[Edit Have they said you must have a medical - or other - diagnosis, or can you just self-diagnose with anxiety, OCD, ADHD etc?]

That’s the whole thing though isn’t kt? It’s well meant perhaps but a lot of colleagues will judge negatively / plenty of times articles on ND being over diagnosed etc. etc.

and that’s why some folk want their accommodations kept private

Must be voluntary and up to the employee as to how much they wish to share

Not just a wheelchair user. Lots of people can’t manage stairs. I wouldn’t work for a company that doesn’t have aqueduct systems in place other than a staircase.

No one’s angry about ND support, it’s vital. But this isn’t about reasonable adjustments like accessible buildings or clear communication preferences. It’s about how those adjustments are introduced and whether the burden of disclosure is being placed on individuals in ways that may feel exposing or uncomfortable. If someone wants to disclose, great. But encouragement from above can feel like quiet pressure, especially in competitive or judgemental environments. Privacy and autonomy still matter.

I wouldn’t work for a company that doesn’t have aqueduct systems in place

That would be a good signature...

But the best way to deal with the wheelchair issue is at corporate level, either by raising it with senior leaders or through an ability representative group.

disabled individuals advising other colleagues not to arrange meetings above the ground floor because they can’t access it is wrong- it puts the onus, the emotional burden and the “work” on the marginalised person, and leave them open to any recourse the receiver wishes to give out, making them vulnerable.

The disabled person should have direct access to power to raise their concerns and get it dealt with by someone else, someone who has the power to do so.

But the best way to deal with the wheelchair issue is at corporate level, either by raising it with senior leaders or through an ability representative group.

disabled individuals advising other colleagues not to arrange meetings above the ground floor because they can’t access it is wrong- it puts the onus, the emotional burden and the “work” on the marginalised person, and leave them open to any recourse the receiver wishes to give out, making them vulnerable.

The disabled person should have direct access to power to raise their concerns and get it dealt with by someone else, someone who has the power to do so.

If people feel they have to make things up just to blend in, that kind of proves the pressure exists and defeats the point of this being a ‘supportive’ measure. And no, they haven’t said anything about needing a formal diagnosis, which makes it all even murkier. Where’s the line between self-disclosure, assumed disclosure, and over-disclosure?

If it’s by choice, what is the problem ? Is someone being forced to do it?

My ND colleagues will often talk about it .. and as a ND parent, I’m more than happy to make adjustments in my behaviour, to accommodate them.

This country is getting less and less tolerant .. and always seems to be the privileged (in this case the ones without a disability) that seem most incensed.

😂😂just realised the spelling error.

This would be my actual nightmare at work.

I have ADHD, I manage an autistic woman and an autistic man. I struggle with loads of guff underneath email signatures anyway (when did it become commonplace to have a load of images and a zillion lines of text in there?). If I am then being expected to read look through all the guff to find out how I should reply in a style that best suits a person in a group email, I can tell you now it won't happen. I'm too concerned with trying to reply to the email before I forget it exists. And although I'm happy to write anonymously on a forum that I have ADHD I'm not going to put it in writing to every single person I ever deal with at work especially those who are external partners at other Councils or schools or the DFE or the police.

My reasonable adjustment would be not to have to have a load of superfluous nonsense that makes me have to scroll pages to get to the actual email thread.

As a manager I try to flex my style to a person's needs but that's because I meet with them regularly, we talk about specific piece of work and how we can improve communication or how things work best for us. With my own manager I will sometimes ask for clarification on a point and my own team know they can do that with me. I don't use loads of colours or random bolding. I don't put in extraneous details. I keep my emails clear and to the point as that benefits everyone. The majority of my emails are to share information or request something, not a LinkedIn or Facebook post.

Exactly. Well-meaning isn’t always well-thought through. Just because something is optional doesn’t mean it’s free from consequences, especially when ND conditions are so widely misunderstood and casually debated in the media. For a lot of people, privacy is protection.

My son who is autistic would hate this. He doesn’t mind telling people when necessary, such as letting HR know and his immediate boss but he wouldn’t want to broadcast it because of people’s prejudices.

I can't imagine anything worse
I am diagnosed autistic,and very choosey about who I tell
And I hide it very well ,so people don't guess
This would upset me greatly