Unrecognized NeuroDivergence in the Workplace: Invisible Differences Hiding in Plain Sight - When NeuroDivergent People Don't Know They're NeuroDivergent

Many people in the workforce today are NeuroDivergent and often don’t even know it.

Many people in the workforce today are NeuroDivergent and often don’t even know it.

I didn’t find out I was Autistic until I was 29 years old, and my ADHD wasn’t officially diagnosed until several years later, in my mid 30’s. So I spent a LARGE part of my life not knowing or understanding how and why my mind worked so differently from those of the people around me.

My name is Lyric Rivera and I’m multiply NeuroDivergent, but I didn’t know this fact for most of my life. I’m also nonbinary and use gender neutral pronouns (they/them).

For almost thirty years, I thought I was just an inferior NeuroTypical person. When, a few months before my thirtieth birthday, I found out I was Autistic and started studying NeuroDiversity.

This changed my life.

Up until that point I'd managed to scrape by, forcing myself to functioning as society expected me to, until situations changed, or my ability to do so ran out, and I was no longer able to keep up with the demands the world had for me.

In order to show up and be the best version of myself, I needed the freedom to flex the NeuroTypical systems and expectations, and do things differently.

Learning more about NeuroDiversity has allowed me to stop holding myself to NeuroTypical standards, and given me the confidence to better advocate for my needs, setting me free to be authentically, radically, boldly, and proudly, myself.

I’m just one of many who have had to make their way in a world where traditional methods of education and employment didn't suit us. I’ve had to learn how to create my own channels, when the way forward was blocked by a NeuroTypical system.

In high school, rather than planning for university, I took my first full time job, as soon as I was legally able, after years of working in the family business under my mother’s watchful eye.

Taking the long way around has helped me to develop a diverse business background, and my experiences have helped inform my knowledge of NeuroTypical systems, and how to create new channels.

I didn't know about the differences in my brain when I entered the workforce in my preteens, helping my mom with the family business—a hair salon; but working there enabled me to gain many of the skills I would need to succeed in other workplaces.

Starting at around age 11, I learned how to take care of a wide variety of tasks around the hair salon I grew up in, from sweeping floors and taking out the trash, to shampooing clients and booking appointments. Eventually, I was even preparing the bank deposits at the end of each day.

Bit by bit, I mastered inventory control, customer service, and even the basics behind running a business and bookkeeping.

By the time I was ready to apply for my first job outside of the family business, at the age of 16, I had already accumulated a nice set of workplace skills and was ahead of the game when compared to most high school (and many college) students.

My next job (my first venture out into the working world without a family cushion) would be in fast food, as a roller-skating car-hop for a popular American fast food restaurant chain.

Over the course of five years, I worked my way up to an assistant manager’s position, soaking up as much free leadership training as possible along the way before moving on at the age of twenty-one.

Paid subscribers have access to more of this story as thanks for supporting my work.

You can also read more in my book Workplace NeuroDiversity Rising 2.0.

Purple book with a pink brain on the cover that reads Workplace NeuroDiversity Rinsing 2.0, by Lyric Rivera - NeuroDivergent Rebel - NeuroDiversity = All brains, neurodivergent and neurotypical, working together and supporting each other. Rethinking workplace policy & culture to include people with diverse brains, creating spaces where both neurodivergent and neurotypicals can thrive.

Start Making Immediate Changes to the World Around You

Workplace NeuroDiversity Rising was named “trend for 2023” and praised in Forbes as “an excellent ‘how to manual’ based on lived experience and professional competence.”

Workplace NeuroDiversity Rising is intended to be a tool that can help ANYONE who wants to make the world or the spaces around them more inclusive for NeuroDivergent (and all) People in organizations, communities, schools, and beyond.

Paperback, eBook, and audiobook-NOW AVAILABLE!

While this book was written specifically for organizations that want to be more inclusive of NeuroDivergent People, I’ve tried to write this guide in a way so that it will be universally applicable in many scenarios.

This easy-to-read, affordable guide will be a valuable tool, offering clear guidance to help those who read it immediately change the spaces around them.

With Love and Gratitude,

– Lyric

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