Neurodivergent People: Employment

Alex Mayer Excerpts

Tuesday 9th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Alex Mayer (Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Ely and East Cambridgeshire (Charlotte Cane) on securing this debate.

Our workplace, culture and society thrive not when everyone thinks alike, but when talent, creativity and difference are allowed to shine through. There is strength in diversity. Although many debates on neurodiversity understandably focus on those furthest from the labour market, I would like to focus my remarks on those who do work who do not have a learning disability, but who, as society, we absolutely need to support to keep working. The recommendations of the Buckland review were about transforming employer behaviour and workplace design to ensure inclusivity. I often find that people seem to think that that just means a knee-jerk reaction from an employer—“Have some noise-cancelling headphones, and then we are covered”—but it has to be much more than that.

I think that there are a lot more autistic people in the workplace than is suggested by any of the statistics that have been quoted in this debate. King’s College London published research yesterday that said that 89% of autistic adults aged over 40 are living without a diagnosis, so simple tweaks in the workplace could help both those who are diagnosed and those who are undiagnosed. As we have heard in this debate, such tweaks could also help many neurotypical people.

It is particularly important to make job adverts a bit less woolly. That would ensure that every applicant understands what is actually required. Designing the option of quieter spaces with softer lighting can create calmer, healthier and more productive workspaces, and in a modern world where people are popping off to do Zoom and Teams calls all the time, organisations need those quiet spaces for everyone. Flexible hours, remote working and no expectation of going to the pub after work can be much more inclusive all year round.

That is not to minimise the experience of people with autism. I firmly believe that the Equality Act is vital, and potentially more so for women with autism than men, because workplace norms are gendered. A blunt male colleague may be described as being straight-talking, efficient or assertive, whereas a woman in that circumstance is far more often judged to be rude and abrupt. Human resources studies show that women are much more likely to receive criticism about their tone or communication style.

I sometimes worry that our debates focus a bit too much on misery rather than success and happiness—I am not just talking about this debate; I think it is a matter right across this place—and I do not want any child who has received a diagnosis to think that they cannot go on to have a really successful life, so it is really important that we highlight those positive role models. They can be a Lioness. They can be an author. As my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) pointed out, they can be a politician like him or like me. Many of us grew up watching Chris Packham on “The Really Wild Show”.

These conditions make people who they are—passionate, knowledgeable and observant. In a survey of silicon valley professionals, 30% believed that they may be on the autism spectrum. Some argue that Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci or Mozart were neurodivergent—Elon Musk, too; I am not sure whether he fits anyone’s definition of happiness, but he certainly sees the world in a different way.

Neurodivergent minds can excel to drive innovation. We succeed as a society when we embrace the talents of all. If we all did everything the same, frankly, nothing would change, and I think life would be very, very dull.