Making Neurodiversity Practices Economically Inclusive

By Ludmila Praslova, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP, Âû

Efforts to include neurodivergent talent are gaining ground in progressive organizational practices. Flexible work, sensory-inclusive environment design, better communication and skill-based assessments are all steps in the right direction.

But, many programs still stop short of full inclusion because they stop short of intersectional inclusion. One important example - they address neurodifference, but not economic difference. And in a world where economic struggle is common, forgetting this aspect of intersectionality means leaving many people locked out of opportunity. Our best neuroinclusion practices can be improved by adding economic inclusion practices. 

Intersectional Inaccessibility

Neurodivergent candidates are not a monolith. Some have reliable transportation, spare time, and a financial cushion.

But many, regardless of education or skills, are balancing precarious hourly work, unemployment, caregiving, chronic illness and other types of disability, lack of health insurance, or unstable housing.

Consider this common practice: an employer offers a “more equitable” process by replacing interviews with multi-hour, or even multi-day, skills assessments.

Skills assessments are generally more neuroinclusive than interviews, so this seems fair. But only if you can afford to spend a significant amount of time,  unpaid, completing the project.

A 2022 Stanford study on job search inequality indicated that job-seeking itself incurs significant costs that fall disproportionately on lower-income candidates, including time off work, transportation, childcare, and internet access. A neurodivergent candidate from a working poor background might not make it through the hiring process not because of ability but because of compounding, intersectional barriers. Sadly, the very format of performance-based hiring designed to “level the playing field” for neurodivergent candidates might be inadvertently reinforcing the old class lines.

And because autistic people already are more likely to face economic difficulties than the general population, a combination of economic exclusion and neuroableism can make these candidates especially vulnerable.

The sad result of the lack of intersectional inclusion is that hiring systems that were meant to include become, at best, selectively inclusive. They may open the door for the more privileged within the target group, such as neurodivergent people, while leaving others behind. And who is most likely to be left behind? It’s multiply marginalized people navigating class, disability, and other barriers.

Intersectional Neuroinclusion

True neuroinclusion doesn’t stop at the psychological profile. It must also consider intersectionalities, including class.

How can organizations become both neuroinclusive and economically accessible? Start with an audit, and fix issues that impede class inclusion. It is always best to engage lived experience in such an audit. Invite feedback from past applicants—especially those who didn’t accept or complete the process. What stopped them? 

Here are some of the typical hiring practice barriers to consider: 

Unpaid Labor

• Skill assessments and projects: Is your company asking job applicants to complete time-consuming tasks without pay?

Solutions: Prospective employers asking candidates to complete work projects that may actually be used by the employer should pay them. 

Another solution is using shorter but still valid skills assessments focused on tasks that are core to the specific position the candidate has applied for. 

• Multi-round processes: Are there several rounds of interviews or other evaluations requiring substantial unpaid time commitment?

Possible Solutions: Streamline hiring into fewer stages. Provide clear value for candidates, such as feedback reports on skill assessments with suggestions for improvement.

Travel and Transportation

• In-person interviews or trial days: Is physical attendance required? Are those who live farther away penalized?

Possible Solutions: Offer remote-first options. Reduce or reimburse expenses if in-person attendance is necessary.

• Parking and access costs: Are candidates expected to pay for parking or navigate inaccessible routes?

Possible Solutions: Provide transit support and accessibility guidance upfront. Provide free one-day visitor pass.

Technology and Internet Access

• Video interviews and digital platforms: Does your process assume access to a quiet, private space, high-speed internet, or newer hardware?

Possible Solutions: Offer options like phone interviews or asynchronous video recordings. Provide clear, simple tech instructions.

• Software requirements: Are you requiring candidates to use unfamiliar or proprietary software with no guidance?

Possible Solutions: Choose accessible, widely available tools, and offer tech support.

Inflexible Timelines

• One-size-fits-all deadlines: Are assessments or interviews only available during business hours?

Possible Solutions: Provide flexible scheduling for those balancing inflexible current jobs, caregiving, or other limitations. 

• Last-minute demands: Are candidates given little time to prepare or respond?

Possible Solutions: Communicate timelines early and transparently; offer extensions when possible.

The general rule is – if something is not relevant to performing the job, it should not be a part of hiring. 

Many neuroinclusion programs did a great job with removing the neurotypical small talk requirements that are often problematic for neurodivergent candidates but are irrelevant to many jobs. Now, we need to do the same with the expectation of running back and forth between multiple buildings for interviews if the actual job does not require this type of stamina or driving to the remote testing facility only accessible by car if the actual job does not require driving.

Of course, inclusion does not stop with hiring. Onboarding, for example, also requires intersectional considerations. More broadly, every aspect of organizational life must be audited for intersectional inclusion. Only correcting all exclusionary practices makes work truly fair. 

Inclusion Is Not a Checkbox

Hiring neurodivergent talent should be innovative in more ways than one, to avoid the replication of exclusionary systems. Inclusion that only serves the most resourced among the underrepresented falls short of true inclusion. 

To move toward intersectional inclusion, we must ask: Who is still missing? And why?

Only then can we build hiring systems that reflect the full spectrum of talent, potential, and lived experience.

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