Workplace(or any) organising when neurodiverse

Submitted by sawa on February 22, 2018

Does anyone have any good resources or can share their personal experiences on such.
In case folk dont know Neurodiversity refers to when someones brain is structured and works differently from the majority of people. Examples (thoqugh not inclusive of all) of such are Autism Spectrum conditions, ADHD, learning disabilities, personality disorders, bipolar etc.

Just haven't found much on the internet and disabled people including neurodiverse folk often have more reasons to organise in the workplace(discrimination, lack of proper implementation of reasonal adjustments, absense policies etc.)

Lots of articles and advice on organising especially workplace organising seem to assume folk are neurotypical.

Building relationships in the workplace is important. But lots of advice seems to assume already high levels of social and communication skills without any guidance on developing such.

Informal meetings and talking to work colleagues informally individually can also be difficult for some neurodiverse folk but are generally what is suggested in order to increase organisation and power in the workplace.

Trade unions in particular can be not very accessible and require communication via phone calls, post and long forms.
Obviously formal ballots have to be held by post due to anti trade union laws but there doesnt seem to be much analysis of how inaccessible such forms of communication can be. Nor much move to use a diversity of communication methods to be more inclusive where possible.

I hope this is an okay topic for discussion.
Just wondering what folks thoughts are or any resources folk can suggest.

jef costello

6 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by jef costello on February 22, 2018

The question seems like a good one, I don't know if anyone can help, but anyone who can will try. I don't have much to offer because I haven't done an organising campaign and I have awful social skills.

There is a lot under the organise tab, and many of those sections have discussions under them, or have been mentioned in the discussion forums.

The AF, solfed and IWW have members on here who have posted over the years about organising and organiser training. I remember social skills coming up quite freuquently, you don't have to be neurodiverse to be unsure of how to approach people. I would recommend looking for some of the disucssions, search for organiser training and the names of the groups will get you some useful links. Chili Sauce, Juan Conatz, Nate and lots of others have posted on the subject, so you could search for their names as well.

In terms of unions, I think you can probably ask them to change communication methods.

Would you mind posting up things that you do find helpful, either here or on existing posts. It will help others with future organising campaigns.