Following Neurodiversity Celebration Week we wanted to continue the conversation about how neurodivergent individuals are perceived and supported. Creating more inclusive and equitable cultures that celebrate differences and empower everybody takes time, takes discussions, and takes actively engaging with communities.
As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting inclusion, we are excited to share this piece from our own Marketing Executive, Jenny, who offers a personal perspective on the relationship between neurodiversity and mentoring.
My Personal Perspective on Neurodiversity and Mentoring
Mentoring and neurodiversity… it honestly seems like such a big topic as I sit here at the top of the dreaded blank page.
During the recent Neurodiversity Celebration Week my social media feeds got pretty flooded with posts about what awareness and acceptance actually mean for the community. Everyone seems to have different ideas and takes, and frankly it can get a bit overwhelming.
So, I thought it could be worth sitting down and focusing in on one particular aspect of this which impacts my own life on a daily basis.
What is the relationship between neurodiversity and mentoring?
As a late diagnosed individual, it is almost funny to look back on my journey so far, particularly around self-advocacy and support needs. As I was thinking about what I could possibly write for this topic, I suddenly realised:
Mentoring is actually a fundamental part of all the neurodiversity community spaces I have interacted with. Just not in a formal way.
Don’t get me wrong- there are a growing number of formal mentoring programs which specifically aim to support neurodiverse people in work, at school, and in their wider community. And that is fantastic! By its very nature, mentoring is a person-centred approach which is precisely what needs to drive any development or support structure. No conversation about us without us.
However, in my own experience, a lot of informal (and especially peer) mentoring organically develops within neurodiversity support spaces.
Like I said- I was late diagnosed. That means I spent all of my formative years and a lot of my early working life trying desperately to figure out how I was supposed to fit and function in a world that just didn’t seem to work. I didn’t know why things were so hard and often fell into the common pit of believing that I just wasn’t working hard enough, or that it was my fault; that I needed to put in more effort and just try.
It was actually a ‘life hacks’ style video that started me on my journey of exploring neurodivergence, and to my eventual diagnosis. The video shared 3 ways to help reduce sensory overload in the workplace. I had no idea what sensory overload really was, but what they described made me go ‘oh- that is exactly how I felt in the office today’. So, I tried a couple of the suggestions, and when they helped, I decided to see what else this channel had posted about. It was on the third video that I realised they were all ADHD centred. This was the start of a (very) long journey of discovery.
Part of me sharing that story was because (classically) I tend to wander off on tangents whilst I am going into depth on a topic.
But it is relevant!
That open support and sharing of tips, ideas and ‘hacks’ is often a key part of neurodiverse communities. As is sharing personal experiences, asking for suggestions, celebrating wins and commiserating on setbacks. It is a sprawling peer network, sometimes on a global scale. And amongst them a few people regularly take a more active role in providing advice, sign posting resources, prompting discussion etc.
It was only when I stopped to think about it in reference to the question of neurodiversity and mentoring that I realised- they have effectively undertaken the role of a peer mentor.
And my exploration of my own neurodivergence has very much been a mentoring style experience. At least in the groups that I connect with, the tone is not being told what you should do. It is rather accepting, and even celebrating, that everybody’s journey is different and that what works for some won’t be right for others.
You need to discover what your neurodiversity means for you- setting your own goals, finding your own approaches. The community will be there to support you, to guide and advise where they can, but only you can really decide how it is all going to go.
That is pretty much the definition of mentoring.
So yeah- I have basically sat down to write this and as I have done so realised that mentoring has been a key part of my journey so far without me even recognising it.
But then, maybe the subconscious pattern recognition is what drew me to work where I do now, with The Mentoring School, to provide mentor training for individuals and organisations.
Who knows.
Anyway, as far as the topic ‘the relationship between neurodiversity and mentoring’ goes, I would say that mentoring approaches form a fundamental part of effective support, even without intentionally choosing to use them. (With this in mind, I would also suggest that neurodiversity support programs should actively engage with these styles to improve their impact.)
Find out more about available peer mentor training to help build community connections.