Neurodiversity in the Workplace

Event Date:

04 October 2024

Event Time:

8:30 am

Event Location:

Scottish Engineering

Neurodiversity in the Workplace

Name: Neurodiversity in the Workplace
Start: 2024-10-04 08:30:00 GMT+0000
End: 2024-10-04 10:30:00
Location: Scottish Engineering

Friday 4th October 2024

Join us on Friday 4th October, 0830-1030 for an in person Breakfast Briefing centred on neurodiversity in the workplace. Discover more about how to support your neurodivergent employees and possible discrimination pitfalls from our legal team. Hear about the benefits that these incredible and diverse individuals could bring to your organisation from a neurodiverse employer and what adjustments they have made in order to accommodate.

On the day, we will also be joined by some neurodivergent individuals as they share their experience of living and working with their condition and some of the adjustments that help them in their day to day role.

Current statistics indicate that between 10% and 15% of the Scottish population are neurodiverse, up to 70% of people with neurodevelopmental conditions seek mental health support and this group makes up a significant proportion of adults involved with mental health services. As an industry, there is more we can do to help.

Running order

8.30am – Tea, coffee and pastries, plus networking opportunity
9am – speaker presentations with time for questions
10am – second networking opportunity

Our Speakers

Lindsey Miller – Solicitor & Legal Advisor

Lindsey joined Scottish Engineering in 1992 as newly qualified solicitor and gained extensive experience in advising member companies in matters of employment law and representing them at Employment Tribunals at numerous locations in Scotland and in England & Wales. Her start date predates the introduction of legislation to protect against disability discrimination in the form of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995!

She gained a CIPD level 5 qualification in 2017 and progressed to heading up the Legal & HR Team within Scottish Engineering in early 2018 where she also continues to advise and represent member companies. She regularly provides advice on compliance with employer’s duties under the Equality Act 2010, where the statutory provisions on disability discrimination are now based, particularly in the area of making reasonable adjustments to alleviate the impact of a disability on a disabled employee.

Jennifer MacDonald – Diversity and Inclusion Advisor

Jennifer is a chemical engineer turned diversity professional who is dyslexic. She worked in the oilfield for seven years, both at home and internationally, without any awareness of her neurodiversity. During that time, she handled large volumes of fluids, boats, and chemicals with ease, thriving in the remote, onsite working environment that oil rigs demand. However, when she transitioned into an office environment, she began to struggle. Keeping up with the daily influx of emails became challenging, and she found it difficult to adjust to tasks that required summarising large written documents, preparing papers for sign-off, and working on contracts.

At the age of 28, Jennifer was diagnosed with dyslexia, and everything started to make more sense. Since then, she has embarked on a journey to understand what neurodiversity means for her and for the engineering workplace. She is currently the Diversity and Inclusion Programme Manager at the Royal Society and previously served as the Diversity Manager at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS). Jennifer is also a member of the Equal Engineers Neurodiversity Network and collaborates with STEMazing to design and deliver inclusive engineering activities to school children.

Graeme Turner – Business Development Manager

Graeme joined member company Haven Products in 2023 as a Business Development Manager, he said: “I feel quite passionate about neurodiversity in the workplace as I myself went through school with learning difficulties and even today face certain challenges. Neurodiversity in the workplace is important but the support of those individuals is paramount, companies can experience a higher rate of absence, sickness, doctors appointments, mental health needs and day to day support. Each individuals specific needs will be different and employers and fellow employees will need to adapt accordingly to ensure an inclusive working environment.”

Calum Stewart – Supervisor

Calum currently works as a Supervisor at Haven Products, he began his journey with the social enterprise as a Centre Service Operative in the scanning department, joining straight from education. Calum said: “It has not always been the easiest journey due to my condition but one in which I feel that I have excelled. I feel strongly that there is a massive gap in the market when it comes to places that support people with Neurodiversity. When we consider that an estimated 1 in 7 people have some form of Neurodiversity (ADHD/ Autism/ Downs Syndrome/ OCD, etc) there is not enough places that cater to the needs of Neurodivergent people.”