Instagram sisters from Birmingham raising neurodiversity awareness
By May, the company had delivered neurodiversity training to seven organisations and 350 people, helping them to understand how to better support employees.Neurodivergence is an umbrella term that includes a number of conditions including ASD, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia. Iveta told the BBC her sister Vera's Instagram reflections were not intended to go viral, but her take on life soon gained traction. She explained her sister is "a very creative person" who made "content illustrations about her experience of being diagnosed... to connect with other autistic people". Iveta joined her and added: "We started an e-commerce [initiative], selling communication products like badges and cards, because a lot of neurodivergent people are non verbal."
'More productive'
Badges and cards have helped neurodivergent people express themselves in public. One design reads: "I wear noise-cancelling headphones but I can still hear you."Iveta said they started e-commerce work "to empower other neurodivergent people".However, she added "the lack of neurodiversity awareness and support is impacting everyone, including companies, and so we transitioned to delivering neurodiversity training". Their company now works with organisations including the NHS and is behind training delivered in tech firms, universities and local government.One project, in partnership with Birmingham Newman University and the NHS, involved training psychological and wellbeing practitioners to better support autistic patients.
'Looking to leave'
"What we found is that neurodiverse teams are about 30% more productive when they have the right support," Iveta said. "But 50% of neurodivergent staff are... looking to leave their employer because of a lack of support."She said in the work with the NHS, they addressed "diagnostic bias", which she explained was essentially when a practitioner diagnosing someone "might have personal biases". The company was invited to deliver staff training "on recognising their own biases, addressing them, but then also tailoring their therapy services and support to their autistic patients". Iveta added: "In the last year we've seen kind of the corporate world take up neurodiversity a lot more because there's more demand both internally, and [from] society pressures."
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