The Key Learning Points:

1. Five key areas of neurodiversity and the broad impact on individuals and their families

2. The opportunity that neurodiverse talent represents to organisations and the value of new skills and ways of thinking

3. Barriers faced by neurodivergent individuals in the transition from school to work and beyond

On this week's remote Risky Mix podcast, we’re thrilled to be joined by not one, but two wonderful guests as we explore the topic of neurodiversity and why the financial services sector should be embracing neurodiverse talent. Barbara Schonhofer is founder and chair of the women’s business community, the ISC Group, as well as being a founding member and co-chair of GAIN which is the Group for Autism, Insurance and Neurodiversity. Ailsa King is the chief client officer and CEO of risk management at Marsh. She also leads the neurodiversity workstream within the ISC.

Barbara tells us more about the GAIN group, which interestingly started on a dive boat in Turkey! A number of conversations later with various experts in the field and the charity, Ambitious about Autism, and GAIN was born: “The idea behind GAIN is to tap into this talent pool, this untapped talent pool, for the insurance industry. What we want to do is get more young people who are on the spectrum into meaningful employment where we actually use their talents.” One of the hardest things for Barbara is actually building the community because people may be afraid to join in, potentially worried about being identified by colleagues. She asks: “How do you provide that safe space for them to have the courage to actually say who they are and bring their whole selves to work?” Her ask: “If you are on the spectrum, you’ve got someone in your family, you know a colleague, come forward and speak to us!”

Barbara explains that there are five key areas of neurodiversity, which have a far-reaching impact on individuals and their families. There are 700,000 people on the autism spectrum in the UK and the condition is part of the daily lives of 2.8m people (including families). Dyslexia affects 10% of the population and dyspraxia, or developmental coordination disorder, 3% of adults in the UK. Dyscalculia, which is dyslexia with numbers, is seen in around 5% of people in the UK, and the final condition is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) which affects around 2 -5% of school-aged children. Barbara adds: “I think it’s really important to see the broadness of this and how it affects so many people and so many families.” 

Ailsa King tells us about the Insurance Supper Club (ISC), which is a group of female leaders from across the industry, representing a broad community of insurers and brokers. “As a senior woman in the industry, I feel it incumbent on me to improve the lot of the next generation coming up behind us.” 

We discuss the skills that neurodiverse individuals bring to corporates and Barbara believes that we should be recognising the whole spectrum. And now is the time, as more disruptors enter our industry who are thinking differently and challenging the old ways of doing things. Ailsa explains that the pandemic and lockdown has shown us just how innovative we can be: “We are capable, we just need to embrace. We need to understand the need and the urgency of the need and then get on and do something about it!”

We discuss the journey from school into the workplace and beyond for neurodiverse individuals and Barbara explains that post-school provision is insufficient and not inclusive. Beyond school, there are also many barriers and Barbara believes a general fear in organisations about how to recruit, manage and retain these individuals. For Ailsa, manager training is absolutely essential. “There are complexities that the corporates have to put some time and effort into dealing with.”