Our very own Robyn Lowe hosts this week’s podcast in which we discuss the work done by the Vet Project, with Helen Allwood and Daniel Keating-Roberts. Both with a personal understanding of neurodiversity, they discuss how they decided to set up the Vet Project, to help with the challenges of life in veterinary practice. They give advice and insight into how to improve the workplace for neurodivergent individuals.

We touch on how, due to the nature of neurodiversity, every individual and their needs are different and as a result placing someone into a category based on diagnosis and assuming what they will need can be really unhelpful. It is important that individuals feel able to self-advocate for their needs, and for leadership to educate themselves and make themselves aware of the lived experience of neurodiversity, and to be led by the individual.

We talk about how to ask for reasonable adjustments at work, highlighting that you do not need a formal diagnosis to ask for this support. Along with this is the need to reduce the stigma around neurodiversity, increasing our understanding and awareness.

We explain the double empathy mismatch, where due to differences in communication styles neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals may not recognise the others empathy, but that does not mean that empathy is not there.

This is not an issue unique to the veterinary profession and is on a societal level. But there are a high proportion of veterinary professionals who are neurodivergent and it is so important for us all to understand what this means as it can be a wonderfully enriching thing. Variety is the spice of life!

For. more information check out Vetlife's excellent resource:

https://www.vetlife.org.uk/sdm_downloads/neurodiversity-awareness-resource-booklet/

And the RCVS's recent reasonable adjustment's campaign:

https://www.rcvs.org.uk/lifelong-learning/leadership-diversity-and-inclusion/reasonable-adjustments-campaign/?&&type=rfst&set=true#cookie-widget