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You might know someone who is neurodivergent—someone whose brain doesn’t work the way most people’s brains work. This person could be a family member, spouse, friend, or colleague. Or you yourself may be neurodivergent.

According to Cleveland Clinic, “neurodiversity” and related words, such as “neurodiverse” and “neurodivergent,” are non-medical terms that may encompass different social preferences, ways of learning, ways of communicating, and ways of perceiving the environment. The broad umbrella of neurodivergence may include people with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, Down syndrome, dyscalculia, dyslexia, bipolar disorder, sensory processing disorders, and other conditions. Famous people who are neurodivergent include actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, singer Florence Welch, and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles.

The occupational and environmental health and safety profession includes neurodivergent people. Jonathan Klane, MSEd, CIH, CSP, CHMM, spoke with The Synergist about accessibility and accommodation practices that benefitted him as an autistic OEHS professional for the November 2024 article “OEHS and Disability.” OEHS professionals also encounter neurodivergent people in the workplace. At AIHA Connect 2025, John Dony and Sarah Ischer will present a session on making workplace safety programs friendlier for neurodivergent workers. Connect 2025 keynote speaker David Finch, engineer, consultant and author of the New York Times bestselling memoir The Journal of Best Practices, will also discuss the unique contributions offered by neurodivergent people in the workplace and how organizational leaders can better manage them.

“Virtually every company and workplace with more than two employees could be considered a neurodiverse organization,” Finch wrote in an email to the SynergistNOW. “So, I’m going to talk about managing and leveraging neurodiversity in the workplace, the benefits and realities of hiring unique talents, and how to manage those gifted coworkers who sometimes operate a little differently.”

A First-Person Perspective on Neurodiversity

Finch has followed an unusual career path. In 1999, he started work as an engineer in the semiconductor industry. A few years later, he changed to a marketing role at the same company. Since then, he has worked in global account management, digital media production, creative writing, speaking, and consulting. As Finch is also autistic, his Connect 2025 keynote will provide a first-person perspective on neurodiversity in the workplace.

In the first stage of his career, Finch designed circuits and software for audio systems, and he dealt with customers rarely. When it was necessary for Finch to meet with customers face to face, “I was so honest with them that I would recommend a competitor’s product if I knew it performed better than my company’s,” he told SynergistNOW. Many autistic people tend to prefer extreme honesty in communication, as autistic writer and neuroscientist Ira Kraemer notes. Although honesty is commended in many social situations, Finch’s marketing department did not appreciate him selling competing products.

The shift to marketing required him to meet with customers more frequently. Fortunately, a senior colleague mentored Finch on the business aspects of their industry. “I was committed to growing into the role and, with his help, I was able to adapt and learn an entirely different professional discipline,” he wrote.

But at about this time, Finch’s relationship with his wife, Kristen, deteriorated. “The time and focus demands of a corporate job may have been partially to blame, but clearly, my Asperger syndrome, a diagnosis I received five years into our marriage, had more to do with the challenges,” Finch wrote. Asperger syndrome is a historic diagnostic label that was subsumed into the autism spectrum in 2013, with the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The diagnostic criteria for autism does not include being a disappointing husband, Finch noted, but some of his personality traits related to his autism contributed to challenges in his relationship with Kristen. According to Finch, “pathological rigidity, adherence to routine, unusual preoccupations, and clinical-strength egocentricity were all things I brought into the marriage.”

But Finch’s autistic traits also motivated him to work on his relationship with Kristen. “I committed to learning how my behaviors and energies had been affecting our marriage, and how to correct them. In other words, I took an engineer’s rigorous approach to fixing our marriage,” he said. “I developed a list of maxims for how to be a better husband and practiced them daily; I called it my journal of best practices.” Finch’s “journal of best practices” and quest to save his marriage became the topic of his 2009 essay for The New York Times column “Modern Love” and provided the title for his memoir.

Like most people—both neurotypical and neurodivergent—Finch has experienced his share of challenges and successes. At work, his mentor helped him learn the skills he needed for a marketing role. At home, his systematic approach to relationships helped him learn to be a better husband and partner to Kristen. “The main driver throughout this first half of my professional life has been a desire and a will to learn and do better,” Finch said. “That, and a few close relationships with key people who get me, at home and in the workplace.”

Supporting Neurodivergent People at Work

Finch’s autism manifests as a particular set of skills and personality traits, but every neurodivergent person is different. “The personalities and preferences of neurodivergent people can be widely different, even when they have the same underlying condition,” Cleveland Clinic states. Neurodivergent people may also differ in their need for supportive workplace practices and accommodations. For example, some may benefit from hiring processes that emphasize their particular job-related skills rather than their ability to ace interviews, while others may appreciate noise-cancelling headphones that help them be productive in noisy offices. But with up to 15 to 20 percent of the population estimated to be neurodivergent in some way, every employer must consider its neurodiverse workers.

Cleveland Clinic stresses that “the idea of neurodiversity doesn’t mean people who are neurodivergent ignore or deny that they have struggles” but that they use the knowledge of being neurodivergent to “adapt and help them succeed.” Neurodivergent people can make important contributions. Some neurodiverse people may have better memories than average, better pattern recognition, or better ability to mentally visualize 3D objects. They may be particularly adept at complex mathematics or have boundless imagination and creativity. Given support for their unique brain function, neurodivergent people can contribute their skills to the workplace.

Moreover, a workplace that supports its neurodivergent employees supports its neurotypical ones as well. “Over the past 15 years or so, I’ve found that what works for the neurodivergent person works for everyone,” Finch said. In the workplace, neurodivergent employees “can almost hyper-contribute to the success of the organization, provided they have adequate supports and understanding.”

“With respect to occupational and environmental health and safety,” he explained that this foundation of mutual understanding “applies to everything from high-level concepts, like employment and retention of top talent, to workplace-specific circumstances, like dedicating time and space for neurodivergent employees to re-regulate their nervous systems in a workplace or job site.”

Finch, in his upcoming Connect 2025 keynote, hopes to convey the value and necessity of cultivating a diverse workforce. For AIHA Connect attendees, “my intention is to illustrate how practically every workplace and job site is marked by neurodiversity,” he wrote. “And the opportunities it presents to each and every one of them.”

David Finch will give the opening keynote at AIHA Connect on Monday, May 19, 2025, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. Central time. AIHA Connect 2025 will be held May 19–21 in person at the Kansas City Convention Center, Kansas City, Missouri, and virtually. To learn more about the keynote sessions, view the conference agenda, or register, visit the conference website.