The Golden Rule of Neurodiversity: Why Accommodation Helps Everyone
In my practice at QC Psych Testing, PLLC, I often encounter the core conflict faced by neurodivergent individuals: the constant pressure to behave, think, and communicate as if they were neurotypical. We’ve talked a lot about the immense energy spent on masking—the effort to suppress natural Autistic traits or ADHD-driven behaviors just to fit in.
This brings up a crucial question about how we design our schools, workplaces, and social settings. The answer lies in a simple, foundational principle: Treating neurotypical people as if they are neurodivergent doesn't hurt them, but treating neurodivergent people as if they are neurotypical actively harms them.
The Harm of Forcing Conformity
When we demand that a neurodivergent person act neurotypically, we are essentially demanding they operate outside their natural wiring. This deficit-based model leads to genuine harm.
The Cost of Masking
Masking, like forcing eye contact when it's painful, suppressing necessary stimming, or learning rigid social scripts—is not sustainable. It leads to:
Autistic/ADHD Burnout: This is a state of near-total physical and mental exhaustion, often leading to a temporary or long-term loss of functional skills.
Mental Health Crisis: The chronic stress of masking contributes to high rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation, particularly in undiagnosed adults.
Loss of Identity: The constant performance makes it difficult for the person to know who they truly are or what they genuinely need.
The Inefficiency of Rigid Systems
Most standardized environments (like open-plan offices, traditional classrooms, or group projects) are built to optimize for productivity, not brains. For the neurodivergent individual, these environments are often overwhelming, under-stimulating, or sensorily painful, leading to reduced performance and increased distress.
The Benefit of Embracing Accommodation
Now, let's flip the script. What happens when we adopt practices that support neurodivergent individuals? We often find that these accommodations create a better, more supportive environment for everyone.
Sensory Regulation: Providing quiet workspaces, allowing noise-canceling headphones, and offering flexible lighting options, such accommodations improve concentration for all by reducing stress from sensory overload, and increase focus.
Executive Function: Using clear, written step-by-step instructions (not just verbal ones), providing concrete examples, and breaking large projects into small, specific tasks, these accommodations reduce procrastination and ambiguity, improve task initiation, and ensure consistent quality in work output regardless of your neurotype.
Communication: Allowing processing time for responses, accepting written communication or email instead of phone calls, and being direct and literal (avoiding sarcasm); implementing these accommodations minimizes misunderstandings, improves clarity, and ensures all team members feel heard and respected.
Stimming/Movement: Allowing quiet fidget toys, standing desks, or short movement breaks boosts overall energy and engagement, reduces restlessness, and promotes better blood flow and cognitive function for nearly everyone.
Accommodation is Just Good Design
Notice that none of those accommodations listed hurt a neurotypical person. A person with typical sensory processing is not harmed by the option of sitting in a quieter room; they might actually find they concentrate better. A person without ADHD is not harmed by receiving clear, written instructions; their work is likely to be more accurate.
Designing for the edges of the bell curve—designing for inclusion—means creating systems that are robust and flexible enough to support the full range of human cognitive diversity. It shifts the burden from the individual (who has to mask) to the environment (which is adapted to support the human inside it).
Moving Beyond the Norm
At QC Psych Testing, PLLC, my work is about helping people understand their specific brain wiring better so they can stop trying to fit a mold that wasn't made for them.
The next step for us as a society is to champion environments that value authenticity and accommodation over conformity. When we design for neurodivergent minds, we design for better, more humane outcomes for all of humanity.
Are you tired of the cost of masking? Understanding your unique neurotype is the first step toward self-advocacy and finding the accommodations you need to thrive. Schedule your Initial Intake Assessment with me today at www.QCPsychTesting.com/appointments.
