In my work educating workers across Ireland, I hear the same stories time and again. The worker who has been quietly struggling for years: misreading a complex roster, finding the open-plan office unbearable, or freezing in an interview despite being brilliant at the job. Only now putting a name to it. Or perhaps not putting a name to it at all, and simply soldiering on.
Sound familiar?
That experience, of a workplace designed for one type of brain with everyone else trying to fit in, is what the neurodiversity conversation is really about.
Neurodiversity is the idea that human brains vary naturally in how they’re wired, and that conditions like autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and dyscalculia represent different neurological operating systems, not defects. Current research suggests somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of the population is neurodivergent. That’s potentially one in five of your colleagues. And yet, most workplaces were not built with them in mind.
SIPTU College and the UDL Approach
This isn’t just something SIPTU College talks about from the sidelines. Under the leadership of Head of College Eira Gallagher, we are investing in upskilling all tutors in Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
UDL is an educational framework built on a simple but radical premise: instead of designing your teaching for the “average” learner and then scrambling to fix it for everyone else, you design it from the start to work for the full range of people in the room.
It’s directly relevant to neurodivergent learners, who may process information, communicate, or engage differently, but who have just as much to contribute as anyone else.
Investing in UDL reflects a broader commitment: if we’re going to stand up for neurodivergent workers in their workplaces, we need to make sure our own house is in order too.
What the Research Tells Us
A study published in January 2026 by Dublin City University surveyed over 1,500 employees across three workplaces. One in four identified as neurodivergent. Their wellbeing was found to be poorer than that of their neurotypical colleagues, with nearly one in five experiencing significant levels of depression. They were also less likely to hold managerial positions, ranging from 24% to 34% in such roles, compared to 39% to 51% for neurotypical participants.
This isn’t a problem with the workers. It’s a problem with the structures.
AsIAm surveyed 200 neurodivergent workers and found that 61% struggle with sound at work, 56% with lighting, and 55% with social interaction. These aren’t dramatic or expensive barriers. They’re entirely fixable, with a bit of thought and the right conversation.
Research from Deloitte suggests that teams embracing neurodiversity can be 30% more productive. Not because neurodivergent people are superhuman, but because when workplaces support different ways of thinking, everyone thinks better. Often neurodivergent people bring great traits to the table such as pattern recognition, thinking outside the box and creativity.
I want to be clear, though, because this conversation can veer into unhelpful territory. Acknowledging neurodiversity is not about romanticising these conditions or dismissing the genuine challenges they present. For many people, the reality involves real struggle, real frustration, and real exhaustion, and saying otherwise does a disservice to those lived experiences. Recognising these differences as natural variations is about shifting the focus from “fixing” the individual to removing the systemic barriers that turn those differences into insurmountable obstacles.
The Problem Isn’t You
There’s a pattern in how bad employers respond to neurodivergent workers, and it’s worth naming: individualisation.
Rather than addressing a workplace with harsh lighting, chaotic shift patterns, faulty job descriptions, and a recruitment process that filters out anyone who doesn’t interview “correctly”, the employer frames it as the individual’s problem: Here’s a mindfulness pamphlet. Have you tried noise-cancelling headphones? Maybe this role just isn’t the right fit for you.
Trade unionists will recognise this immediately. It’s the same tactic used to individualise every workplace problem from excessive workload to unsafe conditions. The message is always: this is about you, not us. Sort yourself out.
Neurodivergent workers aren’t struggling because something is wrong with them. They’re struggling because workplaces were designed by and for neurotypical people. That’s not a personal failing. That’s a collective problem requiring a collective response.
An individual worker negotiating a reasonable accommodation alone, without SIPTU’s support and potentially afraid of how it reflects on them, is in a vulnerable position. A union shop steward at your side changes that dynamic entirely. And when supports are built into collective agreements rather than left to the goodwill of individual managers, they stop being a favour.
A Note on the Language of Disability
When we talk about neurodiversity and employment law, we inevitably end up talking about disability.
The Social Model of Disability makes a crucial distinction: what disables a person is not their condition, it’s the barriers created by a society or workplace not designed to include them. A deaf person is not disabled by their deafness; they are disabled by a world that doesn’t communicate in sign language or provide subtitles. A worker with ADHD is not disabled by how their brain works; they are disabled by an environment that makes concentration impossible and mistakes their communication style for disengagement or inconsistency. Remove the barriers, and in many cases, the disability disappears.
Many neurodivergent people would not describe themselves as disabled in the right environment. But none of this means we shouldn’t use disability as a legal ground when we need to. Ireland’s Employment Equality Acts 1998–2015 define disability using the medical model, and though we might not love the language, it is a useful tool. Once an employer is aware of your condition, they have a duty to consider reasonable accommodations.
For example, in Dylan O’Riordan v Omniplex Cork Limited (2024), a worker with autism was awarded €12,000 after his employer failed to provide adequate accommodations, including two consecutive rest days recommended by Occupational Health. The WRC found the employer had not gone far enough.
Rights exist. But you need to know about them to use them.
Where Your Union Comes In
SIPTU has a fundamental role to play, not just as a last resort when things go wrong, but as a proactive force for change.
Your union rep can help you understand your rights, negotiate accommodations, and ensure the process is handled fairly and confidentially. The ICTU Neurodiversity Guide is an excellent resource, and SIPTU has developed its own neurodiversity draft agreement to give reps the tools they need.
The Reasonable Accommodation Passport Scheme, supported by both ICTU and IBEC, formalises the supports a worker needs so they don’t have to explain themselves every time there’s a new manager or a new role.
SIPTU has already negotiated neurodiversity policies in a number of workplaces. Shop stewards have been central to that work, raising the issue, building the case with management, and making sure collective agreements reflect the actual experience of the workers they represent. This is bread-and-butter trade union work, happening right now.
This Is Coming to Every Workplace
This issue is only going to grow. Young people entering the workforce today are far more aware of their neurodivergent profiles than any previous generation. Better diagnostics, greater awareness, and improved educational support have meant many young workers arrive already knowing they’re autistic, have ADHD, or are dyslexic. They’ve often been scaffolded through school in ways my generation wasn’t, and they should reasonably expect a good employer to work with them, not against them.
That said, issues with Special Needs Assistant provision and access to CAMHS have left countless neurodivergent children without the support they were entitled to. Many have fallen through the gaps, arriving at adulthood without a diagnosis or even the language to describe their experiences. The system failed them in school, and without union support, workplaces can fail them all over again.
The trajectory is clear. As more people receive diagnoses and a generation with greater awareness of neurodiversity enters employment, shop stewards will be dealing with these issues more and more regularly.
Moving Beyond Awareness
Awareness isn’t enough. It matters. Education matters. But what we actually need is action: in how workplaces are designed, how accommodations are granted, and how all of us look out for each other.
Neurodivergent workers are in every workplace, every sector, every division. They are your colleagues, your friends, your family, and your members. Maybe you’re neurodivergent yourself. Some workers are struggling quietly right now because they don’t know their rights, don’t know their union can help, or don’t feel safe enough to speak up.
That’s something we can change.
As the ICTU Neurodiversity Guide puts it: “If we allow some workers to be left out, we are all weaker.”
That’s not a slogan. It’s a statement of fact.
SIPTU College, in partnership with the Education Sector, the SIPTU Equality Committee, and the Deputy General Secretary Ethel Buckley, is running an online workshop:
Neurodiversity at Work: Fighting Ableism & Supporting Union Members.
Wednesday, 6th May | 1:00pm – 2:30pm | Online
Open to SIPTU shop stewards and members. Sign up through your SIPTU Official or email doneill@siptu.ie
This article was written by Dan O’Neill, Tutor and Learning Coordinator, SIPTU College