Bernadette Pughe’s Post

From the workplace to family life to schools to wider society, we have "accommodation" the wrong way round. When autistic people accommodate wider society, it's "just the way we're supposed to do things" - and typically speaking, we get judged if we don't do it. But when wider society accommodates autistic people, it's called "special treatment" - and typically speaking, it's framed as an act of kindness or virtue. Something we should be *grateful* for, rather than something we deserve by default like everyone else. This is the message I preach to corporate audiences: that you're *already* accommodating the vast majority of your employees through both the physical and social setup of your workplace - you just call it normality instead of accommodation! So when someone for whom the system wasn't built asks for accessibility, provide it with the same naturally fluency that you're already doing for everyone else. Curious about how to improve accommodation in the workplace? Follow or DM me, as I *love* speaking about it. - [ID: A confused blue stick figure, listening to voices saying: "Look me in the eyes!" "Stop flapping your hands. Other people think you’re weird." "You have to learn small talk in order to make friends." "We’ll keep taking this photo until you smile correctly." "What do you mean, you ‘don’t like being touched’? Give me a hug!" "Everyone has to wear the same uniform. Your sensory issues aren’t allowed to matter." And bold black text reading: "Why should we spend so much time accommodating all these autistic people? Well for starters, because autistic people spend their whole lives accommodating you."] #autism #autismawareness #autismacceptance #autistic #neurodiversity #neurodivergence #diversity #inclusion #diversityandinclusion #diversityequityinclusion