How Do We Ensure Our Heritage Project is Inclusive for Neurodivergent People?

What is this advice about?

Around 1 in 7 people in the UK are neurodivergent, which the NHS defines as ’the different ways a person’s brain processes information’. Neurodiverse people see and experience the world differently and experience many barriers in their daily lives due to societal attitudes towards neurodivergence and a lack of understanding and accommodations in workplaces, volunteer roles, education, and leisure.

This advice is for heritage organisations of any size or scale that work with community participants on projects or programming. It demonstrates how organisations can ensure their work is inclusive of neurodivergent people and addresses their barriers to participation.

What are the key points?

What is neurodiversity?

Neurodiversity is an umbrella term that covers the entirety of potential human differences in thinking and processing information, without hierarchy or assumption of 'normal' values. It emphasises the unique nature of each person. It is not a term for individuals to describe them: someone does not “have a neurodiversity,” they are Neurodivergent.

Neurodivergence is a term for any ways of thinking and behaving that are outside of societal and medical 'neurotypical' standards.

Neurodivergent is an inclusive term for an individual, to cover all who think and process information differently to the societal 'norm'. This covers people beyond those with a diagnosed neurological difference, in parallel to the Social Model of Disability. It values the individual and their unique experience as well as a person-centred approach to tackling barriers. Neurodivergent people process information in different ways than neurotypical people and have different ways of seeing and experiencing the world.

Neurotypical as a term refers to someone without a diagnosis of a neurological condition or who does not self-identify as neurodivergent. They think and behave in line with societal and medical definitions of 'typical'.

Neurodivergence can be a result of a neurological condition or acquired through illness, injury, or trauma. It is important to note that people with the conditions listed below may not consider themselves as neurodiverse and not all neurodivergent people see these conditions as being part of the umbrella. However, their barriers to access and accommodations should still be considered and actioned.

There are many neurological conditions that come under the umbrella. All are conditions that a person is born with.

These can include:

• Autism or Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC)
  • Some people may still use the label Asperger’s Syndrome, which was phased out as a descriptor in 2013 and replaced with ASC, but people may feel more comfortable or identify more with the original term
• Attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD)
• Dyslexia
• Dyscalculia
• Dyspraxia
• Dysgraphia
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Tourette’s Syndrome

There are also acquired conditions (also known as acquired neurodivergence) that are the result of illness, injury, or another form of trauma. These affect an individual’s cognition and behaviour but are not the result of a condition an individual had at birth. They are medical conditions that can sometimes improve with treatment, and for that reason are usually viewed as separate from neurological conditions.

These can include:

• PTSD or C-PTSD
• Cognitive difference after a stroke or aneurysm
• Executive dysfunction following traumatic or acquired brain injury

Neurodiversity and disability

Though many neurodiverse people do not identify as being disabled, it does fall under the Equality Act definition of disability, and neurodiverse people face barriers due to societal attitudes as well as the physical and social environment.

Organisations should include the needs of neurodiverse people when thinking about tackling barriers to access and be mindful of language they use to be inclusive of neurodivergence. Find out more about organisations’ anticipatory duty around disability access

Why are some of the key barriers to participation for neurodivergent people in heritage?

Societal attitudes and exhaustion due to 'masking'

Although there have been some developments in understanding neurodiversity, there are still many misconceptions and stereotypes, as well as deep-rooted inequalities, that mean societal attitudes and expectations are a significant barrier to participation.

People may make assumptions about neurodivergent people’s personal relationships, their special interests, or their cognitive abilities. For example, harmful stereotypes around 'savants' are frequent, perpetuating the idea that only those with a neurodivergent 'superpower' are valuable to society. The heritage sector has not done as much work on these issues as others such as the museums sector, so many misconceptions and gaps in understanding still persist.

'Masking' is the process of hiding or suppressing neurodivergent behaviours and mirroring the behaviours of neurotypical people to avoid bullying, harassment, stigma, and discrimination. This can be highly draining emotionally as well as having a significant impact on individual wellbeing. Many neurodivergent people feel they have to mask in their daily lives. This often involves developing specific responses to and scripts for social interactions, forcing themselves into eye contact or physical touch they are uncomfortable with, and disguising their innate reactions to situations.

This pressure to conform can cause extreme emotional turmoil. It can make people hide their true selves. People who mask in their daily lives can face struggles when they do request accommodations, as people are surprised and label them as “high functioning” – a harmful term when used in this context, as it suggests they do not face barriers or require accommodations, minimising their lived experience.

Working environments – internal and external

Heritage working environments can be very challenging to neurodivergent people. Although it is important to approach each person as an individual, there are several common issues to take into account.

Activities may take place in historic buildings with variable conditions when it comes to temperature, lighting and physical accessibility. They may be very noisy or have unexpected and unusual sounds, and have strong scents or odours such as damp. They may also be busy with staff and visitors, which can be highly over-stimulating.

Heritage work in the outdoors, across the historic environment, also presents numerous barriers for neurodivergent people. Historic sites can be based in cities or towns, meaning they are usually in loud or busy places. If based more rurally, they can be challenging to get to and involve travelling over inaccessible surfaces, through high sensory stimulating environments, and have unpredictable sounds.

Across both indoor and outdoor spaces, there are often 'unspoken rules' for being in these spaces that are not made clear anywhere. Participants in heritage projects may be experiencing these spaces and places for the first time, and not be familiar with these unspoken or unwritten rules, which can lead to confusion and unintentional conflict.

Structures, procedures, and policy

The work of most organisations has been shaped by neurotypical people, for neurotypical people. This means that ways of working, policies, and the way people are structured within organisations can be inaccessible to neurodivergent people. Things that are taken for granted as 'normal' can act as barriers to participation.

Some examples include:

• No flexibility in break times to account for the need for decompression or quiet moments
• Expectations of small talk or social interactions during team meetings or sessions
• Expectations of physical contact such as handshakes
• Documents are written in complicated language, with poor layout and design
• Lack of clear harassment and bullying reporting systems and policies
• No specific policy or statement on neurodiversity inclusion
• Rigid dress code or uniforms, including items that act as triggers for people with sensory processing conditions (in the case of PPE or other safety equipment, a lack of exploration of alternatives or accommodations)

What are the first steps our organisation could take?

Understand the Social Model and Neurodiversity Paradigm

The Social Model of Disability is the concept that people are disabled by society's lack of accessibility and understanding, not by their conditions. This places the onus on wider society to change rather than 'blaming' individuals for the challenges and barriers they face. Find out more

The Neurodiversity Paradigm is the concept that neurodiversity is a natural human difference and diversity and that 'normal' is an artificial social construct that embeds inequalities and barriers. Find out more

Reach out to organisations led by and representing neurodivergent people

Your practice should be informed by and include neurodivergent people. Always work to the concept of "nothing for us without us". You should identify funding to do so, as time sharing lived experience and advising based upon it should always be paid. Ask representatives to join you for workshops and planning sessions when you focus on new work or to improve your access and inclusive practice to ensure you include neurodivergent voices. Seek their feedback on your strategies, policies, and planning.

Develop a robust training and development programme for staff and volunteers

Change must be embedded across your organisations at all levels so that it is a shared responsibility. Developing a workplace culture of knowledge and understanding of the experiences and needs of neurodivergent people will mean accommodations or changes will become natural and expected, and participants in your work will feel welcome, valued and heard. A robust training programme should include looking at the perspectives of people with different neurological conditions, understanding their barriers and discovering how changes to practices and behaviours can remove them.

Make accommodations standard procedure, even if nobody has identified themselves as neurodivergent

Accommodations designed to tackle barriers to participation will always be of wider benefit for your participants (as well as staff and volunteers). Many people will feel uncomfortable with sharing their neurodiversity, especially if they have faced stigma and discrimination in the past. Putting accommodations in place as standard (you can find some suggestions below) means that people can feel welcomed and included without having to speak up or advocate for themselves, which can be challenging or intimidating.

State inclusive practices in all of your communications and marketing

Once you have embedded the above into your work, make sure you are shouting about it. People are unlikely to sign up for or apply for opportunities if they do not feel directly invited. Demonstrating a clear commitment to dismantling barriers to access sends a clear invitation.

Make sure you state your standard practices in your copy for participant recruitment, and have a dedicated page on your website where people can find your policies and examples of the steps you have taken as an organisation. Feature neurodivergent voices in your outputs, such as formal reports, blogs, social media posts, or other content. Always make sure your online content follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

How can we make our online events and activities inclusive for neurodivergent people?

• Have agendas and procedures and follow them. Avoid 'mission creep', which is when a project grows or moves away from its original scope
• Stick to published timings for meetings and sessions
• Ensure all but the speakers have their microphones off so there are no background noises
• Allow cameras off and establish this in the meeting invitation or other pre-meeting notifications
• Make sure the chat or Q&A function is enabled to allow people to communicate in this way
• If you have introductions for those present, allow people to pre-prepare a written introduction and share this in the chat rather than having to do it verbally
• Do not have 'unwritten rules' that govern behaviour and procedure. Set a clear set of expectations prior to the meeting and have a reminder of these pinned in the meeting chat or dropped into the chat at the beginning of the meeting
• Have regular breaks and stick to the schedule with them
• Make sure presentations comply with digital accessibility guidelines. Find out more (Note: this page uses language around cognitive and learning-disabled people, but also covers considerations for neurodivergent people)
• Take questions or comments both verbally and written in the chat function. Give time for people typing questions to do so with reflection
• Build in reflection and thinking time into group activities or Q&A sessions. Consider having a 1 to 5 minute period where nobody can answer, but all can formulate their thoughts and prepare responses

How can we make our in-person events and activities inclusive for neurodivergent people?

• Develop visual stories of locations and circulate them well in advance. Read our guidance about producing visual stories
• Develop a sensory map of your location and circulate it well in advance
• Have dedicated break-out quiet spaces and make it clear they can be accessed anytime. Make sure these spaces are not multi-purposed as storage, meeting rooms, or for anything other than being a dedicated quiet space
• Allow people to bring crafts or fiddle toys to meetings and keep a supply of these on hand for all in-person sessions
• Provide noise-cancelling headphones
• Detail the nature of all tasks and activities in advance, and outline any materials that will be worked with, as these can be overstimulating or inaccessible to those with sensory processing issues
• Have a lanyard or sticker system that establishes the type of interaction or conversation people are comfortable with. This must be optional, as no one should feel pressured to disclose
• Avoid handshakes or other physical contact as a greeting
• Try to run activities or sessions in areas away from loud noises, and disclose any potential sources of noises in advance
• Try to run activities or sessions in areas without strong smells or odours, and disclose any potential sources in advance
• Try to have a separate area for eating and drinking, especially if there is equipment such as a coffee machine, which can be both noisy and a source of strong smells
• Ensure all staff and volunteers, as well as fellow participants, are aware of different types of engagement and emphasise that looking away or not making eye contact is not a sign of someone not engaging with the session
• Make it clear that people can stand or get up and move at any time if they need a break or if this helps them engage, focus, or take part more effectively