This Neurodiversity Celebration Week (18 to 22 March) the Healthcare Communications Association (HCA), Fox&Cat and The ADHD Foundation have joined forces to launch a new campaign to help welcome and celebrate neurodiversity for those working in healthcare communications. It is estimated that there are 50% more neurodivergent practitioners working in creative sectors, like healthcare communications, than in the general population.
This campaign comes at a time where there is an increasing need for collaboration of individuals with different forms of intelligence – teams that can think strategically, creatively and analytically. This is particularly welcome since, as an industry, we’re facing unprecedented challenges around resourcing, time and budget constraints. There is a need for us all to ‘think differently’ if we want to meet these challenges and continue to innovate on both client and agency sides.
The campaign ‘Thinking Different’ principally aims to help create healthier communications around neurodiversity so that the needs of neurodivergent people are understood and addressed by their employer. The campaign unearths the many advantages of welcoming and involving neurodiverse individuals in our dynamic healthcare communications industry. In doing so, not only can we enhance creativity and innovation while also fostering inclusivity and empathy, but we can also deliver more effective and impactful communication strategies.
The campaign has three core materials:
- Neurodiversity & Me – a guide for those who think differently and would like more information because they’d like to start a conversation about neurodiversity
- Neurodiversity & You – information for whole teams to encourage them to find out more about working with, and having a conversation around, neurodiversity at work
- Thinking Different – a guide for employers and managers on welcoming and celebrating neurodiversity in the workplace
Available to view and download here.
Mike Dixon, CEO of the HCA, said: “We’re delighted to be launching these new resources alongside Fox&Cat and The ADHD Foundation. It is our hope that this campaign will help in-house and agency teams working across healthcare communications to have more meaningful conversations around neurodiversity and catalyse the inclusion of neurodiverse individuals within the workplace.
“This campaign, alongside our wealth of other health and well-being initiatives, helps to ensure the evolving needs of those who work in health communications are continually being considered and addressed.”
The shared aim of this campaign is to help ensure that policies and processes within communications businesses are set up so that firstly, those with specialist needs are appropriately cared for at work and secondly, that businesses benefit from those who think differently.
Paul Hutchings, founder of Fox&Cat who himself has ADHD, said: “Neurodivergent people live in a world that is not structurally made for us, so we face challenges that a neurotypical person won’t. This can have a negative effect on our mental well-being due to things like insufficient support, the stress of ‘masking’ and social exclusion and anxiety, meaning we can feel unfulfilled and may develop thoughts that can lead to depression.”
Hutchings continued: “I hope that the awareness created by his campaign will lead to much reduced feelings of avoidable pressure and stress for all involved.”
Neurodiversity Celebration Week is about welcoming and celebrating neurodiversity both inside and outside of work. Professor Amanda Kirby, Chair of The ADHD Foundation, said: “We were delighted to be involved in a campaign that sets out with such a positive outlook and a framework to guide conversations. Our vision is to create a world that views neurodiversity and ‘thinking differently’ as a strength, while acknowledging and understanding some of the challenges associated with having lifespan neurodevelopmental conditions.”
This campaign draws on the advice from: Mike Dixon, CEO, HCA; Paul Hutchings, Founder, Fox&Cat; Antonia Katsambis, Independent HR Practitioner; Professor Amanda Kirby, Chair of the ADHD Foundation; Alex Lincoln, Medical Writer; Dr Emma Mahoney, Clinical Psychologist and Founder, The Advisory ND; Diane Wass, Managing Director, JPA Health and Trustee of The ADHD Foundation
References are available on request.