Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2025

Co-Chair of BASW's Neurodivergent Social Workers Special interest Group, Scott Richardson shares his reflections on Neurodiversity Celebration Week
NCW

Social work week and Neurodiversity celebration week align this year, and I would like to take the time to celebrate all the hardworking neurodivergent social workers who are working hard in their communities, usually experiencing many barriers themselves. 

Being someone who is neurodivergent, I am aware of the impacts on my ability to function and practice social work. For example, the impact of environmental influences. I struggle with light, movement, and sound, all of these have a distracting and overstimulating impact on me. Movement causes me to become easily distracted, bright lights cause me to become overstimulated, and in worst cases cause me migraines, and noise form the office makes it very difficult for me to focus on my work. So having the right work environment is very important for me to be able to carry out my job. I have found 3 things that a broader awareness of would help me, and others, in creating understanding and accessible environments. These are Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, Hyperfocus, and Time Distortion. 

Rejection sensitivity Dysphoria is when someone has low self-esteem and trouble believing in themselves. This is especially true when Individuals may find it challenging to manage their emotions when experiencing feelings of rejection. This can appear in many ways, for example an ambiguous email requesting a catch up from a manager, or direct feedback in supervision. It is important that supervisors are aware of RSD so that supervisions can be carried out in an accessible way. The impacts RSD can have on you as an individual can be debilitating and become a barrier to completing your work. 

Hyperfocus occurs as an intense concentration on a single task, which can lead to overlooking other tasks and the available time. During hyperfocus, individuals may lose track of time until they regain awareness of the larger context. This can be a very useful at times, but if not managed correctly it can lead to burnout and fatigue, and it is possible to become hyper-focused on tasks that are not a priority. I personally try to manage my hyperfocus by using a pomodoro timer to ensure I have breaks to distract myself so that I don’t burnout. 

Time distortion, a common issue related to time perception in individuals with ADHD. This challenge can result in difficulties in determining how much time has passed or how much time is needed to complete a task. This can make it very difficult to manage workloads, case notes, emails etc. It’s not because we are being lazy and haven’t done something, it is because we cannot perceive how much time has elapsed since we identified an action. This is were working with managers to prioritise workloads and actions through clear instructions and reflection can support social workers to thrive. 

This is not intended as expert advice, but rather as observations on the value of providing reasonable adjustments, empathy, understanding, and acceptance in the workplace from my own lived experience. Neurodivergent individuals contribute innovation to any profession through their creativity and passion. Therefore, I urge employers to acknowledge and celebrate the benefits of a neurodivergent workforce. 

I would like to bring to your attention the Neurodivergent social workers Employers pledge that was coproduced by neurodivergent social workers in collaboration with BASW UK and Social Workers Union. This pledge was created so that neuro-inclusive work environments could be created with social work employers like local authorities and universities, but really any setting in which you find social work practice. Employers have already signed up to the pledge and created their action plans ready to get to work. 

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BASW is proud to support Neurodiversity Celebration Week. Check out the following resources: