Latest / The Diversity Career Podcast with Fexingo: Inclusion, Equity, and Underrepresented Professionals / How One Company Made Dyspraxia a Career Growth Tool
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, we talk a lot about dyslexia, ADHD, autism spectrum — but there's a neurodivergent condition that affects around five percent of the population, and it almost never comes up in workplace inclusion conversations. I'm talking about dyspraxia. Luna: Developmental coordination disorder, right? I knew someone in college who had it — she was brilliant but always struggled with typing and handwriting, and people just assumed she wasn't trying. Lucas: Exactly. And that assumption is exactly what one engineering firm decided to tackle head-on. Arup — the global design and engineering firm based in London — has built what I think is the most thoughtful dyspraxia career program I've seen. They started it in 2023, and by mid-2025 they had over 200 employees self-identifying as dyspraxic, up from maybe a dozen before the program launched. Luna: That's a huge jump. What changed? Lucas: Well, the first thing they did was name it. In 2022, Arup ran an internal neurodiversity survey and found that dyspraxia was the most underreported condition on their roster. Employees said they didn't disclose because they didn't think the firm would know what to do with the information, or they worried they'd be seen as less capable. Lucas: So the firm partnered with the Dyspraxia Foundation in the UK and designed a three-part program. Part one: awareness training for every line manager — not just HR. Part two: a set of accommodations specifically for dyspraxic employees, not generic 'flexible working' policies. And part three: a career mentoring circle where dyspraxic employees could talk openly about challenges without fear of stigma. Luna: Let's talk about those accommodations, because I think that's where most companies get it wrong. What were the specifics? Lucas: They broke it into three categories: motor skills, organisational support, and sensory environment. For motor skills, they provided speech to text software as a default — not just for people with a formal diagnosis, but anyone who wanted it. They also switched from traditional mouse and keyboard setups to customizable ergonomic stations for employees who had fine-motor difficulties. Lucas: For organisational support — this is the one I found most interesting — they created what they call 'visual scheduling boards.' These are physical or digital boards that break down a project into hourly tasks with color-coded cards. It sounds simple, but for someone with dyspraxia, managing time and sequencing can be a huge cognitive load. The boards reduced that load significantly. Luna: And the sensory environment piece? Lucas: They offered noise-cancelling headphones, adjustable lighting zones in the open-plan offices, and quiet pods that could be booked in thirty-minute slots. But here's the key: they didn't make any of this a 'special request.' It was all listed in the standard onboarding toolkit. If you joined Arup as a new hire in 2024, your manager would ask on day one: 'Would you like access to any of these support tools?' No diagnosis required. Luna: That's smart. Because a lot of people with dyspraxia don't even have a formal diagnosis — especially adults who grew up before it was widely recognised. Lucas: Exactly. The UK's National Health Service estimates that up to 70 percent of adults with dyspraxia are undiagnosed. So Arup's no diagnosis required approach effectively quadrupled the pool of people who could benefit. And the results? Their internal retention data for neurodivergent employees — not just dyspraxia, but all neurotypes — improved by 18 percentage points in the two years after the program launched. Luna: That's a massive ROI. I'd love to know what the career progression looked like. Were dyspraxic employees actually getting promoted at higher rates? Lucas: They tracked that too. Before the program, dyspraxic employees were promoted at about half the rate of their neurotypical peers. After two years, that gap narrowed to just a 10 percent difference. Still not parity, but a significant improvement. And the company attributes part of that to the mentoring circles. Luna: Tell me more about those circles. How did they work? Lucas: They were monthly, one-hour, facilitator-led sessions with about eight to twelve participants each. The circle was confidential — nothing shared with HR — and the agenda was set by the participants. Common topics included how to ask for accommodations without feeling awkward, how to manage the cognitive load of a multi-project workload, and how to navigate performance reviews when you struggle with the written form. Lucas: One participant described it as 'the first time I felt like my career wasn't a personal failing.' That's powerful. And it's also practical: the circles sparked a few policy changes at the firm. For example, employees asked for — and got — the option to submit performance self-assessments as a voice memo instead of a written document. That came directly from the circle. Luna: I love that. It's not just about individual accommodations; it's about changing the process itself. And this is a firm that does engineering and design — precision work. Did they see any impact on quality or innovation? Lucas: They did. Arup's internal innovation team published a case study showing that teams with neurodivergent members — including dyspraxic employees — filed 30 percent more patent applications per capita than neurotypical-only teams over the same period. One of those patents was for an accessibility software tool that actually helps people with motor-skill challenges navigate complex CAD interfaces. It was developed by a dyspraxic engineer who said the accommodation tools gave her the bandwidth to think creatively. Luna: So the accommodations didn't just help the individual; they created a product that helps others. That's the kind of story that should make every CEO pay attention. Lucas: And yet, dyspraxia remains the forgotten sibling in the neurodiversity conversation. The UK's charity Dyspraxia Foundation estimates that fewer than 10 percent of Fortune 500 companies include dyspraxia in their diversity and inclusion materials. Meanwhile, nearly all of them cover dyslexia, and most cover ADHD and autism. So Arup is genuinely an outlier. Luna: You know, listening to this, I'm struck by how many of these ideas are low-cost or even no-cost. Visual scheduling boards, voice memos for reviews, noise-cancelling headphones — these aren't expensive interventions. And yet the impact on retention and innovation is huge. Lucas: Absolutely. And that's partly why we wanted to cover this episode. If you've found value in shows like this — if we've helped you think through a career move or decision — it's worth noting that listener support is what keeps this podcast ad-free. You can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just a mention. Luna: Yeah, and it genuinely helps us keep digging into stories like this — the ones that don't always make headlines but change how people experience work. Lucas: So back to Arup. One of the things I find most replicable about their approach is that they didn't try to solve everything at once. They started with a pilot in their London office — about 500 employees — and iterated for a year before rolling it out globally. Luna: What were the biggest lessons from that pilot? Lucas: Two things. First, they learned that managers needed more than a one-hour training. So they introduced a 'neurodiversity champion' role — a voluntary position where an employee with lived experience co-facilitated the training and answered real questions anonymously. That made the training more credible and less theoretical. Lucas: Second, they discovered that some accommodations — like the visual scheduling boards — were actually popular with neurotypical employees too. So they stopped labeling them as 'accommodations' and started calling them 'productivity tools.' That reduced stigma and increased adoption. Luna: That's a fascinating framing. Instead of 'here's what you get if you're disabled,' it becomes 'here's a tool that might help you work better.' That's inclusive design at the organizational level. Lucas: Exactly. And it's a principle that extends beyond dyspraxia. If you design for the edges, the center benefits too. Arup's experience suggests that investing in dyspraxia-specific support can unlock broader productivity gains across the workforce. Luna: What about other companies? Is anyone else doing this well? Lucas: A few. EY in the UK has a neurodiversity center of excellence that includes dyspraxia, but their program is more focused on autism and ADHD. Microsoft has done some work around dyspraxia in their accessibility team, but it's not a formal career ladder. Arup is the only large firm I've found with a dedicated dyspraxia career track that includes mentorship, accommodations, and promotion tracking. Luna: It makes me wonder why more companies aren't following suit. Is it lack of awareness, or is it fear of the cost? Lucas: I think it's a combination. One, dyspraxia is less visible than dyslexia or ADHD. Two, companies worry about the complexity of accommodating motor-skill issues in a digital workplace. But Arup's example shows that the accommodations are actually quite straightforward. And three, there's a lingering misconception that dyspraxia is a childhood condition that people 'grow out of' — which isn't true for most. Lucas: But I'm optimistic. The more case studies like Arup's get shared, the more pressure builds on other employers. And with the UK's government recently expanding disability reporting requirements to include neurodivergent conditions, I expect we'll see more companies start to pay attention. Luna: So if a listener is in HR or DEI at their company and wants to start something similar, what's the first step? Lucas: I'd say: run an anonymous survey asking specifically about dyspraxia — not just 'neurodiversity' in general. Then partner with a local charity or foundation — in the US, the Dyspraxia Foundation USA offers free employer consultations. Start with a small pilot in one department, track everything, and be transparent about what you learn. That's exactly what Arup did. Luna: And don't forget the visual scheduling boards. Lucas: Right. And don't call them accommodations. Call them productivity tools.