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The aims of the paper were to highlight the dearth of applied practitioner research concerning the expression of neurodiversity at work and develop an epistemological framework for a future research agenda.

A systematic empty review protocol was employed, with three a priori research questions, inquiring as to the extent of neurodiversity research within mainstream work psychology, psychology in general and lastly within cross-disciplinary academic research. The results of the final search were quality checked and categorized to illustrate where studies relevant to practice are currently located.

The academic literature was found to be lacking in contextualized, practical advice for employers or employees. The location and foci of extracted studies highlighted a growing science-practitioner gap.

The research focused on common neurominority conditions such as autism and dyslexia; it is acknowledged that the neurodiversity definition itself is broader and more anthropological in nature. A need for a comprehensive research agenda is articulated, and research questions and frameworks are proposed.

Guidance is given on applying disability accommodation to both individual and organizational targets.

The disability employment gap is unchanged since legislation was introduced. The neurodiversity concept is no longer new, and it is time for multi-disciplinary collaborations across science and practice to address the questions raised in this paper.

This paper offers an original analysis of the neurodiversity paradox, combining systematic inquiry with a narrative synthesis of the extant literature. The conceptual clarification offers clear directions for researchers and practitioners.

An applied study using convenience data was conducted to compare the experiences of neurodivergent adults undergoing workplace coaching before and during the pandemic.

The naturally occurring opportunity permitted a comparison of face-to-face and remote coaching in three cohorts, pre-pandemic (100% face-to-face), forced-remote (100% remote) and choice (remote or face-to-face; 85% selected remote). A total of 409 participants self-reported performance before and 12 weeks after completing an average of 11-h coaching.

Significant differences between before and after scores for performance, with large effect sizes, were reported for all three cohorts across six dependent variables: memory, time management, organisational skills, stress management, understanding neurodiversity and concentration. There was no significant difference between the cohorts in terms of the magnitude of the effect. There were significant differences between the cohorts in terms of which topics were chosen as foci for the coaching, with executive functions related topics becoming less popular in the choice cohort.

The authors abductively reasoned the results to suggest a positive relationship between personalised environments and cognitive demands for this client group. They call for further, theoretically grounded research exploring the role of coaching and environment in understanding the work performance of neurodivergent adults at work.

The study contributes to the emerging knowledge on the different experiences of in-person and video-mediated coaching. The focus on neurodivergent employees, which are heretofore less well researched within the workplace, provides essential data to support practitioners in maximising opportunity for a marginalised group.

Clean language is the foundation of coaching work delivered by Genius Within, a non-profit company that provides assessment, coaching, training and HR consultancy for neurodifferent adults and their employers. Genius Within works with thousands of employed and unemployed clients each year as well as those who are incarcerated. Evaluation of clean language in coaching for neurodifferent clients has formed one doctoral thesis (Doyle, 2018) with a further study in progress. The method's utility in drawing out experiences of mastery is in line with self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997) and has been demonstrated to be particularly successful with this minority population (Doyle, 2021; Doyle & McDowall, 2015). The staff of Genius Within apply clean language fluently in a range of contexts, across multiple research activities, training and awareness initiatives, as well as workplace intervention programmes. In this chapter, two Genius Within employees who are also involved in academic research describe the use of a clean language interviewing (CLI) approach to evaluate a psychometric tool used in recruitment. The authors were commissioned by the test designer to identify the prevalence of implicit biases within the tool, which might constitute hidden barriers for neurodifferent applicants. The chapter is introduced with a brief history of neurodifferences and a contextual frame for the study, followed by outlining our process and results. We will conclude with proposals for the utility of CLI more broadly within neurodiversity as a method of facilitating innovation and dismantling socially constructed norms.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neuro-developmental condition that has frequently been pathologised in career research and broader society to date. The study seeks to reframe such assumptions through a qualitative positive-focused exploration of career stories of ADHD adults, elicited through a strength-focused technique with wide applicability for coaching and other career-based development activities.

Situated in a strength-focused coaching psychology paradigm, the authors undertook semi-structured interviews with 17 participants, using an adapted feedforward interview technique (FFI) rooted in positive psychology (PP), to investigate individuals' strengths and successful career experiences.

Narrative thematic analysis of the transcripts identified two core themes: “the paradoxical nature of strengths” and “career success as an evolving narrative”. The participants described how they have achieved career success both “in spite of” and “because of” ADHD. The use of the FFI demonstrated a helpful and easily taught method for eliciting personal narratives of success and strengths, an essential foundation to any coaching process.

This research provides a nuanced overview, and an associated conceptual model, of how adults with ADHD perceive their career-based strengths and experiences of success. Further, the research shows the value of using a positive psychological coaching approach when working with neurominority individuals, using a successful adaptation of the FFI. The authors hope that the documentation of this technique and the resulting insights will offer important guidance for managers as coaches and internal and external career coaches, as well as providing positive and relatable narrative resources for ADHD adults.

Once a taboo subject, death and dying has been considered not only a possible but a healthy topic of discussion since the pioneering work of Dr. Elizabeth Kübler‐Ross with dying patients in Chicago beginning in 1965. Since then, the widely publicized court case of the comatose young Karen Ann Quinlan, the growth of the hospice movement, and the rise of groups asserting a person's right to choose the moment and manner of death rather than undergo the prolonged suffering of terminal illness have fueled public interest. Media attention reflects this increasing public awareness—the popular 60 Minutes televised interviews with both hospice people and supporters of the right‐to‐die; a “Dear Abby” newspaper column drew over 40,000 requests to the Society for the Right to Die for information on living wills.

When an individual achieves exceptional outcomes in a particular endeavour - sporting success, academic achievement, business results, creative outputs and more – various influences, such as physiology, education and IQ – play a part. Yet these influences often fail to explain the essential difference between one individual's outstanding performance and another's.

This chapter describes the use of clean language interviewing to research the patterns of beliefs, values, thinking and behaviours of a person who gains consistently excellent outcomes in a specific pursuit. The analysis of the data gathered can be used to create a model of the individual's process which describes ‘the elements, patterns and relationships that are characteristic of a particular ability’ (Gordon & Dawes, 2005, p. 8). Modelling is ‘the process of identifying and describing in a useful way those patterns that make up an ability. Once we know the patterns, we can make them our own and begin to manifest the ability’ (Gordon & Dawes, 2005, p. 5).

The case study presented here focuses on a case manager, Tanya, who worked with neurodiverse (mostly autistic) offenders, supporting them to move successfully into education, training or employment. Tanya, who had attained outstanding results, dramatically outperforming her peers, was the exemplar who became the subject of the research. The methodology involved is described, and the ways in which an interviewee's conscious and unconscious processes were elicited through clean language questions are outlined.

A growing interest in exercise and life‐style for older people is helping to debunk old myths that reinforce negative attitudes and beliefs, such as that ‘older people should take it easy’ and ‘exercise is for young people’. The promotion of physical activity for older people is the responsibility of many agencies, but health professionals and carers involved in their day‐to‐day care have a unique opportunity to influence older people's lives in a positive way. The research speaks for itself; people who exercise regularly are more likely to maintain bone and muscle mass, stamina, power and suppleness.