I went to every panel on neurodiversity at Cannes Lions: Here are the 5 things every company needs to know.

1. Not considering neurodivergent people is costing your business money.

50% of those in creative industries are neurodivergent, with 70% worrying it impacts them at work. When neurodivergence isn’t seen as a serious problem faced by employees, it will cost companies ideas and people.

One panellist told the all-too-common experience of talented people disappearing from advertising a year later, not because they aren’t talented or good at their job, but because their workplace didn’t accommodate them.

The best ideas come from those who think differently, and this makes inclusion a huge business case rather than just goodwill or ticking a box.

2. Bias and stigma still exist.

We need to stop seeing neurodivergence as a deficit and start seeing it as a strength and talent. There are a lot of people who think being neurodivergent is jumping on a bandwagon when really it is a real problem which needs to be taken seriously.

As one panellist said, symptoms can make you feel like you are shit at your job, but we need to shift the narrative to having a set of skills which should be celebrated.

4 in 5 say there is stigma around asking for accommodations. A lot of the problem is that stigma causes people to expend energy in hiding their traits, with many also being scared to disclose their neurodivergence in the hiring process.

Neurotypical people misunderstand ADHD people as being all over the place or stereotype autistic people. Many neurodivergent people are high achievers, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have ADHD.

We have an ability to hyperfocus, spot patterns, and come up with ideas neurotypical people may not be able to.

3. Design for one, benefit everyone.

The number one reason for burnout in neurodivergent people isn’t the work itself; it’s masking in a workplace which isn’t suited to them.

Only 18% of neurodivergent people currently ask for help or accommodations for their neurodivergence. We need more awareness of the unspoken effort neurodivergent people have to make, which is energy neurotypical people don’t have to spend.

One speaker described it as using half of the brain just to show up in a neurotypical way. 80% of neurodivergent people report masking and stress that they are not being as productive as they’d like to be.

Many workplaces are currently designed for a middle which doesn't exist. If you design with the most marginalised person in mind, you help everyone work smarter, not harder.

Organisations should accommodate more flexibility. Since everyone works differently, there has to be an environment where people have the autonomy to work in the way they see fit without stigma or shame.

It saves companies time and money in the long run to ask employees how they work best. One speaker suggested providing a form to all new starters to write how they work best, which can be shared amongst teams so everyone can better understand each other.

For example, many neurodivergent people need the implicit to be made explicit. Many will suffer with RSD, so feedback may need to be delivered differently. It’s not a case that neurodivergent people need to get better at taking feedback; one speaker described it as the nervous system literally shutting down, and so there needs to be better training for managers to understand this.

There are simple accommodations which can unlock employees' full potential. For example, considering the energy used when a camera is on vs. off in a meeting, which hours people may be most productive in, and the auditory environment people work best in- e.g., having the option to work in silence, in a place with ambient noise, or wearing headphones should be accommodated.

None of this should be seen as charity, but instead as clarity.

4. Efficiency might be filtering out your best talent.

Neurodivergent people don’t have a deficit in attention; it’s just a different kind. Being neurodivergent is like having a brain which is like a Ferrari with no brakes.

When we focus on only one way of being efficient, neurodivergent people can get filtered out as the model does not support them. Efficiency for neurodivergent people may look different, but be more beneficial for a company in the long run.

Many neurodivergent panellists discussed already spotting problems ahead of time but feeling ashamed to communicate it, as we can go into too much detail or won’t be understood. That’s a huge loss for the company when we don’t try to listen and understand.

Sometimes neurodivergent people need all the information, and it can cause tension as it’s misunderstood as coming across as attacking or questioning an idea. When it’s understood as coming from a place of genuine curiosity and desire to understand, it will lead to greater efficiency in the long run.

5. AI is becoming a second brain for many neurodivergent people.

AI is helping remove friction for many neurodivergent people, with more neurodivergent people using AI than neurotypical people. They are using AI to help prioritise tasks, consolidate notes, get clarity, and organise thoughts. But accessibility should be at the forefront of all AI design.

The panel reminded me of a great conversation I had with Josh Budd 🟢 the other week, who has developed an app to help neurodivergent people in the workplace. There is clearly a great need for this kind of technology, and yet the lingering question was how we get companies to fund these tools. Without representation at the highest levels, it’s hard to influence change.

There was also discussion on AI which on the surface seems to fight bias, but when interrogated further, it still holds the same biases. For example, creating images depicting someone with ADHD as being incredibly disorganised and messy.

We need to hire more neurodivergent people to engage with AI to ensure it is fully representative of the strengths also associated with neurodivergent people.

Thank you Different Minds In Media for leading the conversation on neurodiversity at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and Equativ , MiQ , InMobi and Seedtag for hosting.