A conversation with occupational health specialist Nancy Monk for Neurodiversity Celebration Week.
Occupational health specialist Nancy Monk explains how Workplace Needs Assessments identify practical adjustments that support both individuals and organisations.
Modern offices are built for a very particular kind of brain. One that can sit still for long periods, process information linearly, tolerate constant screen exposure, and move smoothly between meetings, emails, and deadlines without cognitive friction.
But human brains do not work like that. They vary enormously in how they process information, regulate attention, interpret sensory input, and solve problems. When workplaces assume a single “normal” way of thinking, many people end up working against the grain of their own cognition.
Workplace conversations about neurodiversity are often dominated by simple solutions and familiar myths. One of the most persistent is the idea that dyslexia can be solved simply by printing everything on yellow paper.
The reality is more complex.
We sat down with Nancy Monk, an occupational health specialist who conducts Workplace Needs Assessments across the UK, to understand what recognising neurodiversity actually means for British workplaces. The yellow paper solution, she explains, is only one small example of how misunderstood neurodiversity can be.
In workplace contexts, discussions of neurodiversity often include conditions such as ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and autism (see sidebar). As Nancy puts it, the term describes “the difference in the way that we think and the way that we process and learn information… inherent to the individual rather than something that needs to be fixed.”
Where the discussion often becomes muddled is around the idea that everyone shows traits somewhere along this spectrum. That is true. But when patterns of thinking and processing fall outside what society considers the neurotypical range, the individual is described as neurodivergent.
It is also important to distinguish neurodiversity from mental health. Conditions such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder can fluctuate. Neurodiverse traits do not. They are part of how an individual’s brain processes the world.
In practice, however, the two frequently intersect. Unsupported or misunderstood neurodiversity can lead to significant mental strain. Children with ADHD may be labelled disruptive rather than struggling with attention regulation. Adults in roles that do not play to their cognitive strengths often experience chronic stress, burnout and a persistent sense of underperformance.
Nancy’s work sits at the intersection of legislation and workplace reality. Through Workplace Needs Assessments across the UK, she helps organisations interpret their responsibilities under the Equality Act and related disability legislation. Her job is to identify how an individual’s cognitive strengths and challenges interact with their working environment and recommend reasonable adjustments that allow them to perform effectively.
The question she deals with is ultimately a practical one: how do you design workplaces that accommodate the way human brains actually function? Because those brains turn out to be far more varied than the sedentary, screen-based environments most modern offices were originally designed to support.
‘A hundred years ago, someone with ADHD and someone with autism wouldn’t have been doing the same job,’ Nancy told us. ‘People naturally gravitated to roles where their strengths were used and encouraged. There was a kind of natural selection. You were drawn to where your strengths lay.’
Today, that diversity of environments has narrowed dramatically. Large parts of the workforce now operate in almost identical conditions. Eight hours at a desk. Continuous screen work. Open-plan offices. Back-to-back Teams meetings.
‘We’re becoming more and more sedentary,’ Nancy explained. ‘With the rise of computers, the majority of people who go to work now work with display screen equipment. People who would naturally have gone into other kinds of jobs often don’t have that option anymore.’
This creates an uncomfortable paradox.
We have not suddenly become more neurodiverse as a species. What has changed is the structure of work. As more roles moved into screen-based, sedentary environments, workplaces began to disadvantage certain cognitive styles. In other words, the problem is not the brains. It is the offices.
This distinction becomes clear when you look at how workplace assessments are typically conducted.
A standard Display Screen Equipment (DSE) assessment focuses on the physical setup of the workstation. Is the chair adjusted correctly? Is the screen at the right height? Is the keyboard positioned properly?
A Workplace Needs Assessment asks a broader question: how does this person actually work best?
It examines how an individual processes information, manages attention, responds to sensory input, and interacts with the working environment. The aim is not simply to adjust the furniture, but to understand whether the entire setup including work tasks, work processes and procedures, support the way that person’s brain functions.
Nancy walked us through three assessments that illustrate a simple truth: neurodiversity support is never one-size-fits-all.
Emma had received an ADHD diagnosis four weeks before Nancy met her. The diagnosis came as a relief. It finally explained why she had struggled for years with concentration, organisation and everyday tasks.
During the assessment, Nancy also conducted a screener to see whether Emma had traits of dyslexia or dyscalculia. The results suggested she was very likely dyslexic as well.
‘She struggled to sit still and concentrate long enough to read through blocks of text,’ Nancy explained. ‘But she also had words moving on the screen as she read. And when she wrote reports, letters would get switched around.’
The adjustments worked across multiple challenges at once.
Read-write software provided a second audio channel, helping her maintain focus while also easing the visual strain of reading. Adjusting screen brightness and background colour helped stabilise the text so reading was far less exhausting. A sit-stand desk allowed the movement her ADHD required while also easing back pain. A chair with built-in movement mechanism allowed her to fidget while continuing to work.
‘For Emma, it was a huge relief just to have the diagnosis,’ Nancy said. ‘Anything over and above that was an absolute bonus.’
One assessment removed multiple barriers. ADHD, dyslexia and physical discomfort were addressed through a combination of simple adjustments.
Adam has autistic traits and worked in London. His employer wanted him to spend more time in the office. His productivity suggested that might not be the best solution.
‘He really struggled with the noise in the office,’ Nancy explained. ‘He was much more productive working from his home office. The commute with other people was also very stressful.’
The adjustments were straightforward.
Fewer days in the office. A fixed desk in a quiet corner away from the main hub. Noise-cancelling headphones to reduce external stimulus.
But the most important change was cultural rather than physical. Adam’s company organised a short lunchtime talk on neurodiversity awareness. His colleagues learnt that he preferred email or Teams messages to spontaneous conversations. They also realised something else. Adam had excellent ideas. He simply communicated them better in writing than in meetings.
‘His line manager was extremely good at making adjustments,’ Nancy said. ‘Adam would message saying, “Have we thought about this or that?” The team really enveloped him and worked with him.’
In Adam’s case, the desk location mattered. But the team around it mattered just as much.
Linda has ADHD and described her mind as having ‘a million thoughts all at the same time.’ She felt overwhelmed, stressed, and unable to manage her workload.
Nancy recommended an organisation app where Linda could capture every task and idea as it occurred to her, then sort them into lists, prioritise them and attach reminders.
Simple. But transformative.
‘She could then manage her time and manage the tasks better,’ Nancy explained, ‘rather than just having a thousand thoughts in her head and being overwhelmed by it.’
The physical environment played a role as well. During long Teams meetings, Linda used small fidget tools she could manipulate quietly under the desk. Keeping her hands busy helped her stay mentally engaged with what was being discussed.
For Linda the changes extended well beyond work.
‘It had a huge knock-on effect on all areas of her life,’ Nancy noted.
Sometimes the most powerful adjustment is simply giving structure to a mind that generates ideas faster than it can organise them.
These examples illustrate how small adjustments can remove surprisingly large barriers. When the environment changes, people often perform better almost immediately.
But Nancy also sees the opposite situation.
Many employees spend years adapting themselves to workplaces that were never designed for how their brains function. They develop coping strategies, work around their difficulties and quietly absorb the strain.
In neurodiversity research, this behaviour has a name.
Masking.
For many older employees, neurodiversity was never identified when they were growing up. Conditions such as ADHD, dyslexia or autism were poorly understood and seldom diagnosed in schools or workplaces.
Instead, people learned to cope.
‘They would have spent years masking,’ Nancy said. ‘Trying to hide or suppress behaviours so they fitted in with everyone else.’
Masking means concealing traits that might appear unusual in a conventional workplace. Maintaining eye contact when it feels uncomfortable. Sitting still when the body wants to move. Enduring environments that feel overwhelming. Older workers often arrive with decades of self-developed coping strategies behind them. Lists, alarms, rigid routines, constant over-preparation. Strategies designed to manage cognitive load without drawing attention.
Younger employees tend to be more open. Neurodiversity is discussed more widely today, diagnoses are more common in schools and universities, and people are far more aware of how their brains function.
That openness can be healthier, because masking carries a cost.
‘Trying to suppress traits which are inherent to your individuality can have a huge effect on your mental health,” Nancy said. ‘You’re hiding part of who you really are.’
Over time that effort can lead to exhaustion, anxiety and burnout. Energy that could be directed toward productive work is instead spent maintaining the appearance of “normality”.
Nancy’s Workplace Needs Assessments start from a different premise.
‘A huge part of the assessment celebrates people’s strengths,’ she said. ‘Then we support the areas they find more difficult.’
The aim is not to make people fit the workplace more neatly. It is to remove the pressures that force them to mask in the first place.
Finding the right adjustment often involves trial and error.
‘One chap found noise-cancelling headphones claustrophobic,’ Nancy said. ‘The very thing meant to help him became a stressor.’
Another client struggled with Dragon dictation software despite extensive training.
‘You have to be able to step back and say, “I’m going to look into other options,” rather than keep pushing the same solution.’
The same is true of long-standing assumptions about neurodiversity.
For years dyslexia advice centred on yellow paper or yellow screen overlays. Nancy screens clients using colour overlay assessments with up to sixteen different colours .
‘Some people don’t find colour overlays helpful at all,’ she explained. ‘Others prefer green or blue. Moving away from the idea that yellow is for dyslexia is really important.’
Same diagnosis. Completely different solutions.
Even physical equipment varies in usefulness. Nancy has recommended sit-stand desks that were never used in standing mode. Footrests intended for posture sometimes helped simply by giving restless legs somewhere to move. One client found the upholstery fabric of his chair so distracting that switching to mesh completely transformed his day.
‘One hat doesn’t fit all,’ Nancy said.
Which is why adjustments are often introduced gradually. Nancy frequently recommends implementing one change first, then reviewing after three to six months.
‘For people who are neurodiverse, change itself can be stressful,’ she explained. ‘That transition can take time.’
The most common mistake Nancy sees is simple. Trying to pigeonhole people.
‘They would have spent years masking,’ Nancy said. ‘Trying to hide or suppress behaviours so they fitted in with everyone else.’
Blanket solutions rarely work. Yellow overlays for dyslexia. Standing desks for ADHD. Noise-cancelling headphones for autism.
“Blanket adjustments don’t work for the majority,” Nancy said.
The second mistake is more subtle. Lowering expectations instead of levelling the playing field.
“Accommodating neurodiversity is about reinforcing strengths and supporting weaknesses,” Nancy explained. “It ensures people have equal opportunity for growth and development.”
Nancy was clear about one point. Reasonable adjustments for neurodivergent employees are not optional.
“They are required under the Equality Act,” she told me. “You are legally expected to make adjustments so people can perform their duties without disadvantage.”
What counts as reasonable varies by organisation. A multinational bank and a three-person firm will not have the same capacity.
But the principle is universal.
“As you would adapt a workplace for a wheelchair user, you are expected to make adjustments in communication, environment and equipment for someone who is neurodivergent.”
In practice those adjustments are often modest.
Small changes. Significant impact.
We asked Nancy why this week is framed as Neurodiversity Celebration Week rather than awareness week.
“Celebration puts a positive spin on the differences and strengths within the human population,” she said. “Neurodiversity is simply a different way the brain processes information. It’s not a disease and it’s not something that needs fixing.”
Nancy’s assessments begin by identifying strengths. People with ADHD may excel at networking, rapid pattern recognition or crisis response. Autistic individuals often thrive in analytical or detail-focused work. People with dyslexia frequently show strong spatial reasoning and big-picture thinking.
“When I conduct an assessment,” Nancy explained, “I’m looking first at what someone is brilliant at.”
The goal is simple.
Match strengths to work demands and remove barriers to performance.
Nancy’s work highlights something we sometimes forget in our eagerness to provide solutions.
Assessment must come before equipment. A Display Screen Equipment (DSE) assessment focuses on the physical workstation.
A Workplace Needs Assessment asks a different question.
The same piece of equipment can solve completely different problems depending on the context.
Same desk. Different reason.
At OE Group we provide the physical tools that often emerge from these assessments. Sit-stand desks, ergonomic seating, monitor arms, footrests and workstation accessories. What conversations with specialists like Nancy reinforce is this. You cannot prescribe solutions without understanding the problem.
Because a footrest is never just a footrest.
For some readers, this article will simply have been interesting. For others, it may have felt rather less theoretical.
You may have recognised yourself in Emma’s exhaustion, in Adam’s sensory overload, or in Linda’s sense of having a thousand thoughts competing for attention at once. You may have spent years building little systems to get through the day without ever quite naming why they were necessary. Lists. Alarms. Over-preparation. Avoidance. Quiet workarounds that look like personality from the outside and feel like survival from the inside.
Nancy was clear on one important point: you do not need a formal diagnosis to begin asking for support. Where there is a good relationship with an employer, the first step can simply be a conversation. A suspicion that you have neurodivergent traits is enough to start discussing what adjustments might help and whether a Workplace Needs Assessment would be appropriate. A formal diagnosis may still matter later, particularly for legal protection, but support does not have to wait for a two-year queue to move.
For employers, the message is equally practical. The task is not to become amateur psychologists or to memorise stereotypes about ADHD, autism or dyslexia. It is to recognise when someone is being disadvantaged by the way work is currently structured, and to take that seriously. Nancy’s examples are not stories of extravagance. They are stories of specificity. A different communication method. A quieter desk. Fewer office days. A colour change on a screen. Software that reads text aloud. A chair fabric that does not become a sensory irritant after eight hours.
That is what makes her account so useful. It replaces the vague language of “supporting neurodiversity” with something far more concrete: finding out what gets in the way, and removing it.
Perhaps that is the real shift Neurodiversity Celebration Week asks of workplaces. Not pity. Not box-ticking. Not a heroic corporate performance of inclusion.
Just a willingness to accept that human brains do not all work alike, and that work should be designed with that fact in mind.
Neurodiversity Celebration Week runs 17 to 23 March 2026. If you suspect you have neurodivergent traits, Nancy recommends speaking with your line manager about a Workplace Needs Assessment. You don’t need a formal diagnosis to get support. For employers, the question isn’t whether to make reasonable adjustments. It’s how quickly you can start.
At OE Group, we provide both corporate and individual DSE assessments, Workplace Needs Assessments, and Homeworker/Individual Assessments for homeworkers and organisations across the UK. Our trained assessors work closely with you to ensure that recommendations support both the individual’s needs and the organisation’s operational requirements.
If you would like to discuss assessments or adjustments for yourself or within your organisation, our team would be happy to talk through the options.
M.Ost, PGCert Ergonomics, PGCert OccPsych, PGCert OccHealthLaw
Nancy Monk holds a Master’s degree in Osteopathic Medicine and postgraduate qualifications in Ergonomics, Occupational Psychology, Occupational Health Law, and Workplace Needs Assessing. A qualified CIEHF Trainer, she works across training, consulting, and specialist assessments — including DSE, ergonomic, and workplace needs assessments — while continuing her clinical practice. Her work centres on helping individuals and organisations build healthier, more inclusive workplaces, with particular focus on the relationship between health, wellbeing, and productive work. Outside the clinic, she enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time with her son.
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