The Confidence to Act: Diagnosis, Disclosure and Support for Neurodivergent Employees

About the research

This summary presents key findings from The Confidence to Act, a new report exploring how diagnosis and disclosure affect access to support at work for neurodivergent employees. The research draws on a six-month study of 195 neurodivergent employees using Brain in Hand, in-depth interviews with nine employees, and a survey of over 100 employed Brain in Hand users.

The report explores why employees without a formal diagnosis are less likely to receive workplace adjustments, despite experiencing similar benefits from receiving support. It highlights how a lack of employer confidence can create unnecessary barriers to support and identifies practical steps organisations can take to respond to individual needs, regardless of neurodivergent diagnostic status.
 

Key findings

• Employees without a formal diagnosis are around half as likely to have a workplace adjustment in place and are significantly less likely to have disclosed their neurodivergence at work.

• Even employees without a diagnosis who have disclosed their neurodivergence are less likely to receive workplace support, highlighting a gap between disclosure and action.

• Both diagnosed and self-identified employees experienced meaningful improvements across all six wellbeing and functional measures when using Brain in Hand.

• Both groups reported a 22% reduction in anxiety, while work performance improved by 15% among self-identified employees compared with 11% among diagnosed employees.

• Diagnosed and self-identified employees made just as much use of Brain in Hand's support once it was offered, demonstrating that the benefits of support are not dependent of diagnostic status.

• The report concludes with five practical recommendations to help employers move towards needs-led support, equipping line managers to act with confidence and ensuring employees can access adjustments without waiting for a formal diagnosis.