Your teams are already neurodiverse. The question is how to harness it.

By Jess Rad, Founder, The WomenHood

This year, at the age of 43, I found out I was neurodivergent. I spent decades masking, misunderstanding, being misunderstood, burning out, and wondering why I had to work so much harder than it looked like everyone else did. It wasn’t until my late diagnosis of AuDHD that things began to make sense. Not just for me, but for the teams I’d led, the relationships I’d navigated, the moments I’d got wrong! So much of it wasn’t failure. It was a communication gap that nobody had named.

That personal journey is what drives much of what I do through The WomenHood. And it’s what brought me to a growing conviction: Brighton and Hove is not just a city with a high neurodivergent population. It is the neurodivergent capital of the UK. And we are sitting on an extraordinary and largely untapped opportunity.

The data is hard to ignore.

Our city has the highest LGBTQ+ population in the country, and the overlap between LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent identity sits between 30 and 70 percent. Our EHCP rate runs 9% above the national average. Our SEN support rate is 27% above the national average. NHS Sussex has described demand for neurodivergent support as “unprecedented.” Brighton and Hove has more ND charities per capita than anywhere comparable in the UK. And the City Council itself acknowledges that our autistic population is “significantly higher” than national norms. We are a city with a thriving neurodivergent arts ecosystem and a cultural infrastructure being built in real time.

We are not anomalous. We are leading! The question for our business community is whether we are ready to lead with intention.

Your teams are already neurodivergent. The question is whether you know it.

Conservatively, one in five people is neurodivergent. In Brighton and Hove, that figure is almost certainly higher. Which means in any business with more than five people, ND talent is already in your organisation. They may not have told you. They may not know themselves yet. But they are there.

And here is what many business leaders don’t realise: the cost of not understanding them is significant. Burnout from masking, the exhausting performance of passing as neurotypical, is one of the leading causes of sick leave, attrition, and underperformance in neurodivergent employees. Conflict rooted in communication differences that were never named. Misunderstandings that calcify into reputations. People not fulfilling their potential because the environment was designed for a neurotype that doesn’t reflect theirs.

These are not edge cases. They are happening in businesses across this city right now.

In challenging economic times, this matters more, not less.

We are operating in a difficult economic climate. Business leaders are under pressure to do more with less, to retain their best people, to stay competitive in an uncertain landscape. In that context, culture, communication, and wellbeing are not soft priorities. They are commercial ones.

ADHD brains frequently think in ways that disrupt the status quo, making connections others miss, challenging assumptions that have gone unquestioned, and generating the kind of ideas that move businesses forward. Autistic thinkers often bring unmatched precision, systems thinking, and the kind of deep expertise that others simply can’t replicate. Dyslexic leaders are significantly overrepresented in entrepreneurship, bringing big-picture thinking and an instinct for opportunity. It is in moments of economic challenge that we need this kind of thinking more than ever. And it already exists within your teams.

Small cultural and environmental adjustments, clearer communication norms, psychological safety, flexibility in how work gets done, can unlock performance across an entire team. This is not charity. It is strategy.

We have a chance to unite this city around something that matters.

This is why I created NeuroCurious, a not-for-profit events series on a mission to normalise, diversify, and celebrate neurodiversity. After two sold-out events, the third, NeuroCurious: Unlocking Communication, takes place on 18 June at PLATF9RM Hove. This session goes deep into how neurodivergent minds communicate, the differences that so often go unspoken, and the practical tools that make connection easier for everyone. It is an invitation for business leaders, managers, and teams to learn together in a safe, welcoming environment as an act of collective leadership. Bring your team. Show up curious.

I am a national award-winning social entrepreneur, a proud parent carer, and an ambassador for Amaze, the Sussex-based SEND charity supporting families of disabled children. I founded The WomenHood because I believe this city has everything it needs to become a national model for neuro-inclusion. What we need now is for the business community to step in.

The demand is only growing. The opportunity is here.

NeuroCurious: Unlocking Communication, 18 June, PLATF9RM Hove. Find out more at thewomenhood.com Use code SBT10 for 10% off tickets.

Proudly sponsored by PLATF9RM, Freedom Works and Plus Accounting, with thanks to Joyfully Different and Lucky Saint for their partnership and support.