There has been a recent (2024) study into the combined effects of the menopause and neurodiversity in the workplace. It found that the ‘menopause can exacerbate pre-existing neurodivergent conditions or make symptoms more pronounced.’

It stands to reason. Both neurodiversity and menopause mark you out as different, in a way that many older people in the workplace are most likely to wish to cover up. For one thing, the menopausal role models we see in the press tend to be evangelising about HRT – so advising us to medicate it away. For another, neurodiverse role models are a bit thin on the ground. Besides, nobody wants to be associated with a ‘condition.’ So, the challenges of masking a brain difference like autism are harder when dealing with another unpredictable factor like menopause.

There is a lot in this study, much of which will be helpful from a business and productivity angle, but it also provides a useful mirror to our society at a deeper level. Of course, in the end, business and society- at-a-deeper-level are fundamentally connected.

The drive for diversity in the workplace has caught the imagination of most organisations in the last decade. I believe this is often driven by a genuine wish to do the right thing, as well as to better tap into the rich vein of talent out there. However, while some organisations, like my own employer, may demonstrate a deep understanding of neurodiversity, this is hardly mainstream. In most cases, neurodiversity (and age) presents as a barrier and a problem, as highlighted by the findings of this study. We can talk about diversity, but we must remember that neurodiverse people have often suffered greatly in their past for their difference.

Those that can, have learnt to mask and go under the radar. Those that can’t are not usually in the workplace.

On top of this, the menopause is portrayed as something overwhelmingly negative in the press, to be feared, pitied and, as far as possible, medicated away. To answer the question ‘is our society ageist?’ we only need look at our own attitudes to ageing. For most women, next to being fat , being old probably comes a close second on their spectrum of fears. We spend millions on keeping young, and, despite the menopause’s older, alternative, name ‘The Change of Life’, the mantra is ‘do not change!’

So, we get something of a double signal on both counts.

Neither menopausal women nor neurodivergent people wish to be singled out or discussed. It is embarrassing. I know that, as a woman ‘d’un certain âge’ myself, I would be horrified if my age, or my biology was up for discussion in the workplace, as a problem to be solved. Likewise, while neurodiverse conditions certainly present difference, we miss the point if we only see these differences as a problem. Yet, in going to the heart of the matter, this study shows us an area of societal difficulty rich with opportunity to grow and learn.

What we need is a more excellent understanding of ourselves and each other.
Today we are developing a better vocabulary to communicate and understand neurodiversity, and it is really having a moment. Bestselling author Daniel Tammet’s assertion that autistic people can challenge ‘groupthink’ is entirely welcome to my ears: autistic people are often highly original thinkers, and, if unbound by social niceties and given to plain speech (both possible gifts, or problems, of autism depending on your viewpoint), we get a refreshingly honest, straightforward standpoint expressed. We need this!

But can we bear it? Can we accept different styles of communication, and stop viewing e.g. autism as something to be ‘fixed?’ Until we can, a lot of brilliant, autistic and other neurodiverse people will continue to shut up and stay at the periphery of life, to all of our detriment and loss.

The desire to be accepted is an extremely strong human emotion, and I think that it has something to do with this particular intersectionality. When the parameters of acceptability are narrow (as they still are), when understanding of difference is limited (which it still is), difference itself is not really welcomed and engaged with in a creative, open way. Lip service may be paid, but no real, deep understanding demonstrated.

This study puts a spotlight on the intersectionality of two sensitive areas of difference. It highlights experiences that are real and valid, and many millions of women may find comfort to know they are not alone. It also paves the way for more, highly valuable, research into how we really engage with diversity. It is no accident that both neurodiversity and menopause are the focus of this study, nor that they are having a bit of a moment just now.

Now is the time to learn about difference with understanding and appreciation for each other, and it’s long overdue.

i) ‘Fundamental intersectionality of menopause and neurodivergence experiences at work’

Gottardello and Steffan, University of Edinburgh

Source: Science Direct

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378512224002020

ii) “Nearly half of the people responding to an online survey about obesity said they would give up a year of their life rather than be fat, according to a study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale.

“The 4,000 respondents in varying numbers between 15% and 30% also said they would rather walk away from their marriage, give up the possibility of having children, be depressed, or become alcoholic rather than be obese. Five percent and four percent, respectively, said they would rather lose a limb or be blind than be overweight.”

Source: https://news.yale.edu/2006/05/16/some-people-would-give-life-or-limb-not-be-fat

iii) Sunday Telegraph, 7th July 2024, ‘Autism made me feel like a foreigner growing up – the kids at school kept asking why I was weird.’ Interview with Daniel Tammet