Canaries in coal mines
4 min read · March 17, 2023
New Power Labs
TL;DR - addressing workplace barriers for autistic and neurodiverse communities benefits us all.
In the past, coal miners would bring a canary when entering a mine, and if the canary stopped singing or died, it was a warning sign that the air was toxic and that miners needed to evacuate. The canary's sensitivity to small concentrations of toxic gases allowed miners to detect potential danger before it was too late.
This analogy is often used to describe the heightened vulnerability that autistic people experience to harmful environmental factors. Toxic gases, just like exclusionary work environments and practices, would harm autistic and neurodiverse people first, but eventually, impact everyone. However, disability and neurodiversity often exist as an afterthought when it comes to equity, diversity, and inclusion and intersectionalities between ability, race, gender, sexual orientation are often overlooked.
Researcher Ludmila N. Praslova, PhD., suggests that practices inclusive to autistic talent would benefit all overlooked communities and are highly desired by most employees. Praslova proposes six holistic principles to remove access and success barriers in the Canary Code to a more inclusive workplace:
Participation: include individuals, especially those who think differently, in the job design process to remove barriers. For example, autistic professionals pay a higher psychological price when interrupted from deep work where others may experience only a minor inconvenience.
Outcome focus: Being evaluated on style instead of substance can marginalize workers that are not similar to the rater and miss innovative work styles that those with autism and other diverse groups contribute. Focusing on outcomes improves productivity and inclusion.
Flexibility in timing, location and work-style accommodates autistic individuals with sensory sensitivity or sleep issues, and also removes opportunity barriers like transport limits due to disability or economic disadvantage.
Organizational justice: Fairness in practices, information-sharing, distribution of pay and workload and interactions improve productivity and create a healthy work environment. When evaluating your organization’s inclusivity, involve under-represented groups to understand how these markers of fairness are experienced across the organization.
Communication: Those with autism and others with diverse experiences can be excluded when hidden messages, corporate doublespeak, and ‘insider’ expressions are used at work. Transparent, clear communication supports psychological safety and inclusion, driving performance.
Valid measurement: Job-seekers with autism may face barriers in personality-based interviews, which measure the ability to talk about one’s skills rather than demonstrate them - something that can also impact people from cultures that value modesty. Directly assessing skills in recruitment and promotion can reduce access barriers across the board.
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