Neurodiversity commonly refers to people with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia and dyspraxia. It should not be viewed as a deficiency or disability but a way of thinking differently about the world.

Evidence shows that employers who welcome and nurture a neurodivergent workforce are likely to become more compassionate, inclusive and supportive organisations as a result – creating an environment and culture that, for social housing providers, will ultimately benefit both staff and residents.

This virtual event is designed to provide practical steps on how housing providers can embrace neurodiversity by creating inclusive policies that address the unique needs of neurodivergent individuals inside and outside the organisation.

Key sessions include:

• Neurodiversity in social housing – an overview of the challenges and opportunities
• Supporting neurodiversity in the workplace
• The benefits of creating an inclusive culture
• Neuro-inclusive IT placements for social housing.

Confirmed speakers:

• Chair: Chloe Fletcher, Director, HQN
• Chloe Tilford, Senior Consultant, Housing Diversity Network
• Sarah Moorhouse, Project SEARCH Tutor, The Calico Group
• Maria Bolton, Project SEARCH Employment Coach, The Calico Group
• Gemma North, Consultant, Gemma North Consultancy
• Sharon Cant, Recruitment Marketing Specialist, auticon.

10.30 Welcome and introductions

• Chloe Fletcher, Director, HQN

10.40 Neurodiversity – what is it and why it matters

• Gemma North, Consultant, Gemma North Consultancy

Gemma will set out what neurodiversity is and the range of conditions and behaviours it encompasses.  She will outline why it is important to be neuro-inclusive and what steps you can take to make your workplace more accessible to neurodivergent people.

11.10 Neurodiversity in social housing – an overview of the challenges and opportunities

• Chloe Tilford, HDN

Chloe will outline the different ways in which neurodiversity could impact on a social housing provider as a landlord and provider of services.  She will discuss the sorts of issues that may arise in social housing and discuss if general needs providers should be learning more from their supported and specialist housing colleagues to improve outcomes for all tenants but neurodiverse tenants in particular.

11:45 break

11.55 Supported Internship Programme – Calico Housing

• Sarah Moorhouse, Project SEARCH Tutor, The Calico Group

• Maria Bolton, Project SEARCH Employment Coach, The Calico Group

Sarah and Maria will share details of their supported internships for people with learning difficulties and/or autism spectrum conditions delivered in partnership with Burnley College and Lancashire County Council.

12:25 Neuro-inclusive IT placements for social housing

• Sharon Cant, auticon

auticon is an award-winning social innovation company which seeks to match autistic technology consultants into client organizations, performing as software developers, data analysts, QA engineers, and more. Sharon will outline their services and the outstanding autistic talent that is available to companies who have open minds and want to achieve diversity goals.

12:55 Reflections on the social housing sector

• Chris Connor, A neurodivergent tenant, Riverside Housing Association

1:30pm Close

Chloe Fletcher, Director, HQN

Chloe has worked in the social housing sector for over 25 years since her first role in housing management with JSS Pinnacle as a trainee housing officer. She completed a Masters in Housing with Professional Qualification at the London School of Economics in 1998 and then moved into housing policy, working on behalf of the London boroughs, initially for London Housing Unit and then London Councils. She joined the National Federation of ALMOs (NFA) in 2007 working with members, government officials and wider housing stakeholders to develop NFA policy and support the ALMO movement.  She has recently left her role as Policy Director at the NFA and joined HQN as Director, working across the business and bringing her knowledge and experience to the wider sector.

Chloe Tilford, Senior Consultant, HDN

Chloe manages the training and consultancy services for HDN. After a very varied pre-housing career (including roles in finance, non-profit, high-end retail, event management and project management), Chloe wanted to leave the private sector and do something more connected with making a positive change. Chloe started her housing sector journey in transformation project management, then took the opportunity to join HDN in 2022. She is passionate about everyone having a fair chance to thrive in life and dismantling systems of oppression that prevent it. Outside of work she can mostly be found smothering her cat or doing various art/craft projects.

Sarah Moorhouse, Project SEARCH Tutor, The Calico Group

Sarah has worked within the Education sector for the past 10 years, specialising in working with young adults with additional support needs. She currently works as a Tutor for Burnley College on their award-winning Project SEARCH Supported Internship programme alongside The Calico Group and Lancashire County Council. She is a firm believer in ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ and a Supported Internship helps young adults to find the sector that sparks their passion. With a compassionate and patient approach, she creates an inclusive and supportive learning environment for her interns and empowers them to overcome the barriers that they face to enter the world of work. She is passionate about equipping young adults with the skills, knowledge and self-advocacy skills to become as independent as possible as they transition into adulthood. Sarah also spends time sharing her expertise with employers to encourage them to develop a more inclusive and equitable workforce.

Gemma North, Consultant, Gemma North Consultancy

Gemma has extensive experience of working with individuals, groups and organisations to find bespoke solutions to complex social issues.

‘Attending the session with Gemma will be an opportunity to increase awareness about neurodiversity. We will explore how to create more neuro-inclusive spaces for tenants and employees.’

Sharon Cant, Recruitment Marketing Specialist, auticon

Sharon has spent most of her career working in student and graduate employability and has a strong interest in diversity, equity and inclusion in careers. She now helps raise awareness of the tech and data roles available to autistic candidates at auticon and enjoys being part of auticon’s social mission to reduce barriers to employment for autistic and neurodivergent adults.  As well as employing autistic people directly through their autism-friendly recruitment process and into a work environment where neurodiversity is understood and celebrated, auticon also helps other organisations on their journey towards neuroinclusion by sharing their extensive lived experience of successfully attracting, recruiting, supporting and retaining autistic employees.

Chris Connor, Tenant, Riverside Housing Association

Autistic, Dyslexic, Amateur Photographer, Tenant. Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Management from The University of Liverpool.