The BRIDGE Framework: How Stigma Research Informs Everyday Practices Toward Neurodiversity and Neuroinclusion in the Workplace

As organizations increasingly focus on, and revise, their approaches to diversity, equity, and inclusion, the role, and everyday efforts of incorporating neurodiversity into DEI initiatives has received increasing attention. Simultaneously, the ‘work’ that people engage as they meet, collaborate, and build workplaces for and with neurodivergent employees warrants attention. More specifically, if an employee or leader has espoused values around neurodiversity, what workplace behaviors would best reflect this espoused value? What workplace practices should neurotypicals engage in and/or reflect upon to demonstrate that they value neurodivergent workers and that they don’t want to reduce them to the ideals about ‘limitations’ associated with their neurodivergence? In this chapter, I draw on findings from secondary data (e.g., archival and observations) about change agents addressing stigma within the autism employment landscape. My goal is twofold: (a) to highlight practices that neurotypicals engage to demonstrate value for neurodivergent workers within an organizing framework (BRIDGE); and (b) to suggest directions for practice and future research based on this organizing framework. To do so, I first review research on stigma related to neurodivergence. Then, I present and describe the BRIDGE framework and its practices that are rooted in stigma theory and research.