Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Neurodivergent Well-being: New Study Reveals Workplace Challenges
A 2026 study in the British Journal of Psychology surveyed over 2,000 people in a probabilistic household sample and found that autistic and ADHD adults report significantly lower life satisfaction and significantly higher stress than neurotypical peers. In this video I break down what the research found, why the wellbeing gap is not a feature of being neurodivergent, and what it reveals about the workplace conditions most organisations are still failing to provide.
The van Rijswijk and Curseu study draws on self-determination theory to examine what is mediating the wellbeing gap. Three fundamental psychological needs emerge as the key variables: autonomy, the sense of genuine agency over your own work; competence, feeling genuinely effective and capable; and relatedness, authentic connection with the people around you. The research found that all three needs are systematically harder to meet for neurodivergent employees in workplaces built around neurotypical assumptions. Autonomy erodes when masking requires constant social self-monitoring. Competence is undermined when performance evaluation measures social presentation rather than actual work quality. Relatedness is harder to build when informal workplace social infrastructure was not designed with cognitive diversity in mind.
The implication for organisations is significant. The wellbeing gap is not a clinical management issue. It is a workplace design signal. If your wellbeing data shows neurodivergent employees are not thriving, the research says the most likely cause is structural, not personal. This video explains the study, the framework, and what it means for anyone making decisions about how workplaces are designed, evaluated, and measured.
Neurodivergent Well-being: New Study Reveals Workplace Challenges
A 2026 study in the British Journal of Psychology surveyed over 2,000 people in a probabilistic household sample and found that autistic and ADHD adults report significantly lower life satisfaction and significantly higher stress than neurotypical peers. In this video I break down what the research found, why the wellbeing gap is not a feature of being neurodivergent, and what it reveals about the workplace conditions most organisations are still failing to provide.
The van Rijswijk and Curseu study draws on self-determination theory to examine what is mediating the wellbeing gap. Three fundamental psychological needs emerge as the key variables: autonomy, the sense of genuine agency over your own work; competence, feeling genuinely effective and capable; and relatedness, authentic connection with the people around you. The research found that all three needs are systematically harder to meet for neurodivergent employees in workplaces built around neurotypical assumptions. Autonomy erodes when masking requires constant social self-monitoring. Competence is undermined when performance evaluation measures social presentation rather than actual work quality. Relatedness is harder to build when informal workplace social infrastructure was not designed with cognitive diversity in mind.
The implication for organisations is significant. The wellbeing gap is not a clinical management issue. It is a workplace design signal. If your wellbeing data shows neurodivergent employees are not thriving, the research says the most likely cause is structural, not personal. This video explains the study, the framework, and what it means for anyone making decisions about how workplaces are designed, evaluated, and measured.
