Webinar Recording: ADHD Safe Work – More than just noise cancelling headphones with Catherine Lee

Every employer knows that if a job candidate or employee discloses that they have a disability, then the employer must make reasonable adjustments to help them perform in the job. So if someone says they have ADHD you just give them a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, right? Because that’s what we did for the last guy with ADHD and he was happy with that.

But what happens if the disability is a mental health or neurodivergent condition, such as ADHD and the candidate or employee does not tell their employer?

What happens if the candidate or employee does not know they have ADHD?

What if the candidate or employee knows they have ADHD but does not consider it to be a disability as far as their work is concerned?

Most adults with ADHD do not disclose their condition to their employer because they either fear discrimination and judgement or because they do not believe it affects their work performance and so they should not have to disclose their own personal medical information. And who can blame them?

Much of the current advice provided to adults with ADHD in relation to telling their employer is:
1) Here are some tips and tricks about how you can perform effectively at work; and
2) Here are the pros and cons of disclosing to your employer. But think carefully about it. It’s probably best not to if you think you don’t think your employer will be accomodating.

In this webinar, we will explore some of the barriers to disclosure, the problems that non-disclosure can cause for both the worker and the employer, and introduce the Neurodiverse Safe Work Initiative, which has been established to make workplaces safe, healthy and inclusive for neurodiverse workers.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn about “The Vicious Cycle of Non- Disclosure” and why it’s a problem for adults with ADHD and their employers
• Learn why reasonable adjustments like noise-cancelling headphones may not go far enough to ensure worker safety
• Learn two approaches employers can adopt to create work that is safe, healthy and inclusive for everyone, even their ADHD workers who may not need noise cancelling headphones!

Who: Catherine Lee

Biography

Catherine is the Director of Lethbridge Piper & Associates, an Australian Occupational Health and Safety Management Consultancy. For 30 years Catherine has advised employers, CEOs, Boards, Executives, and Leadership teams on strategic health and safety management. She has designed, implemented, and audited health and safety management systems; managed complex return to work cases, and investigated workplace incidents to help employers understand what went wrong and what they need to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Originally a Registered Nurse and then an Occupational Health Nurse, Catherine has always been a passionate advocate for keeping workers fit and healthy and at work and working at the strategic level, helping business owners and executives manage their occupational health and safety obligations has a flow-on effect to keeping workers safe.

Then in mid-2020, Catherine was asked to advise a business owner about a worker who had been injured in a fall at work, and this one case exposed a huge gap, not only in her own knowledge and practice, but in the accepted knowledge, research, and practices of occupational health and safety more broadly. Catherine has now pivoted her whole practice towards educating and supporting employers to provide work that is safe, healthy, and inclusive for neurodiverse workers. Find out more here! https://lethbridgepiper.com.au/