Response to #1
The reading in this unit that stood out to me the most was the Austin and Pisano article about neurodiversity. As a result, I would like to focus on neurodiversity in the workplace. The Austin and Pisano article focused a lot on the benefits of neurodiverse individuals, along with how to get them into specific industries which could use their skillsets. However, I would like to focus on areas or industries where there is already an underrepresentation in the industry, the struggles that they have with adding neurodiverse individuals, and see if there is any room for change. In order to have the most success in finding an article which interests me, I plan on using google, as well as the SU library database using key words to narrow down my search. I plan on using the filter features on the SU database, as I believe that this will help me narrow down the results and find something that is relevant towards our class. Some of the filters I plan on using to have an article that is credible and relevant in today is to have the filter set for articles published in the past five years, as well as journal articles. After I have found an article that meets these criteria, I plan on googling the author to make sure that they are respected individuals within that field. The experts I believe that would be relevant would be people in academia, or people in the corporate world who have experience dealing with neurodiverse individuals. So far, I have had success using these techniques to find articles which would be relevant and interesting to research more on.
Response to #2
In their article, Austin and Pisano highlight the fact that people with neurodiverse conditions are not taken full advantage of due to conventional recruitment tactics. In addition, they state some of the benefits associated with neurodiverse individuals, along with ways to get them involved in the workplace. Although Austin and Pisano do not say so directly, they acknowledge that accommodations for neurodiverse individuals often involve extreme amounts of effort and change within the organization. In their recent work, Kaplan and Donovan have found that having good intentions does not always mean that there will be a positive impact. Kaplan and Donovan argue that to have a positive impact on diverse individuals there must be constant changes taking place in the organization in order to accommodate and help diverse individuals grow. This is similar to Austin and Pisano as they both illustrate that in order to accommodate diverse individuals, many things have to change in the workplace. Along with this, both articles stated the fact that it is often difficult for people who do not have the same background as diverse individuals to help them grow, as they do not understand where they are coming from, or their personal needs.
Julia,
I also am taking a greater interest in neurodiversity and the different ways that those people are treated. I think that looking for change in industries that already have underrepresentation is a great path to take since I am sure there are, unfortunately, many. I think it would be interesting to research why they are underrepresented, similar to what you said, and if it is because they did not seem like the right person for the job during the interview like Austin and Pisano discussed or if there are other reasons like the company does not have the resources to help their employees and give them the accommodations that they need. I think that looking for ways and ideas to allow for change will be a very productive way to emphasis the importance of this change and hopefully will result in the change that we want!
Right–intention does not determine impact, and we can see both articles considering the extent of the cultural changes that would need to be made. No easy fixes here!