It took me until I was 33 to truly feel happy at work. To finally find a belonging, an employer that felt safe and a line manager who could support me to grow.

I was years into my working life until I found this belonging, acceptance and feeling of being happy at work. Let’s just reflect on this for a moment. It took me twelve years of bad practice, unsupportive managers and psychologically unsafe environments, to then change jobs and experience the opposite. It was only last year when I finally understood what a good workplace should feel like. How colleagues should behave towards you and that work should be a positive place to be. I now understand what inclusion and equity really mean.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been reflecting a lot on what exactly inclusion means, and more specifically how I’ve felt when my ADHD and dyspraxic self have been part of something and I’ve been valued. And the comparison when this hasn’t happened. This isn’t just indicative of work, but everywhere. Socially. In the community. In education. Accessing services. And of course at work. Inclusion is, and should be a fundamental part of life. Although it isn’t, and we know from hearing lived experiences, that it really isn’t top of everyone’s agenda. When I was younger and going through education (and several degrees to try and figure myself out), I assumed, like many of us do, that to be included I had to ask for something or be accommodated in some way. We’re taught to believe that our brains aren’t built to fit in with everyone else. In school we ask for extra time in exams, tuition if we need it, annual reviews to asses our needs. I now realise that all of this stuff, although support offered by schools is often very minimal, is not inclusion.

I've been reflecting a lot recently about careers, ambitions, progression and the goals we all set ourselves, whether intentionally or not. I've written about finding an inclusive workplace and the difference it makes when everything feels more accessible. I'm pretty open online and in writing about my ADHD & Dyspraxia these days, but despite years of shouting about this stuff, leading workshops, writing letters to anyone who would listen and speaking on several live radio programmes, sometimes neurodiversity doesn't feel a comfortable topic of conversation. And rightly so, the first rule of sharing anything personal whether online or in person, is that you don't owe anyone all of you.