Opening Doors to Neurodiversity
How we are increasing our colleagues’ understanding and confidence around neurodiversity to improve customer engagement and trust.
by Jodie Warren, Learning and Development Coordinator/Advisor, Bron Afon Community Housing
At Bron Afon, we know every customer brings a unique background, perspective, and set of needs to our community, and it’s our responsibility to make sure their needs are met with respect and understanding. That’s why we’re taking significant steps to improve the way we communicate, especially with our neurodiverse tenants, with our ‘Opening Doors to Neurodiversity Project’.
Why neurodiversity matters
It’s easy to think of communication as a ‘one size fits all’ solution. We noticed an increase in the number of customers not engaging with us, and after some investigation, discovered that some of our customers found it difficult to engage with us because our usual methods didn’t always suit their needs.
This realisation led us to look more closely at neurodiversity and how it shapes the way people interact with our services.
For some customers, certain processes, like scheduling appointments or navigating written information, can be challenging in ways that aren’t always obvious. When we understand these differences, we can make our services more accessible and welcoming for everyone.
Our Housing Manager and project lead Jo Blosse says: “We’re already seeing a difference and we haven’t properly started delivering the project yet! One of my team is involved in this project and has made some fantastic progress working with a customer who felt misunderstood. Taking time to understand the customer's needs and completing training on neurodiversity created a foundation and better learning, which meant the next visit with the customer went brilliantly. The customer has built trust and is in regular contact. Imagine the impact once the full training plan and other initiatives are rolled out! I'm excited to think about what’s ahead.”
Our approach
We have no intention of diagnosing or labelling anyone. What’s important to us is understanding our ‘need to reach’ customers, rather than thinking of them as ‘hard to reach’. We’re investing in training and upskilling our colleagues by increasing awareness of neurodiversity, and empowering teams to offer a more flexible, supportive service that meets customer’s needs. We believe this approach will make it easy for our teams to engage and our customers feel we are on their side, regardless of the circumstances.
Benefits for all
Designing services with neurodiversity in mind has a positive impact across the board. A system or a process that’s easier for neurodiverse individuals to navigate is clearer and more user-friendly for everyone else. We hope by making changes to our approach we can increase trust, improve communication, and create a stronger sense of belonging for all our customers.
Raising awareness and providing more support to our customers keeps them at the heart of everything we do. Understanding diverse needs, as a key outcome for this project, is something we are really proud to be working towards.
Looking forward
We’re already applying what we’ve learned so far and looking ahead to how this understanding can benefit other parts of our organisation. This includes recruitment, making interview spaces more welcoming to neurodiverse candidates and creating welcome videos that show our office and parking options. Our aim is to help those who appreciate advance planning to feel more comfortable when visiting us.
We are still in early days, but the learning has already begun for the project team. We’re committed to continuous learning and improvement, and keen that voices are heard and needs are understood. We are connecting with experts in the community for their advice and support.
If you’ve led similar initiatives or have valuable insights to share, we’d love to hear from you!