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Neurodiversity Network?

Is there any interest in forming a neurodiversity network for the IET? I can't be the only autistic person here, and I'm sure ADHD/dyslexia/etc are also well represented in our membership.

I note that even the 'interests' tags that it's possible to follow on the new forum are all exclusively descriptive of technical areas, with no space for diversity/inclusion topics or broader discussion of workplace culture. (For example, although I can tag 'LGBTQ+' and 'Women in technology' on this post, I am not able to follow them under my 'interests' section!) Similarly, the 'groups' section has options for technical or local groups, but no obvious route to connect based on shared experiences that don't fall into those categories.

A friend of mine has just launched a group within BCS (British Computing Society), so if there was interest in creating a similar IET group, there could be potential for interesting collaboration/cross-pollination. Plus, with so many tech companies now attempting to focus on the recruitment of neurodiverse staff, it seems to me that it could be useful to have a group who could engage with them to talk about our actual requirements day to day, rather than just how to get people through the door.

Parents
  • I note that even the 'interests' tags that it's possible to follow on the new forum are all exclusively descriptive of technical areas, with no space for diversity/inclusion topics or broader discussion of workplace culture.

    You can also follow non-technical topics, but currently the mechanism is different: on the topic page (e.g. "Equality Diversity Inclusion"), select the sub-topic you want to follow (e.g. "Women in Engineering") and click/tap on the heart icon:

    In fact this also works for the technical topics/interests included in the user profile.

  • That's a really useful hack, Peter, thank you for sharing. (But I think the fact that I'm a computer scientist with 15+ years' professional experience, and having been involved in online forums since my early teens, and I still didn't figure this out, means it could probably afford to be improved!)

    It also remains the case that presently there is simply no way to tag neurodiversity (or disability, or mental health) in the way it's possible to tag matters of race/gender/LGBTQ+ interest.

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  • That's a really useful hack, Peter, thank you for sharing. (But I think the fact that I'm a computer scientist with 15+ years' professional experience, and having been involved in online forums since my early teens, and I still didn't figure this out, means it could probably afford to be improved!)

    It also remains the case that presently there is simply no way to tag neurodiversity (or disability, or mental health) in the way it's possible to tag matters of race/gender/LGBTQ+ interest.

Children
  • Yes, agreed! TBH I can't now recall why the "general" topics didn't make it into the user profile alongside technical interests, given that they otherwise behave in exactly the same way. 

    The selection of general topics was largely inherited from the previous version of the community, but we will certainly be looking to extend this to cover other areas of interest/concern.

  • Hello, I just wanted to let you know that we've now got an 'Engineering with a Disability' tag which you can follow on the topic page 'Equality Diversity Inclusion' by selecting 'Engineering with a Disability' and clicking/tapping on the heart icon. We just need to work on having some new content Thumbsup