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[Music]
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So this segment is about neurodeiversity in the workplace and obviously um
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we’ve all got our own different personal experiences with that. Obviously I come across it I I do it from a diff the
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other point of view where I’m I’m helping neurody divergent people more than necessarily living it. Um
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but I’d like to just ask you both about well in in turn about your experiences
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uh being neurody divergent in the workplace from you both you know your
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unique um like sort of personal snapshots of of how that looks in your
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life. Um I think last time we kind of did this I started with shared so this time I’m going to actually start with
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Miles if that’s all right with you and uh just yeah just talk about um how
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that’s been what so like what work is like from the POV of somebody that’s neurodeiverse
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from for you. Yeah, sure. Well, right for me for me specifically.
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Yeah. Um, so I mean up until recently, um, this was actually my second job, uh,
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because I’ve been working at the hip store in Leeds. And again, when I think of what work has looked like, I’m very
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grateful for my time at Hip Leads to sort of stepping stone me back into
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a a job as, like I mentioned before, as meaningful as this one. So, but even
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still in that it’s retail and it’s a lot of speaking to a lot of people on weekends. It’s a lot busier. Um, so the
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sort of the almost the like socially taxing strain of being around
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so many people is quite yeah taxing is the word. It’s it’s it
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takes that bit out of you. Um but thankfully both there and here with
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stride as well it’s I’m in a place where um it’s not too much to say oh actually
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um I maybe just need a minute or um this is just a bit much right now. Um so I’ve
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been very very lucky very lucky to have that um across the board. Obviously now
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that this is that like my position at Stride is like my only position now. Um
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they get to the point I mean even the other day we were uh mind mapping the sort of timeline and what we wanted to
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do and bring to the socials and to to best represent
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blah blah blah. Um, and even with that, it got to the point yada yada yada. It even got to a point in the day when I I
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said, “Right, um, we’ve achieved we’ve achieved a lot there.” Um,
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I need to go home like cuz I there’s it’s almost like there’s there’s a finite amount of space per day. Um,
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yeah. And I think that um you know within stride we have tried to uh in
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particular you know with with our neurody divergent staff where we have had to uh I suppose leveled the playing
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field a little bit. Um you know I think we’ve been quite good where I’ve been like that’s fine.
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Oh 15 minutes late for work today Miles that’s fine like don’t worry it’s and
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that’s not just for our neurody divergent staff by the way that’s across the board. Yeah, of course. People are people.
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You don’t have to explain, you know, your life. I feel targeted right now. Your life. No, like we
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He’s never on time. No, I feel targeted cuz a while ago I ended up sleeping in and like was an
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hour late to work. Yeah, but how was with you about how was we with you about that? Yeah, he was very like he was like, “Oh,
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don’t worry about it.” But yeah, now I feel targeted. like
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we spoke about this before you came in here that maybe there’s some sort of pre
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uh set notion set by just like society as to why you feel like that. Well, yeah, cuz like one of my old jobs
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I was like once I was I think I was like two five minutes late and like my boss was like why wasn’t you
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here on time and like was like you need to be on time. Um, no. I had to get
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buses to work then. So, it was like a bus delay. Yeah. So, like, and this is and I was like two minutes, five minutes
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late and I was like, and this is why I had panic about being on time places. So, like when
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that day I’d slept in cuz my alarm just well hadn’t set an alarm. I just got a new temporary phone
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and forgot to set my alarms. So, obviously I wasn’t awake. Sure. and like AC across the team
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and like I panicked that morning across the team um you know that’s how we are as well. It’s a case of um you
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know oh I’ve I’ve got a doctor’s appointment. It’s the only one I could get. Fine. Get yourself off. Um I’m
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going on holiday on Saturday and it’s the only time I could fit in to get my eyelashes done. Fine. Get yourself get
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yourself there. Um, now not at the expense of that is word for word what Michelle
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said. No, not not wait what we shall not name names.
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Bad Michelle within the team. We shall not name names. Um,
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and now we would never obviously, you know, do that at the expense of missing a client session or anything like that,
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but we understand that people have got lives. Um, we’re quite flexible as well with our clients. Um when it comes to
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rearranging sessions we try to be anyway. I know we are we have to be quite rigid to fit people in but
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that is how it is. Um so going back to your point you found the
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whole experience of joining stride and being a neurody divergent person quite a positive experience.
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A very positive experience. Um, I was going to say I was going to say so
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far like you’ve got this like villain arc planned, but so far
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so far. Um, [Music] they’re like the the the Batman
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newspaper spin wheel. Yeah. Yeah. Um,
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um, yeah. No. And like like when you were saying before about other jobs that
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you’ve had where you’ve got there late because of um like a bus delay,
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how many like in the in the few shifts I’ve worked so far, I think like two times that I’ve I’ve come in I’ve been
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like right I’ve still fill it out thing by the way. Sorry. I’ve said that like um not the the buses
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are on time. I just stayed on them for too long and missed my stop to get the
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train or I got off too early and then wouldn’t make the walk to the train station time. And that’s like that’s no
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fault of the bus. That’s a fault of me. And I really like beat myself up as to or it’s
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because I’ve got a brain injury. But you’re never on time for anything. You’re still the villain that I’m still
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Yeah. the I’m never on time for anything. Um, and it’s like, yeah, you
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had you had obviously that that issue getting in on on one of the shifts that you coming through and it was just like,
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it’s fine. Yeah. And I think the first thing I said, well, first just relax. You like, I am relaxed. I’m like, fine. I’m glad.
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That’s what he said to me. That’s the exact same thing he said to me that day. First breathe. And I rang him. He was like, relax.
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First breathe and then let’s just think about what to do next. Right. Okay.
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Doesn’t matter. and and you know in terms of pay and things like that, you’re still going to get paid for the full day. It’s like
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you’re still going to get the same level of work. And this is what I don’t understand about sometimes the way that
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I’m not a great employer. Wow. I I know. No, I’m not even going to point to I’m I’m not even going to say,
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oh, you know, um other employers are bad or anything like that. I’m just going to say that obviously across the board I
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understand that there’s an expectation to be on time and there’s an and and that’s absolutely fine
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but I also think there needs to be but I personally don’t believe in it so I’m never on time.
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I’m I’m not I’m not I’m not even saying that every company should be like us. I understand we are quite a
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we are different in terms of we are a neuroincclusive company. We are all a bit um a bit we’re all a bit different,
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aren’t we? We’re all just a bit our our team wouldn’t work to if everybody had
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to be in at the same time and everybody had lunch at the same time and you know if it was like a very corporate very rigid set
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it wouldn’t work for us. It just wouldn’t work for us. And that’s like you’ve got to do I think in the business
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world you’ve absolutely got to do what is going to work for you as a company and how we operate is at the moment
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absolutely what works for us and there is structure to our chaos and we have set meetings on set days and and
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things like that but overall I think it is made in a way that
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does well I I think it causes for us creativity which is in our industry what
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we need. Yeah. We need creativity. It’s not keeping everybody again was
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saying like rigid like very struct like over structured with a day like you can breathe and I think it’s at that point
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that you’re going to get the best out of people in not just like creativity but like when they let’s say they’re delayed in
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starting a task when they get around to doing it they’ll do it better than they would have if they’ been like no I need
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to do it right now and like lock it type thing. It’ be it be it wouldn’t be Yeah. It wouldn’t be authentic type. Yeah. And
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that’s what I want to reflect on the like on the on the on the
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socials over the over the coming months type thing. Okay. On the I’m going to do it as like a bit of a like a abab thing in terms of
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how we’re going to do this. So chees um Oh no,
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again we’re on the we’re on the question of um you know neurodyiversity and
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how that has really shaped you in in the workplace and as a worker. How has that
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been for you as a uh team member of Stride? What kind of
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adjustments do you think we’ve had to make specifically in the workplace? Um
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I I guess anything else? Just just tell me about what what it’s been like as a neurody divergent person in this job
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specifically. This job specific. Yes. Yeah. I mean if you want to talk about like your runup to that and where
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it’s either been good or not been so good in the past, but don’t obviously name specifically then then
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Yes. You then then you then you can I know you obviously was starting to allude to some of that stuff earlier. Um go ahead.
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Well, it was when I was at school. U we did like work experience and it was in
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actually one of my mom’s friends um like
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uh I don’t know how to describe it. Like they made like t-shirts and stuff like the art that goes on.
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Oh, okay. So the like uh illustrators um like a print Yeah, like a print print shop.
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Yeah, perfect. It’s not open anymore. Mhm. Sadly. Is it like screen printing? Yeah. Like
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so you went on you like made the design and then like I had to like stick the
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design on the shirt and like heat press it. Heat press it and then I had to like peel off like the bits that wasn’t
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supposed to be on it. Yeah. Um and that was your that was your first that was my first job experience. That
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went pretty well. I did that actually twice cuz at school we did work experience twice. They wanted me to go
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and work at Tesco’s and my mom was like, “No, I don’t want my son to go work at
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Tesco’s and putting stuff on shelf.” I I did. I went to We all got to pick our pick our own, but
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there was like but they kind of like pushed us to do certain things and like
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like I don’t want anyone to be going to Tesco’s and putting stuff on shelves. That’s a bit boring. I mean, so I Oh, I
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It’s It’s so funny. Like, I remember this. I remember I got my work experience at a jeweler’s in Thor, but I
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turned it down because I wanted to get on the bus and go to town with everyone in the morning. They’ve got who got jobs
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in town. So, I ended up getting a job at Wilos. Did you have work experience
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on a Wednesday afternoon or did you just was you one of these that just said you had it and went home?
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Oh, no. No, no, no, no. It was like it was meant to be um two weeks of a term
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like so it was in in school time. Yeah. Um like two weeks of a term, but I’m sure even with that I got to
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like day five and I were like So you’re on about you’re on about year 11. Yes. Yeah. I So did do you know that in six form
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there was an option to leave on a Wednesday afternoon at like 2:00 and go
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and volunteer somewhere? No, I didn’t know this. So I I did AS level so I didn’t do A level. So I only
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it was it was for the first year and the second year. So, I probably knew that
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there was there was the option to uh do either work experience or it was like
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uh extracurricularum PE or uh I think it was like there was like a almost like a
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life studies type class at the same time like all it was
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on a Wednesday afternoon as if I mean I probably I probably did know this but yeah I I don’t know
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I volunteered at Autism Plus that That’s what I I did. Yeah. In thorn. They got a taste for it.
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Just got What What’s that term that people are using these days? Neurospicy.
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I’ve never heard that. You’ve never spicy. Spicy. Yeah. People are like, “What’s
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that?” Oh, they’re a little bit neurosicy. It’s like like nod.
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You know what? I don’t know. Cuz like neurotypical people use it all the time. And um
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what’s the other word that people say? Oh, I’ve got a bit of the tism. Oh, that’s counseling.
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Yeah, that’s can that’s not something that I say. That is something that I’ve heard other people say. So, what I’ve heard you say.
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I’ve only heard you say that and me once. To be fair, I have said I’ve got the
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tism. I’ve also heard people Yeah. I’ve got to say I’ve heard people with autism genuinely say that. I’ve got a bit of
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the tism. Like, yeah, but we’re allowed to say that. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.
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We can’t cancel ourselves. No, but I wasn’t saying that’s something that I use. I was saying that something that I’ve heard other people use, including
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people that don’t have autism. Well, then they need to shut up. Yes. And I’ve told them that they should
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not be saying that. I agree with you. Don’t get started. Do not get that.
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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Only I can say it isn’t. Or or everybody’s favorite. We’re all a little bit autistic or we’re
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all on the spectrum somewhere. Yeah. No. No. It’s like how
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Stop trying to say you know how I feel. It’s like so that’s what people say, isn’t it?
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It’s so invalidating like to like to make to to make so light of
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what people don’t see every day type thing is. Yeah.
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It completely minimizes what somebody with autism is going through. Do you
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know I used to say it like back in the day I used it’s something that I used to say. We’re all We’re all on the spectrum
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somewhere. It’s Do you know when I was first like sort of
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bad Logan getting into this kind of industry and starting to
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do Do you know you almost say it as a way to like you’re trying to get down with the kids
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a bit by saying it. I can I can Yeah, I can understand. Do you know what I mean? You’re almost when
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you don’t know that much about it. I can see why you say it because you’re you’re trying to um
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you’re trying to relate like I’m just a kid just like you. Like
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it’s and I’m not by the way I’m not saying that people with autism are like kids. It’s just I mean that’s really bad
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example, but you know what I’m saying. Yeah, I know what you’re saying. Yeah, kind of. I I kind of see why
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people say it, but it’s not. Yeah, it’s not. If you’re watching this video,
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um, cancel him. We’re not canceling all on the spectrum somewhere. Cancel him now.
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If you’re watching this video, we’re not all on the spectrum somewhere. Cancel Logan. Cancel culture.
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We’re not all a bit neurosicy. We don’t all have a bit of the tism. These are not things that we’re allowed to say.
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Unless of course you do happen to be neurody divergent or have autism. Is that all right?
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Yes. I was going to say, but what if what if they say it in a song though? Can I say it then?
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In a song. In a song. Everything’s fine in a song. All right. What?
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No. Very good. Very good. Everything’s fine in a song. Uno reversed. Right. If
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it’s a joke, if it’s comedy, that’s a lie. counseling.
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It’s allowed if it’s in comedy. It’s allowed if it’s in comedy, of course. Yeah.
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Um and as a as a neurotypical, I’m allowed to say that
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and you should listen to me. No. Um
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guys, let’s just forget everything I’ve just said for the last five minutes. They’re going to have to edit this out.
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This is for neurody divergent people. Stride is for neurody divergent people. Thank you.
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I love how he looks directly at the camera. Okay. So, so um you’ve gone off on a massive tangent
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again. Shares, going back to your story. So, that was your first job. Yes. Then what what happened? Um then I went and did Well, I went and
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did life skills at college. Did a media course like there was media in that. And
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while doing that, because I got really into like the media aspect, um I went to work for a company that does like built
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computers and stuff like that. Um and then went on to do a media course,
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which I left I left the media course um for two reasons.
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Mhm. Um but one of the reasons was I was basically doing the same thing as I was doing at the job.
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Right. Okay. Um, so and they offered me like a more
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I wouldn’t say full-time job, but they offered me a more permanent more more structured, more like Yeah.
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So, like I was like, well, I may as well go and do that. Yeah. Because I’d literally caught up on
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everything at at college. Um, because obviously I’d already knew
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how to do it. Like we we were building computers at college and like I was done. I had like free time for
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like a full two weeks because I’d already caught up. Mhm. Because obviously I was doing it at the
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job at the time. Then I left their work
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somewhere else. Did um video editing for there
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and filming because again I’d done this on my media course at um college.
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Um, I then left there, went and worked at a club in town.
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Mhm. I’m trying not to name names. No, it’s Look, what what it’s not that
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you can’t say where you’ve worked like that’s fine. I would just say try and be careful if you’re not going to be
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talking about them in the most positive way because we’re not trying to if you look back on them fondly then by
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all means let the name fly. But if you’re going to drag it then Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let’s just try and keep the name out of
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No. So I left there, went and worked in a club in town for uh three years. Um
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and then decided I wanted something to do with media again. Um
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I left there for other reasons as well, but um and then
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um met Logan. Uh he got me a job somewhere else. And
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then about interject with something. Go on. So, I know there’s more to all of that.
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Go on. I know that there’s re certain reasons why um
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certain jobs didn’t go to plan. Um in some cases through um circumstances that
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were out your control. In most of them, circumstances that in a way were out your control.
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But I know, you know, in certain roles there were uh, you know, there were times you were going through things,
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weren’t there, in life that that caused a little bit of a breakdown of how you was able to act in those roles.
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Um, which obviously the best of us. I know which I know which one he’s on as well.
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Yeah. And you know I think what would you talk about the journey
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that you’ve been on in terms of how you’ve grown from that kind of an experience if you if you
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want if you’re happy to talk about that. What do you mean? Well because you’ve I think you you’ve
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grown and matured as as a person throughout your in general throughout your working life.
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So like I I guess I suppose from from then
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to now what is the difference in terms of like how you are?
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Are you more I’m not going to put words in your mouth. Go on. How are Yeah. How would you behave then versus
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describe yourself now? Are we saying I’m more behaved? No. More so like how would you describe yourself now? Like
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I’d say I’m more behaved. Yeah. How would you like would you describe it as growth? And if so, like
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how would you describe that type of thing? Behaved sounds quite juvenile, doesn’t
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it? Um it sounds like like how naughty naughty boy. It sounds like you’re still a child in
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school and you’re not. You’re an adult. You’re in the world of work. Yeah. So,
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how have you, you know, maybe matured a bit more? Matured.
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Okay. Um I still like that sounds the same. Well, what does matured mean? What does matured mean?
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What’s a mature person? I shouldn’t have said that cuz now I
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know as that and now I don’t know. Yeah, but like what what does it mean to
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you? like when you say that you’ve matured like like I feel like I’ve grown up a lot and
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for me when you talk about maturity I I look I don’t I don’t want to take
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all the credit and say you’ve done a lot of your maturing while you’ve been with us but certainly from what I’ve seen as
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from a professional side and what I’ve heard about how you’ve done from a life point of view I think you’ve done a hell
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of a lot of growing up if you Like if that’s the terminology you choose to use over the last couple of years while
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you’ve been with us, would you agree with that? Yeah. Is there any
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Why would you say that? What do you mean? Why would you say that? It’s a It’s a podcast. It’s a question.
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Um forgot what I was going to say. I had it on my mind then. You know, I’d agree
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with the growing up. Yeah, that’s how I choose to word it. Yeah. But like I feel like I I really
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hate putting words in people’s mouth. Do you think my description of No, I I agree with your description. Yeah. But I think that probably started
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because I’ve only seen this this segment of time uh from like
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what the last couple of years that chunk of time. But be before that you will have probably done a big chunk of that
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maturing and developing before we was even on the scenes. Um, so you know, and I think that’s
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you’ve I think you only really hit the tip of the iceberg of what your potential is. I think Miles joining the
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team is going to get a lot of that out of you. Miles is great. Moving. Good.
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I’m glad you think that. Um, you heard it here. You know, you know me. If I thought Miles was horrible, I’d tell you.
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Yeah. Yeah. No, I’d tell you right here. I knew I knew I knew you’d lie, Miles. I knew you would. Um,
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I’d be like, he’s horrible. I hate him. get rid find someone else. I knew you’d like him. Um, so I feel
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like we’ve done a good chunk of talking there about um
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neurodeiversity and how that’s affected you guys personally and you know your own experiences. Now
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I think there’s a lot of one one topic I will just talk about before we move on to the next part with neurodyiversity is
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um fear around talking. Now, I’m somebody that uh
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I think I’m really putting myself in the crosshairs as somebody that’s not um
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officially, you know, I’m not diagnosed with anything. Um even if I class myself as having ADHD,
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that’s quite loose and I don’t know for sure. Sure. And it’s sort of just going from my own um experiences with
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others uh well with with neurody divergence and and just seeing what that is and through my degree in psychology and um you know
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through everything I’ve learned following then in in my professional world of work if you like that’s before
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during uh my time.
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Yeah. So I was talking about so what what allows me to Okay. Okay. So, I’m putting
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myself in the crosshairs. Yes. Um, what do you mean by that? What do you
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mean by the the the cross? Fear fear. So, let me let me let me explain. So, um, so the reason I’m sort
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of saying that I I would put myself that I’m putting myself in the crosshairs a little bit as somebody that’s not officially diagnosed as being um,
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neurody divergent. I don’t officially have ADHD even if I feel like I do. Yes. Um, I think some people would maybe
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take uh a little bit of defense at that. Um,
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and you know, sometimes that can make me feel a little bit like uh
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I don’t know like in a situation like this. You know, I’ve got two people that are neurode divergent. you know, you
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you’ve had it. I feel weird saying neurode diversion all the time out of risk of
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invalidating somebody who’s struggled with this a lot longer than I have because I’ve
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only been nervous since last January. And like
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I don’t know even still like what what that means to me means something
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entirely different to like to you and Harry. And it’s yeah, it’s um so yeah, it’s I I I I get I get
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I get where you’re coming from, but um Yeah. Yeah. So, I guess the point that I’m making is
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as somebody that’s neurotypical or, you know, is neurody divergent but
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isn’t officially neurody divergent. I understand all too well the fear
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associated with talking about certain topics during neurody divergence. Am I going to say the right or the wrong thing? Yeah.
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Um, you know, I’m I’m putting myself in in the the public eye when I’m doing any
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talks in front of people, do training on neurodyiversity and all this, you know, what if I say use the wrong terminology or something?
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Some this week somebody decided they don’t like this this turn of phrases anymore. So, am I am I going to use that
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by accident and upset somebody? That’s a real thing. So, as an employer who we’re
28:46
often trying to aim our stuff towards, our social media,
28:52
um, our services in general that might be neuro neurotypical, how could we expect
28:59
them to how can we help them to not be scared
29:05
of of doing, you know, doing the wrong thing when it comes to inclusion? Oh god. Um
29:13
yeah, I mean it is it’s a bit of a massive question. It’s I know and I think this I mean I’d like
29:20
to just quickly maybe we give this its own video but I would like to just
29:25
dip his toe in the water of know let’s just let’s just quickly cover a few just things to do with that.
29:30
Um how do we make and then just bouncing off the back of that what adjustments
29:36
could employers make and things like that. um what adjustments could employers make and how could we be a
29:41
little bit more inclusive uh for neurody divergent people specifically? Um and
29:47
then we’ll go on to what our plan is uh just with our socials over the next year, what kind of fun stuff we might um
29:54
be doing. Um what kind of what people can expect to see.
30:00
Yeah, sure. Um who would like to start on that subject?
30:06
How do we get rid of that fear? The fear of saying damn it.
30:13
Go on, Chess. Oh, I said Harry. I’m so sorry. Did
30:18
you just call me Harry? Wow. That’s how we get I did, didn’t I? To be fair, if Harry
30:26
if Harry was here, he would say he would have said something. He would have said, “I don’t know what
30:32
you’re talking about.” What do you mean fear about saying something? because he has no fear of saying anything. That man
30:38
has no filter. He’s dangerous. He’s like, His mouth is like a weapon. He’s on the street.
30:44
I suppose we love him for it, but my god, we we need you just occasionally need a
30:50
mute button for him, but he’s he’s amazing. Um Yeah. So, sorry. Going going
30:57
I said it to him in spirit. Yeah. Yeah, that’s it. That’s it. Um, chees would you like to
31:05
answer that question? How do you think as a as an employer, how how do you
31:10
think we can be less scared? How can how can we be less scared of saying the wrong thing and doing the wrong thing
31:17
when it comes to inclusive hiring neurody divergent people, that type of thing? Even if it’s just something
31:22
really simple, is there anything that we can do?
31:29
Be more like Logan. I get it wrong. You know, I’ve just
31:35
that’s I mean I mean I’m putting myself right in the public eye and doing it and I’m throwing myself out there like
31:41
saying we help neurody divergent people and like you say like the landscape surrounding like what is considered
31:47
politically correct terminology changes uh and you’re at the risk of being on
31:53
the the front line of being the face of a neurody diverent charity. I’d say I’d say be more understanding.
32:00
Yeah. Understanding of um
32:05
um like differences with Yeah. Yeah. Um
32:12
cuz some
32:18
gave me a right. It was funny. I I just found that wasn’t aimed at you.
32:23
Just be more understanding. I’ll just be sound. Just be That wasn’t even aimed at you. And he
32:30
just gave me a glare. He gave me a right glare. Shots fired. Just be sound. I need to be more understanding. Fine.
32:37
No, that wasn’t even aimed. Fine. Go on. Give something else that employs to be to be less scared.
32:46
Just be more understanding. No, of understanding of people’s conditions and like
32:54
like when people are late like like be more understanding of why they might be late, what might have
33:01
happened? Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Would either
33:07
you be scared to would would either, you know, if
33:13
somebody did say the wrong thing. And but it was an obvious mistake.
33:18
Mhm. Would you take offense or would you quite happily point it out to them and
33:23
help educate them? I I’d just correct them. I mean, if it was like I don’t know. I suppose it depends what
33:30
it was. Well, I suppose you’ve got to give somebody an opportunity. Have you got to
33:36
give someone an opportunity to learn like or should they know what is right and wrong?
33:43
You you do have to give pe you you do have to give people the time and space to learn but it comes at the crossroad
33:52
of you’ve got to the same point in time as they have and you know
33:58
so how come they don’t know? So like it’s it’s kind of a case of it’s annoying that they don’t know, but you
34:04
can’t let that completely mar any sort of opportunity Yeah. to grow.
34:09
Yeah. Because like in in in Donnie um as much as like this shouldn’t necessarily be an
34:18
excuse. People are quite they come from families where a lot of
34:23
the time people have never really left on it. They only really know what they know. I know we we live in a big wide world now with social media and
34:29
internet. Of course we do. Yeah. Um but there are some there are some
34:35
what you might class as ignorant viewpoints in Doncaster. Um especially in some probably quite
34:42
male orient uh dominated industries in Doncaster. you know, we see it from an employment point of view
34:49
where we would say that, you know, as long as they’re open to learning, for example, they’re open to
34:55
having our neurodyiversity training. Yeah. Uh and they’re open to implementing those things within the team,
35:01
that’s fine. Like that’s an open place for growth. That’s like them coming to you saying, “Look, we don’t know enough. We’re not doing enough.
35:06
We need to know more.” Yeah. Like is that is that okay? Or or do we say like, “Oh, no. You you should have
35:12
known. You should have known at this point.” And this is a valid question. I I’d say no, I’d say that’s fine.
35:17
I’d say it’s valid. I’d say it’s I mean, at least they’re coming to Exactly. Like us or someone else and being like,
35:24
“Look, I don’t understand this enough.” If they were, can you teach me? Yeah. If they were,
35:30
they’re not just being ignorant about it and being like, “Well, I don’t know nothing about it, so I don’t want to do with it.” Yeah. So that’s it. Yeah. Like that’s
35:36
I’d rather them be like, “Look, I want to know about it.” Rather than go rather than
35:42
I don’t want to do with it. Yeah. stay away. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is like
35:48
podcast aside a second. This is important for me to know because obviously I’m I’m you know
35:53
offering our team is is knocking on employers doors and offering our training. We’re delivering it and you
36:00
know really uh that is on behalf of or shaped by the views of neurodyivergent
36:06
people. Mhm. Um, so you know, we need to we need to get that right and we need to
36:12
I suppose like you know when do we say to an employer
36:18
actually like that’s not it’s not okay that you don’t know that or do we always say that? Do we say it’s actually not
36:23
all right that you don’t know this stuff but we are going to help you learn it but we are going to bill you for it.
36:29
We’re going to help you but you owe us like $150 quid. You owe me $100 million.
36:38
Um, no, but look, um, I think we do live in an evolving climate. I think Donnie
36:44
is a bit behind the times when it comes to that kind of stuff. Um, I think if if we’ve got people out there that are willing to learn,
36:51
willing to be part of the problem, uh, sorry, part of the solution, not the problem, that’s
36:56
that’s good, isn’t it? Would you agree? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. um you know and
37:02
I suppose is it like at least they’re not being ignorant about the situation
37:08
especially as representatives of stride do we think actually I’m going to use this as an opportunity to
37:15
like to educate to educate on on what’s not just on you know what stride’s about
37:21
on what neurody divergent pe what what being neurody divergent is about um
37:27
I think that just to uh embellish on that, I think in the
37:33
short amount of time that I’ve been with Stride, it’s made me a bit more patient
37:40
with myself, with my degree of nerdy
37:45
with those around me because a lot of my friends are on some varying scale of
37:52
nerdy or varying um um form of um of no diversion.
38:00
It’s made me a lot more patient with with them and just for I don’t know it’s made me actually just take a bit of a
38:06
step back for the trees as to a lot of people have got so much going on that you can’t necessarily see and a lot of
38:12
people are doing so much to do what you find so easy to do.
38:19
Yeah. Um, and yeah, I think
38:25
yeah, I think it’s uh, yeah, it’s just be be more like like you saying, be more
38:31
understanding, just be more patient. Yeah. Like um, empathy goes a long way. And
38:38
yeah, just giving that bit of patience and compassion at something that you can’t necessarily see or understand. If
38:46
you’re prepared to learn, then that’s amazing. And who would want to chastise
38:51
somebody for wanting to learn when I can find myself sort of crying out as
38:57
to why don’t people get it? So yeah, I don’t think I could take offense to anybody saying that they want to do like
39:04
to do better. Yeah. They’d like to do better. Yeah. Yeah. And I think um slowly but surely, and it
39:11
is slowly, but it is surely. If they’re willing, that’s always a good thing. Yeah. Absolutely. They’re not resistant
39:18
to change like Yeah. And and I do think at some stage in the
39:23
future I’d like to think that uh you know work in Doncaster uh in in fact
39:31
work in the UK will get to the point where it is where it needs to be in terms of
39:37
not just neurody divergence but inclusivity as a whole. Sure. Um absolutely. I’d like to think that stride will have
39:45
a big part of that. Mhm. Um I think it starts with having
39:51
these types of conversations and I think this will be a theme for our social media as a whole moving forward.
39:56
Yeah. And letting it be a a place for like safe open discussion. Yeah.
40:03
Yeah. Um unfiltered, not in the worst way, but in like just the
40:10
you’re going to call spade a spade type thing. Let it be Yeah. let it be a platform that encourages discussion. I
40:16
I’d say as well for anybody like that that might be listening on these podcasts or
40:22
um you know want to say anything about this stuff today any somebody might
40:28
disagree with any of the points that we’ve mentioned I think that that’s absolutely acceptable I think if it’s like a a genuine you know grievance or
40:37
anything like that about anything to do with stride such as our services uh you know get in touch with us directly
40:43
follow the appropriate channels but if people want to respond to our our socials and and I’ve at it with
40:49
us and you know sort of I will debate you I’ve at it every look
40:56
you know I I am in a position where I am like I say to an extent putting myself
41:01
in uh in line for some debate and I think that we all are really because
41:06
neuro neurody divergence as much as it it shouldn’t be is a
41:12
um it’s only so recently been so widely openly discussed and like
41:19
yeah still stigmatized but it is in of all times in history now becoming
41:26
or we’re edging towards it being that bit more demystified. Yeah. Yeah. Which which I think is
41:32
really positive. Um so that’s good. So, I guess really with that said, um I’m not really going to do
41:41
much talking for the rest of I keep saying that, but I do I do end up talking a lot. We went on a break. You said that and
41:46
you With that said, what can what can the people that might be listening to this video today, what can they expect from
41:53
uh what can they expect from the social media social coming forward? Um a lot
41:59
a lot more. Yeah. Yeah. More than what it is currently. Um, I mean, as I’ve as I’ve
42:05
referenced just there with demystifying, maybe just um debunking myths or
42:13
really just outlining some s like some success some some success stories of
42:22
service users of stride. So like actual people’s like real life examples of
42:29
differences we’ve made. Yeah. Um yeah. Have you got anything anything to
42:36
add? Well, you’re the one that’s been doing the road map. I have been doing the road map. We have
42:41
been doing the road map, too. Yes. You should have played. You should have been a professional tennis player. You’re really good at returning the
42:47
question. What do What do you You’ve You’ve seen You’ve spoke about
42:53
bits of the road map, haven’t you? Yeah. Yeah, I have. I have seen it. So, what are you excited about from what you’ve seen? I’m excited about the fun stuff.
43:00
Okay. But that cuz like I have said in the past I think we do need to do some more
43:06
I was going to say less serious stuff just more still still serious to an extent but not
43:13
vill silly a little bit silly we mentioned about and I’m I’m um
43:20
I think this I think this was a tip from seven studios using the the pink elephant approach. I mean let’s let’s
43:26
get people to let’s do something that’s outrageous. Um, I asked what that was, didn’t I? We We want Stride.
43:32
We want We want Stride Social channels, our our um digital presence to be
43:37
somewhere that’s fun, somewhere that talks about uh a topic that should be
43:43
taken seriously in a way that’s accessible and fun for neurodyivergent
43:48
people of all different abilities. Um, and a place for neurotypical people to learn.
43:54
Exactly that. Yeah, exactly that. A place that get brings people together. Yeah. Right. Should should that be the
44:00
the vision for the next year? Yeah. Yeah. It’s Yeah. A space. It’s a space for nerd
44:08
divergent people to be seen and heard and for
44:13
anybody that is less informed. It’s a safe place to learn.
44:20
Yeah. Um, is there any uh
44:25
specific areas that are currently in in our social channels that you think we could develop further level up?
44:33
I I was going to say communication to others. Communication to others or is that on me
44:39
reminding No, no, no. No, I feel like we need to communicate a
44:45
bit more to like other people. Maybe like ask questions more. Yeah, like
44:51
across across the company type thing is like I feel like we’re posting a lot to do with stuff but not asking like
45:00
other people’s opinions. I do think we need to do you get what I mean? Like
45:06
asking other people’s opinions on like on on on on on like what topics?
45:15
like in general like what other people think.
45:20
Yeah. Like what mainly what other neurode divergent people getting people talking is kind of what
45:25
you’re saying. Getting people talking like other people involved instead of us just being like here’s the
45:32
facts. Well, should we shall we give him a little taster of what we’ve got planned for the next uh for the next video?
45:37
Show what we got cooking up. Uh well uh Miles, you you know quite well the plan
45:43
what we’ve got for the uh the 17th of this month on the streets. We are going out onto the streets of
45:49
Doncaster and we’re going to ask people who what do they reckon? Like what what what
45:55
do they know? What day is this on? What’s neurody divergence? What in it? What does he play for? Who does he play for?
46:01
Yeah. What do you know? Yeah. Excuse me. Am I involved in this? Who do you think is going to be holding the camera?
46:08
Wow. Thanks. Very important role. Very important role. Excuse me. No, of course you’re going to be involved.
46:13
You’re going to be with us. Harry can hold the camera. Take it in turns asking people. Yeah, we are going to take it in turns
46:19
asking people, but we I’d like to be involved in that. That sounds really fun. It’ll be a good laugh. Yeah, we will obviously we’ll talk about it
46:25
offset as well because there obviously some safety concerns and things like that. We will be talking to it’ll be
46:31
very raw just asking people in the street about neurody divergence
46:36
you know so that’ll be and it will be in Doncaster it will be Doncaster Doncaster is not always Doncaster Town Center is not
46:43
always the city center uh city center of course yeah it’s um put some respect on
46:49
it’s not always the most welcoming I think it can be what do you mean well
46:55
we’ll see I do I do like it but it’s Uh, you know, it’s it’s a controversial. It’s not a
47:02
controversial topic. It shouldn’t be, but you know, in Donnie, it’s people are a little bit uh
47:10
let’s not talk about Donnie anymore. Let’s not criticize that. There’s a local place for local people.
47:16
Let Let’s wrap it up there. I think we’ve got some exciting stuff coming. I think the next year is going to be just
47:22
more of that, more of that fun stuff. Yeah. Obviously there’ll be the natural advertisements to our services things
47:27
like that, you know, always of course that’s they are our core services but we are going to be showing
47:35
social media as its own product including uh a full range of videos on
47:43
um YouTube a particular uh series on neuro divergence in the workplace um and
47:50
let’s just showcase what we’re getting up to at Stride. There’ll be more behind the scenes stuff, stories on socials.
47:56
Um, I’m really looking forward to seeing more about what you do over the next year or so.
48:01
I’m excited. I’m excited. Especially about the fun stuff. Yeah, the funny silly stuff. The funny silly stuff. The pink
48:07
elephants. That’s a wrap. Can we say team stride? Team stride. Team stride.