Greater accommodation of neurodivergent individuals will ‘help them flourish’

Oakley-Bell, who has recently been vocal about her autism diagnosis, described how stereotypes around neurodivergence can be damaging both to individuals and for the firms that employ them.

She stated: “A lot of people think, for example, somebody with autism is going to be good at patterns and therefore should be in an analyst role.

“They shouldn’t really be interacting with people, instead just sitting in front of data. 

“For me, that couldn’t be further from the truth, either in what I’m interested in and also where I’m most effective.”

 The most common response when I tell people I’m autistic is ‘Oh you don’t look autistic’. So what does that look like?

She explained that she is able to utilise her pattern skills to work well strategically, being able to see "how projects can flow" and "where there might be hiccups". 

“I also look at things holistically rather than focusing on the tiny little details. This means that I’m able to see the whole picture,” she explained.

“That’s a real strength that I can add, but that may be missed if I am just assessed as autistic.”

Oakley-Bell recalled that she was not always as open about her neurodivergence: “Up until the last few months I’ve hidden the fact that I’m autistic.” 

She said that she had not spoken about it until then.

She emphasised the importance of representation, stating: “I think it’s really important that I feel comfortable to be able to talk about it and that then shows other people who may be hiding it that they can as well.”

However, Oakley-Bell acknowledged that it is “quite a scary step at the moment” due to the prevalence of “so many old fashioned views”.

She recounted her own experience with these views, stating: “The most common response when I tell people I’m autistic is ‘Oh you don’t look autistic’. So what does that look like?”

She therefore highlighted the importance of creating an inclusive environment: “The more that we can encourage people to be open and to speak while knowing it won’t negatively affect their career or affect how people see them the better.”

Financial literacy

Oakley-Bell outlined another issue close to her heart: “I think, personally, one of the big issues, less in the industry and more in society is financial literacy.

“We all make mistakes, especially when we’re younger, but I don’t think it has ever been easier for someone to make such life changing mistakes than it is at the moment."

She revealed that some of her friends downloaded a cryptocurrency trading app, put all their savings into cryptocurrency without understanding it and this was all within 10 minutes.

Oakley-Bell added that this was done without very many checks.

She argued the best way to address this was to introduce more financial literacy teaching for children to inform about this important subject at a young age. 

However, Oakley-Bell does not just argue for this form of education and, instead, detailed her plans to move this idea forward through her involvement in a local scout group.

“I am the treasurer of a scout group and have had conversations with various scout leaders about why they don’t run more financial literacy sessions

“A lot of it, I think, is that they don’t understand things well enough to be able to run sessions on it.

“Something I’m doing personally is trying to create sessions which have the information built into them. 

“Initially I’m designing it for scouts but hopefully will open it up separately so that leaders can run a session without too much prior knowledge themselves.

“Hopefully this will increase their own understanding as well.”

She detailed that it’s still “early days” at the moment but that she has created a few plans that she intends to run in her group first, get some feedback on it, and then launch it.

She added that she plans to bring the idea to the wider scouts association “once I’m a bit more comfortable with it” to see if it is possible to get them included.

Oakley-Bell also stated her desire to see this topic covered in mainstream education: “I’d love to see it built into the curriculum that all schools have sessions where people come in and talk about financial literacy. 

“A lot of schools do it but it’s very school specific rather than more cohesive and that means schools that have the time and the money, those children get those opportunities and other don’t necessarily get the same opportunity.”

Company culture

Oakley-Bell additionally provided insight into what she considers important in her workplace, detailing that, above all, company values and the culture are the “really key bit” for her. 

She added that she wants to see a company “that doesn't just use words”, and that instead “embodies the values it advertises”. 

Oakley-Bell referenced her own employment at Quilter, which discusses pioneering as one of its values, and how this manifested in her experience with the company.

She recalled: “When I first joined, I was in a temporary role, it was very administrative. 

“They had a continuous improvement programme and we were given the opportunity to suggest ideas and make changes, even at that low level. 

“Those ideas, if they were feasible, were implemented so I saw from my first couple of days I was able to be pioneering and suggest changes, that was really valuable to me.”

If you would like to be featured in our New Voices series, or you know someone who would be a good fit please get in touch with Tom Dunstan at tom.dunstan@ft.com