In their Neurodiversity Data at Work guide to support "neuroinclusion", the DCA and Autism inclusion advocacy organisation Amaze say that 15 to 20% of the world's population are neurodivergent, but very few employers collect workforce neurodiversity data.
The guide says "neurodivergent people may have a formal diagnosis or may self-identify based on their lived experience of cognitive and/or neurological differences".
"This includes but is not limited to, people who are Autistic, have ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, Tourette syndrome, or mental health conditions.
"Some individuals identify as neurodivergent without using a specific diagnostic label or neurotype, in recognition of their cognitive and/or neurological differences."
The guide warns that as awareness of neurodiversity increases, if employers exclude neurodivergence from their data collection, it might signal that they are not inclusive.
Because few Australian organisations collect such data, the guide focuses on helping employers to obtain baseline data.
It outlines the following principles for the collection of neurodiversity workforce data:
- Self-identification: allow employees to self-identify as neurodivergent, to acknowledge that not everyone has the same access to formal diagnosis, including because of financial barriers;
- Transparency: be transparent about whether the information collected will remain anonymous, how the data will be protected, and who will have access to it;
- Data privacy and confidentiality: employers should implement "robust data management policies and processes", keeping in mind that non-anonymised data becomes sensitive information and might be subject to employee privacy laws, while anonymised data carries a lower privacy risk;
- Accessibility: check the accessibility of data collection platforms, for example, workers with dyslexia "can find text that is tightly spaced together, small and in multiple columns harder to read" and many neurodivergent employees struggle with "instructions that are vague, unclear and use euphemisms";
- Take action: "avoid collecting neurodiversity data for the sake of having data and not using or reporting on it in a meaningful way", the guide warns, suggesting that actions could include "reporting on findings, benchmarking, setting targets, and co-designing a D&I initiative for neuroinclusion based on the results", and "proactive workplace adjustments and accommodations".
The guide emphasises that diversity data questions should always be voluntary, and smaller organisations need to carefully consider their approach because they "have a higher risk of employees being accidentally identified in anonymous D&I surveys".
It recommends asking two questions on neurodiversity, the first to establish baseline data, and the second to gather further information on what form of neurodivergence workerfs identify with, such as an acquired brain injury, ADHD, autism, learning differences (dyslexia), communication and speech differences, intellectual disability and mental health conditions.
The second question should enable workers to select more than one option because "co-occurring neurotypes are the norm", and include a space for workers to use their own language to describe their neurodivergence if their preferred term is not listed.
The guide says that employers should only ask this question in anonymous surveys.
The guide says that it is important to ask questions about neurodivergence separately to questions about disability, because some people view them as entirely separate concepts (see the DCA guidance on a standalone disability question here).
Neurodiversity Data at Work, Amaze & DCA, March 2026
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