Why the Ad Industry Must Rethink Neurodiversity at Work

Recently, a tribunal found that Capgemini had discriminated against an employee with ADHD by failing to provide recommended neurodiversity training and support. It’s a landmark ruling, and one that should serve as a wake-up call for every business.

The case shines a light on a much bigger truth: our workplaces are changing fast, and the advertising industry cannot afford to ignore it. As mentioned in this weeks Campaign podcast, official figures show a 21% rise in people in work with disabilities or long-term health conditions since the pandemic, including a 35% increase in workers with learning difficulties and mental conditions such as ADHD. The profile of our workforce is shifting, and with it, the responsibility to adapt.

I’ve been open about my own ADHD, and in my team there are several others who have also chosen to share their diagnoses. That openness has been transformative. It’s allowed us to create an environment where people can be honest about how they work best, and where difference isn’t hidden but harnessed.

Too often, neurodiversity is framed as a risk to be managed. The legal consequences are real, yes, but to see it only through that lens is to miss the far bigger opportunity. Neurodiverse minds are often the most inventive, disruptive and boundary-breaking. In an industry that thrives on creativity and fresh thinking, failing to embrace difference is not just a moral or legal failure, it’s a creative one.

The truth is that divergent thinking can often come with strengths that creative industries should be clamouring to nurture. Brains that work like popcorn machines, firing out endless ideas. That’s exactly the kind of energy and abundance of creativity that pushes our industry forward.

The Capgemini case shows what happens when we don’t adapt. But support doesn’t have to mean sweeping, costly policy changes. Often, it’s about small shifts in how we design the workplace.

That might mean more flexible deadlines. Quieter spaces. Different ways of communicating. Or simply the understanding that someone may need a little more structure or support around them. None of this is “special treatment”, it’s about enabling people to be comfortable and do their best work.

But to make the most of it, you need the right structure - or brain scaffolding. For me, tools like AI have been invaluable. With ADHD, the challenge isn’t a lack of ideas, it’s managing the sheer volume of them. Platforms like ChatGPT help me filter and structure my thinking into patterns I can use. Many of my peers say the same. Creativity needs chaos, but it also needs order. That balance is where great work happens.

I’m fortunate to have a CEO who understands ADHD personally - through her own life experiences. That empathy means she sees both the value I bring and the occasional rough edges, and she takes them together as part of the whole. Not everyone will have that level of personal understanding in their leadership, but every agency has the ability to create a culture of compassion.

And this is not a marginal issue. With diagnoses rising sharply, especially among young women, the incoming workforce expects understanding and adaptability as standard. If our industry doesn’t evolve, we’ll lose talent to those that do. And make no mistake: the next generation is watching carefully. The ad industry has fought hard to make itself a desirable career destination. Our ability - or failure - to adapt on neurodiversity will play a huge part in whether we keep that status.

We already know that diversity in all its forms - gender, race, background - makes us better. Neurodiversity should be no different. It strengthens us by giving teams a richer mix of perspectives, strengths and lived experiences to draw from. Agencies that fail to embrace that will fall behind.

Some agencies are beginning to see inclusion as fuel for creativity. That’s the shift we need: not box-ticking, but recognising difference as a driver of ideas. We need to apply the same creativity we sell to clients to the structures we build for our people.

The Capgemini case is a reminder that the stakes are high. But the bigger story here isn’t risk - it’s reward. By rethinking neurodiversity, we don’t just make our workplaces fairer. We make them more creative, more resilient, and more relevant.

In an industry that survives on ideas, difference isn’t a problem to solve. It’s the very thing that keeps us alive.