I was having a conversation with my daughter one day about things that make me worry. A little background here. I have a fourteen year old granddaughter who is on the spectrum. She is an amazing kid. Smart and quirky. Both attributes that I love. But I worry about how she will make it in the world when it is time to enter the workforce.

Are smart and quirky boxes you can check on a job application? How do you highlight those gifts on a resume? Will she be able to handle a standard interview? Eye contact? Panel interviews? Can you tell me a little about yourself? All of these things run through my mind when I try to envision her future. None of it helps me sleep at night.

I spent my adult career as a hiring manager in the Procurement department. Even as I write this, it occurs to me just how boring this sounds. In my role as a Procurement Manager, the corporations I worked for talked lots about diversity and inclusion. What we didn’t discuss was how to include neurodiversity in that conversation.

It’s time to start having those conversations. It’s also time to start worrying less and doing more. Then maybe I can sleep at night:)