Fix the Mine, Don’t Blame the Canary

How the right questions about neurodiversity at work can help I-O psychology professionals design better workplaces.

By Ludmila Praslova, PhD, SHRM-SCP, Âû

As organizational psychologists, we’re taught to build better systems—to optimize performance and improve culture. We are trained to answer important questions with scientific methods. But when it comes to neurodiversity, we might be missing an opportunity to ask questions that could help us truly improve workplaces.

Businesses often want to benefit from neurodivergent talent in the form of overused “autistic tech genius” or “ADHD creative” archetypes. They also want us to improve the “fit” of neurodivergent people to the workplace—to get those who naturally tend to hyperfocus to adapt to multitasking requirements and those deemed “too sensitive” to “grow a thicker skin.”

This thinking is based on a pathology perspective on neuropsychological differences. From the neurodiversity perspective, the questions are why does the system exclude neurodivergent people and how to make organizations more inclusive.

Instead of trying to make people “less neurodivergent” so they could work withing existing systems, we can ask how to create more flexible systems that would work for neurodivergent people. We can ask how better support for job matching and job crafting can align jobs with neurodivergent strengths. We can ask how to make the “thick skin” unnecessary by addressing bullying.

We can ask an even better question—how to make organizational systems work for the widest range of humanity. Including the “sensitive” ones—canaries in coal mines.

The “canary in the coal mine” metaphor of some being more sensitive to danger than others is based on the historical use of canaries to detect carbon monoxide. When canaries struggle to breathe in coal mines it is not because canaries are defective: They are sensitive to toxic gases by design. Making canaries “tougher” will prolong the dangerous exposure for all.

Demanding that neurodivergent people “grow a thicker skin” is equivalent to demanding that canaries stop being so sensitive to toxic gases. A better question is how to improve the environment and eliminate toxic gases, for everyone.

Making workplaces healthier for neurodivergent canaries supports pregnant canaries, grieving, single parent, and aging canaries. Why not ask how to best support everyone?

Here are a few questions we can ask based on the six principles of the Canary Code, my model of neuroinclusion at work.

1. Participation. Are the people most impacted by our systems involved in shaping them? Systems we design define who succeeds, gets heard, gets hired. But how often are neurodivergent people a part of the design?

2. Focus on Outcomes. Are we building evaluation systems that value outcomes over optics, productivity over presenteeism?

3. Flexibility. If something has always been done a certain way, does it have to stay that way?

4. Organizational Justice. Who gets protected by our systems, and who is penalized for authenticity? Are we using our expertise to support fairness or to defend power games?

5. Transparency. Are we designing for clarity in roles, feedback, advancement? Is ambiguity used as a power play?

6. Use of Valid Tools in Decision Making. Are our tools truly valid or just familiar to the majority? Are they valid across cognitive, emotional, or communication differences?

And the core question is, are we using our science to preserve the status quo or to rebuild the systems that aren’t working?
Let’s listen to the canaries. Then use our training to fix the mine.

EDITOR’S NOTE: SIOP Member Ludmila Praslova was invited to submit this article as a reflection on the timely topic of neurodiversity in the workplace. She is a professor and the founding director of Graduate Programs in Organizational Psychology at Vanguard University. She is the author of The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity, and Intersectional Belonging at Work.

If you are interested in helping to tell the I-O psychology story, please view our current opportunities for subject matter experts. If you have an idea for a timely topic not listed here, please email SIOP Senior Brand and Content Strategist Amber Stark at astark@siop.org.