Talk held at SHA 2017 by Meredith L. Patterson and Julian Finn

1. Nerd-Wrangling 101
Managing Neurodiversity with cognitive empathy
Meredith L. Patterson & Julian Finn

2. Who
• Meredith L. Patterson - @maradydd
• Julian Finn - @hdsjulian

3. Neurodiversity

4. Show of hands!

5. Neurodiversity
• Why this talk?
• Neurodiversity explained
• Who is affected?

6. Why this talk?
• It matters to us
• It should matter to you
• There’s stuff to be done about it

7. Neurodiversity explained
• Superpowers
• Super-Weaknesses
• Social aspects

8. Superpowers: ADHD
• “Like trying to concentrate while ten squirrels are jumping
up your legs”
• Filter-Weakness
• Different types
• Comes with a lot of acquired behavior

10. Basal Ganglia

11. ADHD: Hyperactive Type

12. Inattentive ADHD + Autism

13. Superpowers: Autism
Spectrum Disorder
• “Like being part of a movie where everybody else has the
script”
• Senses can have the gain turned up or down
• Pattern-matching
• Detail orientation
• Thinking in systems

14. Autism

15. Super-Weaknesses

16. Super-Weaknesses:
Disorders
• Depression, Anxiety etc
• No real upside
• But: Can give you a unique insight into life
• Often: Coping technique
• Very often: Comorbidity with ADHD / ASD

17. Depression

18. Anxiety

19. Super-Weaknesses:
Addiction

20. Imposter Syndrome

21. Social Aspects
• Neurodiversity is not visible
• Discrimination happens a lot
• “The poor are crazy, the rich just eccentric” - Ellen Raskin,
The Westing Game

22. Who’s affected? Us!
• Mautinoa: ~10 Employees, almost everybody somehow
affected
• We figured out a way to deal with it

23. Who’s affected: You!
• Many nerds match the descriptions of neurodiversity
• Even if you are neurotypical: Many fellow hackers aren’t.
• And you want to take them seriously, right?

24. Empathy
• Cognitive vs Affective Empathy
• Requirements
• Solution orientation

25. Affective Empathy
• Being affected by the emotional arousal of others
• Empathic concern — sympathy/compassion for others
• Personal distress — discomfort/anxiety
• A self-oriented response to others’ suffering
• Somatic empathy: somatic nervous system response,
probably based on mirror neurons
• Essential for establishing rapport

26. Cognitive Empathy
• Understanding others’ perspectives / states of mind
• Perspective taking: understanding what motivates
someone to act a certain way
• Tactical empathy: using perspective-taking deliberately
• Some overlap with theory of mind

27. Cognitive Empathy:
Requirements
• Courage
• Time
• Understanding of Conditions
• Psychological Visibility

28. Solution Orientation
• Admitting
• Listening
• Acting

29. What to do
• Leading by example
• Maintaining a deep bench
• Praise and criticism
• Practical Examples

30. Leading by example
• “Yes, we are also affected”
• “It’s okay to be vulnerable”
• Listen.

31. Maintaining a deep bench
• Downtimes are normal — accept them
• Make sure everything is covered — keep bus numbers
high

32. Praise and Criticism
• Praise in public, criticize in private
• Find understanding ways to criticize
• Praise for simple things (Psychological visibility)

33. Practical examples
• Anxiety check-in
• Provide both freedom and structure
• Pairing is Caring - Within people’s limitations!

34. Everything else is
stories

35. Reading Recommendations
- Autism
• Neurotribes (Steven Silberman)
• The boy whose brain could unlock autism (Medium by
Maia Szalavitz / google “boy unlock autism”)
• "You don't seem autistic - unpacking diagnostic
criteria” (Medium by Martha Rose Saunders)
• Wrongplanet Forum - wrongplanet.net

36. Reading Recommendations
- ADHD
• Self-Help ADHD Subreddit /r/ADHD
• additude Magazine - additudemag.com
• Books? Problem: They’re too long!
• Russell Barkley - Taking Charge of Adult ADHD
• Lots of good Youtube Vids though!

37. Thank you.
Questions?

38. Acknowledgements
• Ragen Roberts
• Reddit, Twitter, Tumblr - Well, THE INTERNET!
• Our Team, our Test Crowd