CV Disclosure

Good grief.  What a tangled area.  In my experience, in the UK, there are three types of employers and your CV needs to reflect that, as does your covering letter and your performance (It is a performance) at interview. If you are going for a job that is done by neurotypical people usually and not one of the marginal ones autistic people tended to get stuck in like caretaker and sweeper and the such..

• THE DENIERS:
  Those who don't want you to include it, and in fact would see it as a big negative.  These are easy to spot as they have a copper plate or copied inclusion policy if they have one at all.  The staff photo looks like a cloning advert and in my personal experience are owned / run by the sort of bluff people who believe that 'anything's possible if you don't let it hold you back'.  Typically but not always small businesses.
• THE BULLSHITTERS
  These often have wonderful policies that you can read, experience in many different media, regular staff emails etc and the chief executive will proudly proclaim they have an inclusion day or some such thing, but at the lower level you will be working, you will be tolerated because its in Human Resources policies to do so, but any help will be reluctant and any advancement will be harder than for the Neurotypical.  You will be suspected as not 'being one of the team' or 'not getting what its about to work here'.  You will have the ear of the organisation, but not their pocket or their blessing.  Tends to be big institutions or companies who have to say such things to get their certification or work in a particular field, and employ such a large staff that Neurodiverse people are a big enough group whose issues therefore have to be addressed.
• THE CAUTIOUS
  These are proudly Neurodiverse inclusive.  They understand that there are benefits and problems of having Neurodiverse people but on the whole they think you are an asset.  Typically these are looking to some skill or insight you have that the NT aren't as good at.  Problem is this forces some companies to see you as some kind of 'rainman'.  A good example is programmers where there is such a shortage of highly skilled people at the more rarified level, you could turn up to work with only your underpants' on, bring your cat, and barbecue by your desk and they would roll their eyes but probably not mention it out loud!  These jobs are VERY VERY RARE.

So include your Neurodiversity if you wish, if it adds to your employability and gives you an edge, but i would suggest caution.  I have four times lost out to interview to someone Neurotypical and been told by HR afterwards that I was the best candidate but they wouldn't know what to do with me as I'm so creative, full of ideas etc., so they chose 'a safe pair of hands'.  They are always very apologetic with me and say i did an excellent interview but 'they wouldn't know what to do with me' and 'youll be bored here'.  Perhaps this is me applying below my skill level but as someone who finds gaining in work qualifications almost impossible (Ironic as some of my jobs are actually developing them) I find applying for jobs tough and if you put in a 'normal' CV, and get to interview, you've got a foot in the door and in my experience the job rarely reflects the job description and usually chairs will be shuffled if they can fit you in.  Play it safe... which is NOT what you should have to do.. But this is the world we presently live in..

Good grief.  What a tangled area.  In my experience, in the UK, there are three types of employers and your CV needs to reflect that, as does your covering letter and your performance (It is a performance) at interview. If you are going for a job that is done by neurotypical people usually and not one of the marginal ones autistic people tended to get stuck in like caretaker and sweeper and the such..

• THE DENIERS:
  Those who don't want you to include it, and in fact would see it as a big negative.  These are easy to spot as they have a copper plate or copied inclusion policy if they have one at all.  The staff photo looks like a cloning advert and in my personal experience are owned / run by the sort of bluff people who believe that 'anything's possible if you don't let it hold you back'.  Typically but not always small businesses.
• THE BULLSHITTERS
  These often have wonderful policies that you can read, experience in many different media, regular staff emails etc and the chief executive will proudly proclaim they have an inclusion day or some such thing, but at the lower level you will be working, you will be tolerated because its in Human Resources policies to do so, but any help will be reluctant and any advancement will be harder than for the Neurotypical.  You will be suspected as not 'being one of the team' or 'not getting what its about to work here'.  You will have the ear of the organisation, but not their pocket or their blessing.  Tends to be big institutions or companies who have to say such things to get their certification or work in a particular field, and employ such a large staff that Neurodiverse people are a big enough group whose issues therefore have to be addressed.
• THE CAUTIOUS
  These are proudly Neurodiverse inclusive.  They understand that there are benefits and problems of having Neurodiverse people but on the whole they think you are an asset.  Typically these are looking to some skill or insight you have that the NT aren't as good at.  Problem is this forces some companies to see you as some kind of 'rainman'.  A good example is programmers where there is such a shortage of highly skilled people at the more rarified level, you could turn up to work with only your underpants' on, bring your cat, and barbecue by your desk and they would roll their eyes but probably not mention it out loud!  These jobs are VERY VERY RARE.

So include your Neurodiversity if you wish, if it adds to your employability and gives you an edge, but i would suggest caution.  I have four times lost out to interview to someone Neurotypical and been told by HR afterwards that I was the best candidate but they wouldn't know what to do with me as I'm so creative, full of ideas etc., so they chose 'a safe pair of hands'.  They are always very apologetic with me and say i did an excellent interview but 'they wouldn't know what to do with me' and 'youll be bored here'.  Perhaps this is me applying below my skill level but as someone who finds gaining in work qualifications almost impossible (Ironic as some of my jobs are actually developing them) I find applying for jobs tough and if you put in a 'normal' CV, and get to interview, you've got a foot in the door and in my experience the job rarely reflects the job description and usually chairs will be shuffled if they can fit you in.  Play it safe... which is NOT what you should have to do.. But this is the world we presently live in..