Workplace Culture Systems
Joanne Lockwood is joined by Charlie Hart (Awesome Charlie) for a wide-ranging conversation on neurodiversity at work, grounded in Charlie’s experiences of late diagnosis and a career in HR.
Charlie shares what it was like to run into burnout, overwhelm and “meeting behaviours” that didn’t match workplace expectations, and how discovering autism, ADHD and complex PTSD reframed years of feeling “broken”. Together they explore neurodiversity as a natural form of human variation, unpacking ideas like neuronormativity, interest-based motivation, hyperfocus/monotropism, and why common stereotypes (including “superpower” narratives) can be unhelpful or reductive.
The episode also looks at what inclusion can mean in practice: recruitment and job descriptions that unintentionally screen people out, sensory and social pressures in open-plan offices and team culture, and the need to balance different access needs in real workplaces. The conversation includes reflections on identity language and intersectionality, including explicit references to trans and non-binary identities alongside neurodivergence.
Listeners will leave with a clearer understanding of how modern work can shift from expecting people to fit a narrow norm to creating environments where different minds feel safe, supported, and able to do their best work.
About Charlie Hart
One-sentence summary
Charlie Hart’s life shifted the moment they realised they were never broken — just wired differently — and now they refuse to let another child or colleague grow up believing something is wrong with their mind.
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Synopsis
Charlie Hart didn’t stumble into this work through theory — they arrived through exhaustion, confusion and a quiet, aching sense of failure. For years, working in HR, they watched peers progress while they battled overwhelm, burnout that looked like depression, and a constant feeling that they were somehow not quite right. It was only when their child was diagnosed as autistic that everything started to click. “Everything that he learned about his neurotype… I realised was true about me as well.” At 48, with diagnoses of autism, ADHD and complex PTSD behind them, Charlie found language for a life that had always felt too loud, too intense, too much. What they once interpreted as personal weakness became pattern, wiring, truth.
Now they are trying to change something deeper than workplace policy. They are challenging the quiet cruelty of neuronormativity — the belief that there is one correct way to think, behave and communicate. Charlie cares about the child sitting silently in class with “20 tabs open” in their mind while adults assess only whether they are disruptive. They care about the employee recharging alone in a car at lunchtime so they can survive the afternoon. They care about queer and neurodivergent young people growing up without shame. What drives them is simple and urgent: if we can understand how people actually function, we can stop making them feel defective for it.
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10 Small, digestible concepts for easy learning
1. Different doesn’t mean damaged.
A mind that works differently is not a mind that’s broken.
2. Overwhelm isn’t weakness.
Burnout can be the cost of constantly trying to pass as “normal”.
3. Interest drives attention.
For many ADHDers, focus isn’t absent — it’s fuelled by meaning.
4. A spiky profile is still a whole person.
Exceptional strengths often sit beside real struggles.
5. Recharge isn’t withdrawal.
Time alone can be recovery, not disengagement.
6. Labels can protect or belittle.
Identity-first language can be an act of pride, not pathology.
7. Neurodiversity already exists everywhere.
Every workforce is made up of different minds — whether acknowledged or not.
8. Small talk isn’t the measure of competence.
Being quiet in a lift says nothing about someone’s brilliance.
9. Accommodation is collaboration.
Balancing opposing needs requires honesty, not hierarchy.
10. Inclusion is personal, not performative.
It starts with seeing the human in front of you.
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The “why” in the story
What they believe is true about people
People are complex, layered and wired in wildly different ways — and those differences are natural, not faulty.
What they cannot unsee
The quiet trauma of late diagnosis: years spent believing you are inadequate when you were simply unsupported.
What they are no longer willing to tolerate
Systems that reward social performance over substance. Cultures that mistake comfort for fairness. Language that distances people from their identity.
What they are trying to build instead
Workplaces and communities where people can say what they need without shame — and trust they will be taken seriously.
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Narrative structure
1. The trigger:
The moment their child’s autism diagnosis reflected back at them. Watching their son learn about his neurotype and realising, “Everything that he learned… was true about me as well.”
2. The tension:
Living in worlds built for “calm, cool, collected” behaviour while carrying hyperfocus, emotional overload and burnout. Being professionally competent yet socially misread. Wanting to help — yet feeling tongue-tied in a lift.
3. The insight:
“Neurotypical” is a cultural construct. There is no single correct brain. Every human processes the world uniquely — and that variation is advantageous.
4. The pivot:
Leaving a stable HR role to speak, research and write full time about neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ inclusion. Choosing honesty over masking. Saying no to spaces that drain. Saying yes to advocacy.
5. The destination:
A future where children with “20 tabs open” are asked how their mind works, not whether they are disruptive. A workplace where someone eating alone at lunch is understood as restoring energy, not lacking team spirit.
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Five key takeaways and learning points
1. Late understanding can look like lifelong self-blame.
So what: Without awareness, people internalise systemic exclusion as personal failure.
2. Burnout often signals mismatch, not fragility.
So what: Adjusting environments is often more effective than urging resilience.
3. Communication preferences are access needs.
So what: Text, voice notes, written summaries — these choices can determine who participates fully.
4. Small cultural rituals can exclude quietly.
So what: Pub culture, loud offices, fast-paced jargon — these shape who feels safe to belong.
5. Honesty is liberating.
So what: Saying “This environment isn’t for me” can prevent years of quiet discomfort.
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Ten distinct ideas explained
1. Neuronormativity as pressure
Social expectations about eye contact, small talk and pace become invisible standards that penalise those who don’t conform.
2. Burnout as accumulated masking
Acting “acceptable” all day — suppressing stims, rehearsing scripts, filtering reactions — drains the nervous system.
3. Intersectionality as lived reality
Being autistic and queer isn’t two separate experiences; it’s one integrated life navigating layered assumptions.
4. Interest-based focus
An ADHD brain can deliver extraordinary results when the work connects to curiosity and relevance.
5. Sensory overload at work
Open-plan offices, background music and constant interruption accumulate into cognitive strain.
6. Language as identity
Saying “I’m autistic” can be a declaration of ownership rather than a confession of deficit.
7. Cultural bias in diagnosis
Diagnostic models often reflect dominant groups, misreading or overlooking others.
8. Recharging as productivity strategy
Alone time restores executive function; it is not a sign of disengagement.
9. Myth of the social “fit”
Culture fit often masks preference for sameness, not better outcomes.
10. Human worth beyond output
A person’s value is not dependent on employability or performance.
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How people should change as a result
1. Think
- Shift from “What’s wrong with them?” to “What support might help here?”
- See behaviour as communication, not defiance.
- Recognise that your comfort is not the universal standard.
- Understand that productivity and sociability are different axes.
2. Feel
- Move from irritation to curiosity.
- Replace defensiveness with humility.
- Let go of pity and lean into respect.
- Feel responsibility rather than guilt.
- Allow admiration for difference, not just tolerance.
3. Act
- Ask colleagues how they prefer to communicate — and honour it.
- Break up written information with spacing and clarity.
- Make social events optional and varied (not alcohol-centred).
- Allow flexible recharge time without judgement.
- Review job descriptions for coded language about “fit” or “fast-paced”.
- Create space for identity-first language if that’s what someone prefers.
- Practise stating your own needs honestly — it models psychological safety.
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One thing to remember
No mind is defective — only misunderstood.