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As you know, one of my biggest passions is making schools aware of the importance of safety drills and their impact on neurodivergent and special education students. But, there is something else that caught my attention last week that might be overlooked to a degree and that is accommodations for neurodivergent individuals in the workplace.
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I bring this up because last Thursday, the fire alarm was being tested at my day job just before my shift ended. One of the workers was a woman with Down Syndrome that did not the fire alarm being tested and who can blame her? I hate fire alarms too with a passion, even if its being tested I still get nervous about it. Still, when it comes to safety drills in the workplace, I feel that this is overlooked because companies aren’t really as aware as schools are about safety drills and their overall impact.
If you follow my blog and work in or used to work in education, you probably had that one school staff member who might have gotten advanced warning before a drill would take place. Sure, it might have turned the eyes of the school administration, but an accommodation is an accommodation.
The truth of the matter is, advanced warnings about anything, even fire alarm testing, is paramount. Another area I constantly bring up is the importance of advanced notice to the student if a school safety drill is going to happen. The same goes for the workplace, too. You get the advanced notice, your mindset is set for when the time comes.
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Most employers probably will not understand the same way as school teachers and administrators because they feel it doesn’t affect them. Neurodivergent/Developmentally Different employees are the same as Special Education Students who get the requests on their Individual Education Plan’s. However, it does help if the employer is connected with neurodiversity in his or her own family and can fully understand the anxiety that comes with it.
Hell, I might even create a sequel training to “School Safety Drills and Autism” at some point geared towards safety drill accommodations in the workplace because it does need to be addressed. If it can be addressed in education, it can be addressed in employment too.
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Catch you all later!!
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