Meet Vineet Saraiwala, the founder of Atypical Advantage, a job portal that helps recruiters find job-seekers with disabilities in the pandemic. Vineet himself suffers from a rare genetic disorder which makes him uniquely placed to understand career-related problems of people with disabilities. He hopes to change the discourse of finding a job based on skills and wants to further strengthen the cause of inclusivity in India. While difficulties that people having physical disabilities face have been discussed, people suffering from neurological deficiencies have often been ignored.
According to the World Health Organisation, one in every 160 people globally have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). And that is just the statistics for ASD. Neurodiverse individuals have cognitive conditions going much beyond the autism spectrum. Employment has always been difficult for neurodivergent individuals, primarily because of the lack of awareness about their abilities and talents.
Corporate India’s inclusion efforts
According to Amarpal Chadha, a partner at EY India’s People Advisory Services. “These individuals are often technologically inclined and detail-oriented, with strong skills in analytics, mathematics, pattern recognition, and information processing – among the very skills businesses most urgently need.” EY India has one of the very few well-structured recruitment processes for neurodivergent individuals when it comes to MNCs. EY India adapted every step of its original recruitment process to match the needs of neurodivergent candidates and gauge their potential. They slowed down the interview, created environments suitable for the candidates, and made them feel comfortable.
SAP Labs India also follows a policy of setting aside a small percentage of jobs for people with ASD. They have “work buddies” and “job coaches” initiatives in place along with an integration model that makes the employees’ lives easier.
While EY and SAP labs might be one of the very few multinational companies in India to have implemented such mechanisms, small businesses have been doing so for a long time. Mitti Cafe in Bangalore is run completely by a differently-abled staff. Mitti Cafe has made multiple unique improvisations to their organisation from self-explanatory placards to flicker lights for signals.
Global companies setting an example for neurodiversity
Foreign companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Dell Technologies, etc. have made key changes in their hiring, retention, and management initiatives to provide more employment opportunities to people belonging to this group. For example, Goldman Sachs places neurotypical individuals in a division within the company for a fixed period to familiarise themselves with working in a neurotypical workplace. They are also given technical skill-building and professional development training.
There is a tide of awareness coming in about the benefits of companies addressing neurodiversity. It has been found that neurodiverse individuals employed in regular working spaces enhance the organisation’s innovative quotient and make people more empathetic and understanding, something that should be a given.
True inclusion goes beyond accessibility ramps and token representation — it means recognising the full spectrum of human potential. The success of organisations like EY, SAP Labs, and Mitti Café shows that when workplaces adapt to neurodiversity, they don’t just empower individuals; they unlock new ways of thinking, problem-solving, and collaborating.
As awareness grows and more companies begin to reimagine their hiring and management practices, neurodivergent individuals will no longer have to fit into rigid systems — the systems will evolve to fit them. The future of work lies in workplaces that see difference not as a challenge to overcome, but as an advantage to embrace.
Serein helps organisations induct neuroinclusion in their DNA, write to us at hello@serein.in.