Neurodiversity: What Can the Software Industry Gain from It?

Abstract

Did you know that Steve Jobs was diagnosed with Dyslexia, a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading, writing and spelling. For a young schooler this could have set the end of anything remarkable for young Steve, but to humanity's amazement, he grew to become one of the most successful and innovative persons in history. Not only Steve, but Elon Musk as well revealed that he has Asperger syndrome, a form of Autism spectrum. What does this tell the rest of us? It tells us that there is a potential place for Neurodiversity; not as charity but as success factor. Neurodiversity is a term first coined by the Austrian sociologist Judy Singer that refers to the fact that human brains have neurological variations in how it functions and perceive the world. Instances include, but not limited to ADHD, Autism, or Dyslexia. However, the workforce has recently started to see neurodiversity not as a pathological case, but rather as difference in mental abilities. Neurodivergent people are not sick or incapable; they just posses different mental abilities; and workforce can gain from them. This paper illustrates key characteristics that the software industry can benefit from by employing more neurodivergent engineers.