In conversation: Wayne and Gaby on being neurodivergent at work

Honest conversations about neurodivergence at work are rarer than they should be. Wayne Fagan (Senior Backend Software Engineer) and Gaby Frylinck (Product Designer) wanted to change that. 

Together, they sat down with Lalita D'Cruze (Operations Director) to talk openly about their diagnoses, what neurodivergence means for how they work, and what they think organisations could do better. 

Here's what they said. 

A note on language and experience: neurodivergent and neurodivergence are the terms Wayne and Gaby use here, and everything they share reflects their own personal experience. Others may use different language, and every experience of neurodivergence is individual. 

About your neurodiversity 

Lally: I wanted to start at the beginning, with what neurodivergence actually means for you both. How would you describe your neurodiversity to someone who doesn't know much about it? 

Wayne: If I’m honest, I don’t tend to lead with it. It’s not something I routinely bring into conversation, and I’m generally quite reserved about discussing it in casual settings. When it does come up, I usually try to frame it in a way that feels grounded and personal: my experience of autism is just that - mine. It isn’t a template or a stereotype, but something shaped by my own life, context, and way of thinking. 

There’s still a fair amount of misunderstanding around autism. For some, it’s unfamiliar territory; for others, it’s filtered through a narrow or outdated lens. So I keep it simple. I explain what it means for me, rather than trying to correct every misconception at once. 

Gaby: I have dyslexia, which for me means my cognitive processing speed runs a little slower than others. Reading through large amounts of text is genuinely tough, especially when it's not formatted in an accessible way, and I often find myself going back over things multiple times just to make sure it’s sunk in. Given the choice, I'll nearly always opt to listen to or watch something over reading about it. 

Lally: Wayne, you mentioned there’s still a fair amount of misunderstanding around autism. What's the most common misconception people have about your diagnosis - or something that irritates you about how people respond to it? 

Wayne: What I find most frustrating is the tendency for people, particularly those who’ve only known me as an adult, to try and reconcile my diagnosis with their own assumptions. There’s often a kind of informal “analysis” that follows, shaped more by pop culture than any real understanding. 

It shows up in different ways. Some question whether the diagnosis fits at all, as if it needs to align with a particular mould. Others point to my age, or to what they perceive as achievements, and suggest these somehow contradict the idea of autism. There are also broader misconceptions, such as the notion that autism predominantly affects white males, which quietly shape how people interpret what they’re seeing. 

At times, the diagnosis is simply overlooked altogether, as though it’s easier to ignore than to understand. That, more than anything, can feel quietly dismissive. 

Lally: Gaby, what would you say is the most common misconception people have about Dyslexia? 

Gaby: Dyslexia is often misunderstood. Many people see it as letters and numbers around the wrong way on the page, and while that's genuinely the experience for some, the spectrum is much broader than most realise. It can show up in all sorts of different ways.  

There's also a tendency to assume that being neurodiverse means being less capable, but I've never seen it that way. For me, the way our brains work is a superpower. We just see and experience the world a little differently, and that's something worth celebrating. 

Lally: Behind those misconceptions, there’s the diagnosis itself, which for a lot of people is a whole journey on its own. When did you get your diagnosis, and what was that like? 

Gaby: I came to my diagnosis later than most, it wasn't until the second year of my university degree, at around 19, that it was officially confirmed. For a lot of people, dyslexia is picked up during primary school, but mine went undetected for years. That said, I did have a quiet sense during my secondary school days that I may have Dyslexia, it just took a while for that feeling to turn to a diagnosis.

Lally: Wayne, you were diagnosed much later in life, what was that like for you, did it come as a relief, a shock, a bit of both? 

Wayne: I was diagnosed several years ago, though the process began earlier. Like many people, I’d taken a number of online assessments beforehand, all of which pointed towards autistic traits. The decision to pursue a formal diagnosis was encouraged by a close family friend who is a clinical psychologist. 

The process itself was long, exposing, and at times uncomfortable. It required a level of reflection and openness that isn’t always easy to sustain. 

In terms of how it felt, neither relief nor shock quite captures it. It was more a sense of uncertainty. A quiet question of: what does this mean now? Not just in a clinical sense, but in the context of my life up to that point. 

There was no defining moment of celebration or closure. Even sharing the news with my wife, who had been part of the journey, took a few days. It wasn’t hesitation so much as needing the space to process it myself first. 

That sense of introspection hasn’t really gone away. In many ways, I’m still working through it. 

Lally: Looking back, did things start to make more sense once you had a diagnosis? Things in your career or education that had been harder than they should've been, or things that came naturally that you hadn't thought about before. 

Wayne: Yes, though perhaps not all at once. Over time, certain patterns began to settle into place, not just for me, but for my family as well. 

Traits like a preference for logic, structure, and clearly defined processes have been consistent for as long as I can remember. In hindsight, it’s not surprising that my career paths, first in accountancy and finance, and later in software engineering, aligned so closely with those tendencies. 

I’ve been writing code since the 1980s; my first computer was an Acorn Electron, and I still have the photographs to prove it. That early affinity now feels less like coincidence and more like continuity. 

That said, I’m also aware that receiving a diagnosis later in life has shaped my experience in its own way. Growing up in the 1970s through to the 1990s, the understanding and support for neurodivergent individuals, particularly for someone like me, an Afro-Caribbean male in an environment with little ethnic diversity, was limited at best. I suspect an earlier diagnosis might have led to constraints rather than support. 

As challenging as parts of that journey have been, I’m not convinced an earlier label would have made it easier. 

Gaby: When the diagnosis finally came, it was a relief - not because anything in my day-to-day life changed overnight, but because it confirmed what I'd long suspected. It also made a lot of sense of things.  

My dyslexia goes hand in hand with the way I think creatively, and looking back, it explains the pull I've always felt towards the creative world. It was a space where I could express myself and communicate differently, with a lot less reliance on writing. I do feel that school was harder than it needed to be, simply because my dyslexia went unrecognised for so long. Teachers did their best to help where they could (coloured overlays and similar tools to make reading more manageable) but there's no doubt it made absorbing written material a real challenge for a long time. 

Working in digital 

Lally: Thinking about work more broadly, what drew you to working in digital? Has anything about the sector been particularly good or bad for you as a neurodivergent person? 

Wayne: It’s something I’ve been drawn to for as long as I can remember. The combination of creativity and structure, of building something expressive within a defined system, has always appealed to me. There’s a clarity in logic, systems, and processes that feels natural, almost instinctive. 

More broadly, the sector has made visible efforts around diversity and inclusion, which I think matters. It’s not always consistent, and there’s still work to be done, but the intent is there in a way that isn’t always present elsewhere. 

That said, the pace of change in technology can be challenging. There’s an expectation, sometimes unspoken, to constantly adapt and stay current. While that can be stimulating, it can also feel relentless at times, particularly when you prefer depth and continuity over frequent shifts in direction. 

Lally: So, what does a good working day look like for both of you, and what about a bad one?  

Wayne: A good working day is usually a well-structured one. I work best when there’s a clear plan, with enough space to focus without being pulled in multiple directions. Minimal context switching is important; moving between tasks too frequently tends to dilute both attention and quality. 

I also find it helpful to limit interruptions. I tend to keep notifications to a minimum and rely more on periodic check-ins to stay aligned with the team. It creates a more deliberate rhythm to the day, rather than one driven by constant prompts. 

Flexibility and remote working have made a noticeable difference, particularly at Giant. They allow for a level of control over the working environment that’s difficult to replicate in more rigid settings. Strong working relationships across teams are equally important. Understanding the broader context of a project, beyond just the code, helps everything feel more cohesive. 

By contrast, a difficult day often stems from unclear or poorly defined requirements. When the starting point lacks structure, it introduces ambiguity that can ripple through the rest of the work. That tends to be where most friction arises. 

Lally: What about for you Gaby? I'm thinking about the practical things – remote working, flexibility, how you communicate with the team – the things that help and the things you’ve had to work around. 

Gaby: Cognitive overload and brain fog are things I run into fairly easily because of my dyslexia, so having the flexibility to switch between projects or step away from my desk when I need to, makes a real difference to the quality of my work. My favourite days are the ones built around collaboration; getting to share ideas with clients, seeing things spark, and witnessing the impact the work has on the people I'm doing it for.  

On the flip side, days packed with back-to-back meetings, particularly mentally demanding ones, can be genuinely draining. To help with my mental fatigue, I try to protect a proper break in the middle of the day, usually a walk with my dog to get some air and reset helps a lot. Sprinkling in smaller breaks throughout too, even just to make a cup of tea or grab a snack, goes a long way. 

Lally: It’s clear how much thought you’ve both put in to how you work. But your neurodiversity isn't the only thing that shapes how you experience work, is it. How do other parts of who you are play into what you need from a workplace? 

Gaby: I'm a sociable person at heart. I love a good conversation, sometimes a little too much! There's so much to be gained from talking to people and hearing how they've navigated their own paths - I find it endlessly inspiring.  

I'm driven by a genuine desire to keep growing, and I've never really been able to switch off that curiosity; there's always something new to learn, explore, or be inspired by.  

Agency life suits me down to a tee for that very reason. The variety of clients and the range of work you can find yourself doing in a single day keeps my creative mind alive. And right now, I feel really fortunate that the work I'm doing is genuinely giving something back to the people who need it most. 

Wayne: My previous career in accountancy and finance still informs how I approach problems. It instilled a focus on structure, process, and the interplay between different parts of a system, looking not just at the immediate task, but at how it connects to wider business and operational factors. 

Outside of that, being both a parent and a teacher in a church setting has shaped how I think about communication and responsibility. It’s influenced the way I approach supporting others, including in the workplace. There’s a balance between offering guidance and allowing space for people to develop their own understanding and approach, rather than directing everything too closely. 

Even something like trail running plays a part. It’s less about the activity itself and more about the mindset: persistence, incremental progress, and a willingness to push beyond what initially feels comfortable. That perspective carries over into work more than I probably realise. 

Lally: And in terms of support Gaby, what’s actually made a real difference for you - whether that's something formal, something cultural, or just the people around you? 

Gaby: The people you work with make such a difference - I really believe that. Being in an environment that's understanding, encouraging and genuinely supportive has a direct impact on the work I produce. The team have never made me feel different or excluded, and if anything, I think being neurodivergent brings something extra to the table.

Giant have truly embraced the idea that a healthy work-life balance isn't a nice-to-have, it's fundamental to how good work gets done. That kind of flexibility and freedom to manage what you need to, both at work and in life lifts everyone's productivity. And underpinning all of it is trust, which, as far as I'm concerned, has to go both ways.

Lally: Gaby, you just spoke about having the “flexibility and freedom to manage what you need to”. I’m curious whether you’ve both managed that in practice? Wayne, have you developed any routines or structures to manage your working life that others might find helpful? 

Wayne: I tend to rely on consistency. I’m often doing the same things in broadly the same way, which helps reduce unnecessary friction. Change isn’t something I naturally gravitate towards, so maintaining a stable baseline makes it easier to manage everything else. 

I’ve experimented with more structured techniques like time-boxing, but they haven’t always worked for me. When I’m deeply focused on something, it can be difficult to step away at arbitrary intervals without breaking that flow. 

What has been more effective is controlling the working environment where possible, reducing unnecessary notifications, while still maintaining regular check-ins to avoid missing anything important. That balance between focus and awareness is key. 

I’ve also found it useful, though not always easy, to vary my environment occasionally. Even small changes can provide a reset. 

More broadly, understanding the distinction between what is urgent and what is important has been valuable. Not everything that demands attention needs to be acted on immediately, and recognising that can help maintain a more sustainable pace. 

Lally: What’s been effective for you Gaby? 

Gaby: Over the years I've probably built up all sorts of routines and coping strategies to manage my dyslexia in the workplace, so many that they just feel normal to me now. It's only recently that I've started to consciously unpick what they actually are.  

As a remote worker, one thing I've noticed is that having music or the radio on in the background really helps. Without that ambient noise, my mind tends to wander; silence and focus don't always sit well together for me.  

Taking regular breaks is another big one, giving your brain the chance to absorb and recharge little and often makes a real difference, especially in a digital role. Sitting in front of a screen for long stretches can quietly chip away at the quality of your output, so I make a point of getting up, moving around, and stepping away from screens whenever I can. 

Disclosing your diagnosis 

Lally: Something I wanted to talk about was disclosure, because it’s such a personal decision. Have you always been open about your diagnosis, or has there been a point where you felt like you needed to keep it to yourself?  

Wayne: No, I haven’t. 

Part of that is practical: working remotely, I’ve often felt that it didn’t materially affect how I engage with colleagues day-to-day. But a larger part of it has been uncertainty, both about whether to share it, and how to do so. 

There have been moments where I’ve considered it, even rehearsed the conversation internally, only to step back when the opportunity arose. Not out of fear exactly, but a kind of hesitation I haven’t fully resolved. 

That said, I suspect it wouldn’t come as a surprise to some of my colleagues. 

Ultimately, the reluctance sits with me. It’s something I’m still navigating. 

Lally: How about you Gaby? Have you always felt comfortable with disclosing your diagnosis, or is it something you’ve shied away from?

Gaby: Honestly, it's a yes and a no. Back at school, even without a formal diagnosis, I was aware that my brain worked differently to those around me, and at the time, that felt isolating rather than empowering. I didn't want to stand out. But now? I'll tell anyone who'll listen.  

Embracing my neurodivergence has been genuinely empowering, and I love being open about the way my dyslexia feeds into my creative thinking. It's not something I shy away from, it's something I'm proud of. 

Lally: You’ve both taken quite different paths with that. For anyone reading this who might be sitting with that decision right now - what would you say to them? 

Wayne: Take your time. There’s no requirement to rush that decision. 

If you can, speak with people you trust first: family, friends, or professionals who understand autism and can offer informed guidance. It can also be helpful to look into your employer’s policies around neurodiversity and workplace support, to get a sense of what’s already in place. 

In some cases, talking it through with a trusted colleague, particularly someone with similar lived experience, can provide useful perspective. 

At the same time, it’s worth being realistic. Not every organisation is equally equipped or willing to make appropriate adjustments. If you do choose to disclose, it’s sensible to be prepared for different outcomes, including the possibility that your needs may not be fully met. 

Gaby: Your diagnosis doesn't define you but sharing it with your employer can open the door to being truly understood, and to getting the tools and structure you need to thrive. I know it can feel daunting, but your neurodivergence isn't something to hide. It's your superpower. 

How organisations can do better 

Lally: Both of your answers there point to something bigger – what organisations could be doing differently. If you could change one thing about how they recruit and support neurodivergent people - what would it be? 

Wayne: It’s a difficult question, not least because there’s no single experience that represents all neurodivergent people. 

That said, I think there’s an opportunity for organisations to move beyond treating inclusion as a procedural requirement, a box to tick, and instead embed it into the culture of how they operate. Policies matter, but culture is what people actually experience day to day. 

At the same time, I believe strongly that people should be hired on merit. Inclusion and fairness shouldn’t be at odds with one another; they should reinforce each other. Creating an environment where different ways of thinking are genuinely understood and supported benefits everyone, not just those who identify as neurodivergent. 

It’s not a quick fix, and it’s certainly not simple. But it’s work worth doing. 

Gaby: Awareness. So much of the challenge starts long before someone even gets through the door. Recruitment processes are often built in ways that unknowingly put neurodivergent candidates at a disadvantage - lengthy written applications, back-to-back interviews, timed tasks - and many organisations simply don't realise they're doing it.  

If I could change one thing, it would be for businesses to take the time to genuinely educate themselves; not just tick a box or bolt on an accessibility policy as an afterthought, but to truly understand that neurodivergent minds work differently, and that with the right environment and support, that difference is an enormous asset.  

The goal shouldn't just be to accommodate; it should be to create spaces where neurodivergent people can genuinely thrive and bring their whole selves to work. 

Lally: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today, and for being open and honest about your experiences. Diversity of representation is something I’m really passionate about, and unfortunately an aspect that’s sadly lacking in our industry. I hope that by sharing your stories and experience, it might encourage a few more people who are diagnosed with a neurodivergent condition and on the fence about where they could go next in their career to think about a role in digital, because there’s so much potential for people who think differently to push our industry forward, and you are both incredible examples of that. 

Useful resources

Wayne and Gaby have both shared resources they’ve found valuable below. 

From Wayne: 
 
YouTube

The Aspie World 
Hidden20 Charity 
The Clinical Breakdown 
Adult with Autism 
ADHD Chatter Podcast 
Auticate

Books

Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire - David William Plummer 
Autism for Adults - Daniel M Jones 
The Autistic Brain - Temple Grandin 
Autism in Adults - Luke Beardon 

ASD charities

National Autistic Society

From Gaby: 
 
British Dyslexia Association 
Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity (primarily aimed at children, but a useful resource) 
Dyslexia UK