From 14 to 488: The Real Cost of Workplace Systems Built Without Neurodivergent People
488 autism-related ADA charges filed with the EEOC in fiscal year 2023. Ten years earlier it was 53. In 2003 it was 14. That's not awareness. That's a system built without us, and the bill finally coming due. The pattern is routine. Employee requests a simple, inexpensive accommodation – quieter workspace, written instructions instead of verbal, flexibility on meeting attendance. Management says no, or claims "undue hardship" when the cost is negligible. Then they place the employee on a performance improvement plan, suddenly documenting performance problems that never mattered before the accommodation request. It's retaliation dressed as documentation. Awareness training without structural change doesn't help. Research shows it can increase the risk of unintentional discrimination – people learn the vocabulary of neurodivergence but the systems stay the same, built for neurotypical processing, neurotypical communication, neurotypical social performance. As an...