The world is not built to allow neurodivergent people to thrive. Connor Ward acknowledges that much needs to change culturally to create a world where they aren’t disadvantaged by often small, unneeded barriers. Connor’s career in this space began with public speaking, while simultaneously sharing his story online, hoping that would give people a bit of empathy for what the autistic people around them may be feeling.
He started to build an online community, and before he knew it, he was in conversation with thousands of neurodivergent voices. He combined this with his experience in volunteering with the National Autistic Society, as well as his own studies in design, ED&I and neurology, to have a rounded knowledge of the autistic experience.
Connor also does training and consultancy. Training allows him to take someone on that journey from often not knowing anything (or outdated ideas) to giving them a modern understanding of neurodivergence. But what he finds most exciting is developing new ways and ideas to allow people to have a more accurate understanding of being neurodivergent.
Connor has worked with a wide variety of organisations, including the National Autistic Society, Brain in Hand, the Houses of Parliament and Disney. He uses his experience and knowledge to go inside how an organisation operates and see how they can make a product, service or workplace more accessible to neurodivergent people. He often identifies small, inexpensive changes to start, but also envisions how to future-proof things with more innovative ideas.
Connor is proudly part of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training Steering Group, which means he gets to help shape the mandatory autism training within health and social care.
Connor loves what he does. He starts by working on the things that make his life easier, then the wider community and ultimately, he sees improvements for everyone.
Instead of taking something and ‘adjusting’ it, he just looks at how they can improve it. If it wasn’t working for neurodivergent people, it wasn’t working in the first place, as he believes things should be built to be accessible to the diverse population they are all a part of.
