Education, Communication, Respect

The following resources can be used to guide employers, human resource professionals, managers, and colleagues, along with the employees who struggle with mental disorders. The links lead to a range of topics including: best practices for inclusion; the complex issue of disclosure; invisible challenges of individual disorders; and suggestions pertaining to reasonable accommodations.

Articles

Inclusion

• Neurodiversity: A Concept Whose Time Has Come – The American Institute for Learning and Human Development  A
• The Illusion of Inclusion – Profiles in Diversity Journal  A
• Managing the ‘Difficult’ Employee – A new study finds that about one in five workers have a personality disorder that negatively impacts their career and the workplace – Human Resource Executive Online  A
• Helping Employees with Mood Disorders – Profiles in Diversity Journal  A
• Inclusiveness Extends to Those With Mental Illness – Diversity Best Practices  A
• U.S. Pushes Target for Hiring the Disabled – The Wall Street Journal  A
• Creating an Inclusive Workplace – Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation Inclusion  A
• Getting to Work: Promoting Employment of People with Mental Illness – The Bazelon Center’s report – describes the need for supported employment services, how services work, successful outcomes, cost savings for states, and suggestions to help states expand services for those with serious mental illness.  A
• Challenging Biased Language – Regardless of whether comments are deliberately malicious, said out of ignorance, or thought to be a joke; the words impact the receiver, as well as everyone who hears them. ADL A
• Diversity – The Evolving Language of Diversity – The word “disability” can imply a negative connotation of not having abilities. The term “differentlyabled” is a more accurate terminology. ADL A

Stigma & Labels

• Mental Illness – The Scattergood Foundation Stigma Guide – Advancing Innovative Strategies for Change in Behavioral Health – succinctly summarizes research findings about stigma and stigma reduction; providing a clear definition of stigma and its harmful impact, along with proven stigma-reduction methods. A
• Fear of Being Different Stifles Talent – Harvard Business Review  A
• How Mental Illness Makes Some Executives Stronger – Stigma, depression, anxiety, ADHD and dyslexia to OCD and bipolar disorder, OCD, Bill Brenner,Tom Lowery, Brock Eide, Richard Branson, Henry Ford, Winston Churchill, John T. Chambers of Cisco and Paul J. Orfalea, the founder of Kinkos, by Dr. Elana Miller, Jim Carrey, entrepreneurs, gift – Forbes  A
• A Monumental Problem – Mental illness is the workplace’s dirty little secret. Employees want to hide it and employers don’t want to hear about it. – Workforce  A
• The last stigma: mental illness and the workplace – Mercury News  A
• Living with Depression is a Full Time Job – HealthyPlace.com Employee perspective  A
• Avoiding the Stigma of Depression and Bipolar Disorder – Health  A
• Why It’s Dangerous to Label People – Why labeling a person “black,” “rich,” or “smart” makes it so – stereotypes – Psychology Today  A

Disclosure & Accommodations

• Kay Redfield Jamison: Risk and reward – Scientist Kay Redfield Jamison gambled her career when she made the weighty decision to disclose her bipolar diagnosis. And look where it got her!  A
• Stress, depression and mental health support at work – Time to Change – Let’s End Mental Health Discrimination  A
• Depression in the Workplace: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? Should you tell your employer you’re depressed? – CNN Health (Health)  A
• Disclosing Your Disability to an Employer – Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation  A
• Should You Tell Your Boss about a Mental Illness? – Discrimination and stigma are concerns, but coming out can be a boon to your career—if the conditions are right – Scientific American  A
• Are Your Employees Comfortable Disclosing Disability? – SHRM  A
• Should You Tell Your Boss about a Mental Illness?
  Discrimination and stigma are concerns, but coming out can be a boon to your career—if the conditions are right – Scientific American  A
• Mental Illness in the Workplace – Canadian Mental Health Association  A
• What Are Reasonable Accommodations? – Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation  A
• Improve Workplace Air Quality with Fragrance-Free Policies – SHRM  A
• A Simple Communication Mistake to Avoid – Harvard Business Review  A
  
• Living and Working with a Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) – LDOnline  A
  

What Employers and Politicians Need to Know

• The next frontier in workplace diversity: brain differences – We are on the cusp of a civil rights movement for workers on the autism spectrum and those who have conditions like ADHD and dyslexia. Companies and managers at many companies have already begun to take note.  About 2% of the population has an atypical neurological structure. – Fortune  A
• Take the Sting Out of Feedback – Research reveals feedback may be dangerous to your health. How to make it less painful for employees – ASTD – Research about the neurobiology of feedback, why it can do more harm than good.  How to minimize defensiveness, and increase acceptance.  Mental and physical, physiological, emotional effects.  Feedback Techniques, Behavior Change.  Researchers find relationship between positive to negative thoughts, feelings, and behavior can predict how effectively teams function and produce great results.  Oxytocin – role in facilitating trust and collaboration.  Performance feedback.  A
• New mental disorders could lead to spike in ADA claims – HR Hero – Diversity Insight  A
• That’s ADHD Again? You Don’t Say! – Listen closely and hear the effects of ADHD on communication. More apparent with young children, but affects adults with ADHD as well (similar to those with Autism). Speech, Communication, Pragmatics, Impulsivity, Speaking too loudly – Psychology Today  A
• Be Aware of Disabilities, Whether Visible or Not – SHRM  A
• Living with ADHD and SPD: An Adult’s Perspective – Sensory Processing Disorder, coping strategies – SPD Foundation  A
• Social Skills and Adults with Learning Disabilities – LDOnline – Henry B. Reiff  A
• For Mental Health, Bad Job Worse than No Job – Health  A
• Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform – ADT – Dr. Ed Hallowell, Brain – Harvard Business Review  A
• Mental or Physical Illness–Which is the Bigger Workforce Problem? – Harvard Business Review  A
• Managing staff with mental ill-health – Our mental health can fluctuate on a spectrum.  Mental health problems can affect all of us, as a result of experiences in our work and personal lives.  People can recover completely from an episode of mental illness, and may be more resilient in future.  Managers can benefit from adopting an early intervention approach.  Addresses – Role of the line manager, Spotting signs of stress or illness, Handling disclosure, Planning ahead, Absence, Performance, Career development, Recruitment and selection, Tips for talking about mental health concerns – Equality and Diversity UAS – University of Oxford.  A

Training and Development

• Don’t Let a Bully Boss Affect Your Mental Health – Bullying can be part of a complex set of dynamics; however, four components of emotional intelligence can help employees in protecting themselves from workplace bullies.  A
• 2015 Instructional Design Trends Compass: Calling IDs to Action – Brain science is an important and evolving field, which is having an impact on instructional design trends, and provides insight into how to personalize instruction.  Adaptive engines and approaches can serve to  accommodate the needs and abilities of different learners, and can change or adapt in real time to learners’ inputs and location.  eLearning Industry.  A
• The Onboarding Experience Matters To Your Future Employees – The onboarding experience is a personal one, from the act of bringing people together, to the team building, to introductions to brand advocates.  New employees are treated as people from the outset, increasing the probability that they’ll be engaged immediately, and remain engaged, as they disperse throughout the company to their respective offices.  Forbes  A
• Workplace Culture Leaders Humanize The Onboarding Process – Is formal employee orientation a thing of the past in this everything-social and digital world?  The choice between traditional and social processes is not always black and white, of course.  Learning styles differ from person to person and from company to company.  Forbes   A
• Training Employees with Special Needs – employees with special needs must have the same development opportunities as everyone else.  Adults with special needs are growing at a faster rate than the general population.  The key to accessing this under-tapped workforce, requires eliminating internal barriers, including those accommodations that can help maximize the training of employees with special needs and/or “hidden disabilities,” which can disrupt their ability to learn and/or perform expected job requirements.  Chief Learning Officer A
• Inside the Learning Brain – Cognitive neuroscience will shape the future of corporate learning practices.  During the past decade numerous peer-reviewed publications have connected the fields of neuroscience with education and learning. Several studies report structural and functional changes in the brain related to training. A working understanding of how the brain learns and performs is an invaluable new skill. TD Magazine – Talent Development.  A
• Smart Training: A Learner-Guided Approach – Rather than define learning as formal or informal, why not provide learners directions that guide them to learn job competencies – especially, through job-based experiences?  With employees becoming more diverse; self-directed and self-paced learning strategies, which recognize the differences in how they learn and the time needed to do so, will  reduce costs and increase retention.  Training – the source for professional development.  A
• Social skills training – Social skills training has been shown to be effective in treating patients with a broad range of emotional problems and diagnoses. Some of the disorders include: shyness, adjustment disorders, anxiety disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, social phobia , alcohol dependence, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, developmental disabilities, personality disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.  A

Tools for Employee Success

• Stop Believing That You Have to Be Perfect – Harvard Business Review  A
• Succeeding in the Workplace – with ADHD – National Resource Center on ADHD – A Program of CHADD  A
• Will Your Depression Diagnosis Protect You From Employment Discrimination? – Health  A
• Do You Suffer from Attention Deficit Trait? Chances are good that you do. The first step to addressing it is understanding what it is – The Build Network – Smart ideas for the leaders of mid-sized companies.  A
• Coping with your crazy busy life – BeWell@Stanford – Interview Dr. Edward Hallowell  A
• Newsmaker: Why can’t you pay attention anymore? – C/NET  A
• Mental Illness or an Adaptation? – The Creativity Post  A
• Managing Social-Emotional Issues of Adults with Learning Disabilities – guidelines for adults with learning disabilities: Managing (and perhaps mastering) the social-emotional aspects of living with a learning disability.  Learning Disabilities Association of American – Jerome J. Schultz, Ph.D., Clinical Neuropsychologist, Harvard Medical School.  A
• 13 Mental Health Benefits Of Exercise – The Huffington Post  A
• Build a Better Brain for Better Mental Health – Three simple ways to take your mental health into your own hands. – Brain Chemicals, BDNF – Psychology Today  A
• How Successful People Stay Calm – The ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure has a direct link to your performance. Forbes  A
• 9 Things Emotionally Intelligent People Won’t Do – managing your emotions is as much about what you won’t do as it is about what you will do. Forbes  A

Creativity

• Secrets of the Creative Brain – The Atlantic  A
• Dyslexia Documentary Explains Entrepreneur Link – Bloomberg BusinessWeek  A
• Is Grit Stifling Our Creativity? – The Creativity Post  A
• Creativity and Depression – Psych Central – Douglas Eby  A

Authenticity

• Dare to Be Yourself – Being true to oneself is not for the faint of heart – Psychology Today  A
• Mental Health Crises Online: Is Social Media a Friend or Foe?
  People are increasingly broadcasting symptoms of mental illness on social media. We should listen – Scientific American  A
  

Personal Stories of Success and Inspiration

• Businessman shares struggles with mental health – “A Dialogue on Mental Health in the Business Community” – Robin Williams, Steve Colton, Turning Point, Creating Community Solutions, and NAMI. A
• New York City’s First Lady Shares Family History as She Unveils Push on Mental Health Care – The New York Times A
• Self-Advocacy Saved My Life – Andee Joyce was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at 44 years old. A

Be Counted!  Illuminate Mental Diversity at Work.
There is safety (AND strength) in numbers. “All for one, and one for all.”

Suggestions, feedback, comments, and questions welcomed at MindingDiversity@aol.com

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© October 2015