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One of our brilliant creatives at AKQA wrote a book about this, check out 'Autism is not a disease, the politics of neurodiversity' by Jodie Hare
Thanks for sharing ❤️ i'll check out her book
Im an autistic art director in my 40’s. I build a lot of rest and decompression into my life when im working, and ive learned to balance my ambition with realistic limits on what my body can handle. In an ideal world where I had all of the accommodations I need to avoid burnout, I would be killing it at my job, but thats not the world we live in. And after experiencing massive burnout 3-4 times since my twenties, ive learned that the culture of pushing yourself beyond your limits to deliver on projects is not realistic for me and jeopardizes every other aspect of my life. So ive had to get comfortable saying no, and while it does create limits in my career it also keeps me safe and stable and anyone who wants to push me on it will get an obnoxious infodump about the autistic nervous system and why I have to protect my personal time or risk becoming extremely ill.
Im learning to be unapologetic about it. I dont disclose to everyone but I do to my direct managers and HR, and im active in my agency ERG for neurodivergence.
I’d think about work opportunities where you work closely with good producers that understand your needs. In most agencies, producers will work with creatives and They can help you keep track of timelines, priorities, deliveries and can translate your thoughts to the rest of the team if needed. I really feel like they could help you a lot:)
i love love LOVE production because of my producers; honestly i feel like that's where i do best, but it's so hard to manage communication and general workflow with coworkers coming up to that point; but definitely going to ask about this specifically as i look for a new job.
Finally got a diagnosis this year after multiple years of it being blatantly obvious to me that I was autistic. I've given up on a good chunk of masking (so dang glad I work remotely), and I'm also extremely lucky I had neurodivergent parents who taught me frameworks to handle other people.
My tips:
1. Get it in writing. If it's a request, have it written down and agreed upon. Any time the scope changes, it goes on the document. I've used these for key briefs, reviewing basic tasks, etc. It helps me keep honesty between myself and whoever made the request in the first place.
2. Ask questions. I give zero F's about if someone thinks I'm a bit foolish for asking questions, but I would much prefer I know the full picture than be blindsided halfway through an project. This does NOT need to be over a call! I've had some of my best results from setting up question documents that I'll message over to my manager, etc. so they can respond when they have time.
3. Aggressively state your availability. I've used Slack and Teams, and I will highlight on there and my email whenever I'm taking a lunch break (i.e., "thou shalt not bother me"), when I'm taking upcoming PTO, etc.
4. Overcommunicate. Advertising is the field where things change on a minute to minute basis, which is... yeah. Stressful. But having communication protocols agreed upon by your teams means there's less stress.
5. It's not the end of the world to take time off. I say this as someone who hasn't taken enough time off, but it is especially necessary for us ND folks. Even if it's just a 15 min walk outside or petting your dog, schedule breaks into your day to unwind.
6. Get accommodations if you can. It's legally within your rights to request these under the ADA, and your company should be able to highlight whether something is a "reasonable request" or not.
7. Stim toys. Yes, I'm serious. Get some good little toys that you can have with you during the day - if you're in-office, something you can keep on your desk or in your pocket.
Best of luck to you.
Thank you so much this is great ❤️ i'll add this to my running doc of advice. Going to be working on building more of these into my routine :)
I’m AuDHD. I don’t know what kind of creative you are (very broad term) so I don’t know how much of this will be relevant. I’m a freelance CD and being freelance helps quite a bit. But ONLY if you’re able to huddle and drum up enough business to do it successfully. This in itself can be a challenge to a lot of people, including neurotypicals, so take that as it may. But being freelance frees you from stupid office politics and hierarchies, lets you manage your time better and much more flexibility. The communication aspect is less stressful because many times objectives are very clear cut and lots of things are dealt with in writing, so a lot of the dumb interpersonal social dances and interpretations are not a big factor.
Don’t have a lot of time for a lengthy reply here, but feel free to DM me.
*Hussle not huddle