Neurodiversity and Buildings Checklist

Neurodiversity and Buildings

Design for the Mind

This Sensory Environment Checklist has been produced as a guide to help consider the different sensory responses to an environment that some people may experience. In the same way that environments such as workspaces and public buildings are usually audited to consider physical accessibility, if sensory responses and preferences of Neurodiverse communities are better understood it will be possible to create shared environments that more closely meet everyone’s needs.

A diagram depicting the four main areas within building environments that might have an affect people with a neurodivergent condition: visual, auditory, olfactory and tactile.

What is Neurodiversity?

Neurodiversity is a relatively new term, recognising the diversity of human cognition and includes neurodivergent conditions such as Autism Spectrum Condition, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and Dyspraxia as part of that natural diversity.

An image of people walking down stairs in a busy train station.

What does this have to do with our building environment?

Many people with Neurodivergent conditions process everyday sensory information such as sounds, sights and smells differently.

Photo of a woman looking around a typical office environment.

This means that for some people, an office environment might appear like this.

A high contrast image showing shiny surfaces and highly patterned carpets.

The toilet could look like this. Note how the light reflects on the shiny surfaces.

A high contrast image of a shiny workplace bathroom, as seen from the perspective of someone with a neurodivergent condition.

The many different sounds in a open plan office for example, can be disorienting.

Photograph of an open plan office with several people working on computers.

Smells are also amplified.

Picture of bacon cooking in a frying pan.

Why the building checklist?

Sensory distractions can make it really challenging for staff and visitors with Neurodivergent conditions to concentrate and focus in some office environments.

We need to make reasonable adjustments for these visitors and staff.

The checklist is designed to help identify things like busy patterns, lighting, acoustics and layout, which should be considered when thinking about environment accessibility.

Image of someone ticking a checkbox on a piece of paper.

When should I use the checklist?

The checklist can be used when assessing an existing environment for cognitive accessibility and to inform accessible design considerations for new environments.

The checklist can also be used to help people talking about environmental factors when considering reasonable adjustments in the workplace.

‘Yes’ or ’No’ options have been provided to identify whether actions are required as part of an audit assessment or a reasonable adjustment following a workplace induction conversation, for example. A scoring system has been provided to Indicate the severity or priority of any action required. Any identified actions or comments can be noted in the section provided at the end of the checklist.

This checklist is intended to be a guide only and is not exhaustive.

Picture of a surveyor checking a door in an office building.

An overview of the checklist

VISUAL

Many neurodivergent people are sensitive to light levels, flickering lights, strong reflections, bright bold colours and busy patterns. Lighting and reflection can also be difficult for those who are neurotypical.