Exceptional Individuals - Neurodiversity Consultancy and Employment Support

Exceptional Individuals is a UK neurodiversity consultancy that works on both sides of the employment relationship — supporting dyslexic, dyspraxic, ADHD and autistic individuals to find and sustain work, while helping employers build recruitment processes and workplace cultures that do not screen this talent out in the first place. The organisation was founded by Matt Boyd, who is himself neurodivergent, and its Chief Innovation Officer, Ruth-Ellen Danquah, is also neurodivergent. More than half of the wider staff team identify as neurodivergent, including people with ADHD, autism and OCD, so the organisation’s understanding of workplace barriers is drawn substantially from lived experience rather than applied from the outside.

For individuals, the offer centres on practical employment support rather than diagnosis or clinical intervention. This includes CV support and coaching, free career coaching, and job placement through a dedicated neurodiverse jobs board that connects candidates with employers already engaged in inclusive hiring. Beyond the job search itself, the organisation offers workplace needs assessments, coaching and mentoring, and online workshops and training aimed at helping people understand and work with their own neurodivergent profile. It also provides assistive technology advice, guidance on the Access to Work scheme, and support for people seeking a formal diagnosis referral — positioning the service as a route through several of the practical obstacles that neurodivergent jobseekers and employees commonly encounter, from the application stage through to staying in a role.

On the employer side, Exceptional Individuals positions itself as a consultancy rather than a simple recruitment agency. Its stated method is to audit an organisation’s recruitment process — both online and offline — alongside its broader workplace culture, in order to identify where neurodivergent candidates and staff are being disadvantaged before recommending change. This is paired with manager training, HR enablement, workshops on neurodiversity awareness, and support for organisations pursuing Disability Confident accreditation, which the organisation itself holds at Leader level. Client examples described on the site include work with Aviva in 2019, where the organisation delivered training, built an internal resources hub and set up an employee helpline; a 2018 collaboration with Ryman focused on recruitment practice and retention; and audits and an employment conference carried out with Roche in 2018 aimed at removing barriers from that organisation’s hiring process. These examples suggest a track record of embedding within larger organisations over time, rather than offering a one-off training session.

The underlying framing throughout is that dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD and autism reflect ordinary variation in the human genome rather than deficits to be corrected, and that organisations benefit from the differences in thinking that neurodivergent staff bring rather than merely tolerating them. This affirming stance runs through both the individual-facing coaching services and the employer-facing consultancy work, though the practical focus throughout stays on recruitment, workplace adjustments and retention rather than on identity or advocacy work as such. The organisation publishes a Social Impact Report and has had coverage from the BBC, and it maintains an active newsletter and social media presence for those wanting to follow its ongoing work with employers and candidates.