The gap in neuroinclusion isn't awareness. It's infrastructure.
Man struggling to hold many speech bubbles
The 2026 City & Guilds Foundation Neurodiversity Index (N=1,864 employees; N=412 employers, UK-based research report), found that line managers are simultaneously the primary gateway to support for neurodivergent employees — and the single biggest point of failure in the system.
Between 2025 and 2026, the share of managers receiving neurodiversity-aware training rose from 35% to 39%. Over the same period, employee-rated manager capability dropped from 55% to 52%. More organisations are investing in training, and fewer employees feel that their managers are actually equipped to support them.
This pattern is familiar to anyone working in instructional design or performance improvement. Training is a tool — but alone, it doesn't guarantee improved performance. Without reinforcement and structural support, (such as clearly documented policies and procedures), a 90-minute workshop risks turning into an awareness-raising meeting with no discussion or plan for what happens when someone discloses a need or starts to struggle.
Awareness without process produces good intentions and inconsistent results. When a neurodivergent employee's experience depends almost entirely on whether they happen to have a manager who is already thoughtful, patient, and equipped to help, that's a recipe for inconsistent support at best, and structural exclusion at worst. The organisations closing this gap aren't the ones providing the most training hours. They're the ones that have started treating neuroinclusion as a design problem, not only a learning one.
In practice, that means:
Documenting an adjustments process with a clear sequence and timeline — the Index recommends implementation within four weeks of a need being disclosed.
Structuring onboarding support with check-ins at week 2, month 1, month 3, and month 6 — sustaining support beyond the first week, not concentrating it there.
Distributing ownership across recruitment, HR, line managers, and operations — so the system doesn't rest on any one person's competence or availability.
Building manager capability through embedded, repeated practice rather than a single event.
Two in three employees who received the right adjustments reported improved performance, and six in ten reported improved mental health. The outcomes are achievable. The gap is in the systems designed to deliver them consistently.
If building those systems is something your organisation is ready to work on, that's exactly what Cotempo does. Book a free discovery call at cotempo.ca/bookacall.
Source: City & Guilds Foundation Neurodiversity Index Report 2026, with Professor Amanda Kirby. Fieldwork conducted September–December 2025.
