How to be a brilliant ally to your neurodivergent lab mate

Charlotte Roughton says she developed a deep-rooted shame and resentment towards her autism diagnosis, causing her to mask the condition during her biosciences degree at the University of Durham, UK.

But socially camouflaging and striving to appear as neurotypical to others led to burnout and poor mental health, she tells Adam Levy.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which straddled her Masters and PhD programmes, was a turning point. She cultivated a community via social media, becoming an advocate for neurodiversity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

Being neurodivergent brings benefits to her role as a biological teaching technician at the University of Newcastle, UK, she says. She offers advice and how and when to disclose an autism diagnosis at work, based on her own experience, and how institutions and lab mates can support neurodivergent colleagues.

Endocrinology researcher Michelle Kimple tells a similar story, recounting the relief she felt on receiving a bipolar and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis.

She describes how this impacts her role as a faculty member in the department of medicine at the University of Wisconsin Madison.

In 2024 Kimple wrote about her experiences in Nature, prompting other neurodiverse scientists to get in touch, and enabling her to mentor and support others.

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