Hiding in Plain Sight

What the rising autism diagnosis numbers actually tell us about leadership

The world is changing, and it's not just AI. I want to talk about a quieter shift — one that's been building for years and is now impossible to ignore if you're leading people.

You've probably seen the numbers. The number of autistic Australians identified by the ABS rose by nearly 42% in just four years — from 205,200 in 2018 to 290,900 in 2022.

It's tempting to read those numbers as "more people are neurodivergent than ever before." That's not what's happening.

We've been here all along. Hiding in plain sight.

What's changed is diagnosis, language, and permission. Neurodivergent people — workers, leaders, teachers, teenagers — are getting seen. Getting a vocabulary for what they've always experienced. Increasingly, getting the confidence to self-advocate instead of quietly managing (or masking) on their own.

Leading those in the workforce who are neurodivergent isn't just about kindness and compassion. It takes real systemic change: designing workflows and workloads with built-in flexibility, offering ongoing coaching, not just a one-off package, and creating  psychologically safe cultures where someone can disclose their challenges without risking their career. Ideally, we also need to see roles built around strengths. 

The conversation has started though, both here in Australia and other parts of the world. Here are a couple of examples:

The Southern Cross University has recently launched a Graduate Certificate in Neurodiversity — the first course of its kind in Australia built around how we can create neuroinclusive workplaces and societies outside of a disability focused service delivery. It's co-designed with people with lived experience, and it's aimed at professionals across education, health, disability and business who want to build neuroinclusive practice properly.

In the UK, the Church of England's General Synod established a national network of neurodiversity champions — one per diocese, modelled on their existing Disability Advisers network — to identify and remove the barriers facing autistic, ADHD, dyslexic and dyspraxic clergy and lay members. Over 500 clergy and lay ministers have already completed introductory training, with 150 going through a full-day session. Archbishop Sarah Mullally put it simply: "I am called as somebody who is dyslexic, not despite dyslexia, and sometimes because of dyslexia." When one of the oldest, most tradition-bound institutions in the world is building formal structures for this, it's a pretty strong signal that this isn't a passing trend. It's a genuine shift in who gets to lead, and how.

So here's where it lands for those of us in leadership: this shift is happening whether we engage with it or not. The question is what we do with it.

We can embrace it — build teams and workplaces that work with how people are actually wired, and therefore mutually benefit from the strengths, innovation and loyalty that comes with that. Or we can resist it, because change is uncomfortable and the old default is familiar.

I know which side gets better outcomes. I've seen it as a coach, a consultant, and as a late-diagnosed neurodivergent leader myself.

If you're leading a team and want to know how to work better with your neurodivergent colleagues — how to structure roles, run meetings, give feedback and build psychological safety in ways that actually land — that's exactly the kind of work I do with organisations. Reply to this email and we'll figure out where to start.

If you're neurodivergent yourself and want support figuring out how to self-advocate — how to ask for the flexible ways of working that let you actually thrive, not just get by — I'd love to help. If you're currently employed in Australia, there may be government funding for you. The Employment Assistance Fund through JobAccess can help cover the cost of a program for eligible employees managing a condition like ADHD or autism. Book a free Discovery Call and we can talk about what that could look like for you.

Kathryn Martens

Founder & Principal Coach/Consultant, Release Leadership

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