Innovation Spring 2026

Passport to prizes contest Enter to win one of five $10, 000 travel vouchers.* when reviewing engineering drawings or reports, Smith’s struggles personally and professionally have led her to stop “believing that I will ever significantly contribute to this profession, even though I was taught that I had ‘so much potential to do great things.’” Workplace realities Birch believed his autism diagnosis gave him a better understanding of how his brain works. “In my experience, autism is not always something to be thought of as a disorder,” he said. “It is basically how my brain is structured, how I have certain strengths and weaknesses. And some of my strengths, I think, lend themselves to engineering and I'm quite happy that I have been able to find a career where my strengths are an advantage.” Birch’s aptitude with numbers and to easily visualize problems and solutions made some of the project work he’s done as a geotechnical engineer easier for him. “I played in the sandbox a lot as a kid. Now, I'm a geotechnical engineer, and I’m essentially playing in a bigger sandbox,” he said.

“I've done a lot of design work on excavations into soil and rock and constructing fill on top of that. … Sometimes you really need to be able to think about these projects completely in three dimensions. You need to visualize one slope intersecting with another slope and how to create something like that on paper to communicate it.” Even before getting her official diagnosis, Mc L arty’s career path was heavily influenced by her neurodiversity. “When I graduated, I did not want to do design work, so I worked in a technical applications role. As a result, I had the opportunity to work on multiple projects in different geographic locations, which was perfect for a person with ADHD,” she said. Those ADHD tendencies, while excellent for her bouncing around different projects, tasks, and locations, made settling into a role more difficult. “As I progressed, as long as the work changed often, [was] not repetitive, and had some urgency, I excelled,” Mc L arty noted. “However, when there were less fires to fight, it was not as interesting and I got bored.” Mc L arty also was able to lean on her strong sense of empathy and ability to collaborate with people she trusts – traits that are common in people with ADHD – to take on leadership responsibilities early in her career. “I was able to understand the needs of customers, colleagues and other team members. I have always been able to form strong networks and teams that have helped me deliver successful results.” That willingness to collaborate and lead groups can also backfire in the wrong environments and settings. “When put into groups at courses or workshops, I tend to have a ‘take-charge, let’s jump right in and start talking about this sort of attitude from my impulsivity,” Smith said. Challenging the standard way of doing things, or groupthink, can also be difficult for neurodivergent people who have a different perspective on things. Colleagues would often treat Smith with annoyance, or ignore her ideas when she brought them up in group settings. “I am not afraid to be honest. But I am very afraid to be embarrassed, so those two characteristics are at odds with each other,” she added, highlighting the difficulties neurodivergent professionals can experience when confronted with an unwelcoming environment. Building a workplace that is neurodivergent-friendly Smith’s professional challenges also show how employers and colleagues can do more to create an inclusive and supportive workplace for neurodivergent professionals – and doing so does not necessarily mean overhauling internal policies or processes.

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Spring 2026

Innovation