A MOTHER from York has urged businesses in the city to become more inclusive.

Caroline Turner, a former North Yorkshire Police sergeant, championed autism inclusion in the force, and is now working with businesses around the city to help provide training for HR, communication teams and line managers in providing opportunities for people with hidden disabilities such as Autism, ADHD and Dyslexia.

Caroline, 46, said: "Businesses try to make different thinkers work within very rigid systems. This isn’t always the best way of getting the most out of those with a diagnosis, but solutions are usually very simple."

Caroline, who also has an autistic family member and operates advisory organisation Creased Puddle, said sometimes businesses needed to be convinced, but the work was worth it.

She said: "It’s not just about being a responsible employer, it’s good for business.

"In the past six years autism diagnosis has gone up by 87 per cent. Our approach is about not being scared of a diagnosis and seeing it as a starting point for understanding their individual talents."

About one in every hundred people are autistic, one in ten are dyslexic, and one in five had ADHD, which fall under the umbrella term of 'neurodiversity', which Caroline says is a positive view of disability.

She said: "A vast majority of the workforce that we work with don’t consider themselves disabled. Everyone knows that Sheila is amazing in accounts or Tim is brilliant at fine detail, but what if you could harness that and increase efficiency and well being?"

Caroline said only 17 per cent of autistic adults were in employment, and that talent pool could be used in future, as companies including JP Morgan, Google, Microsoft and Auticon actively employ autistic adults.

She said: "It’s about not being frightened, you can’t avoid the neurologically different, they already work for you, whether you or they know it. The difference is that your future workforce, having gone through the education system, already knows what support they need. The challenge is meeting them on the same page."