Workplaces can supply cupcakes for inclusion but cannot change the lights

The test Shamus Hart applied to workplace inclusion at Think Autism Melbourne was whether an organisation would change anything that cost it effort. Asked by the facilitator, Anita Aherne, whether workplaces were becoming more inclusive or simply expecting autistic staff to mask better, Hart said many had become very good at the performative side, which Hart called the theatrics of inclusion. “I’ve had so many places that have amazing cupcakes, but you ask them to do something like put it in writing or even change the lights.” In Hart’s experience, they could not do it.

Aherne had framed the question around masking. Lived experience shows, Aherne said, that success at work can depend heavily on how well someone adapts their communication style, sensory needs and behaviour to fit the environment. That raised the question of whether workplaces were really changing, or whether autistic people still carried the burden of adapting to existing systems.