This week marks Neurodiversity Celebration Week. Starting back in 2018, the week was created to raise awareness of various neurodiverse conditions and how they affect individuals in everyday life - both in positive and challenging ways.
As many as 20% of the UK population have been formally diagnosed with some sort of neurodiversity - whether that’s Autism, ADHD, dyslexia, Tourette's or another condition. In reality, this number is probably significantly higher as many people will never get a formal diagnosis.
To describe someone as neurodiverse is simply a way of saying they process the world differently to what others may describe as ‘typical’.
In this week’s blog, we’re discussing homelessness and neurodiversity and how we can provide the support that’s needed.
The neurodiverse are over-represented in homelessness statistics
There’s evidence to suggest that particularly those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are at higher risk of facing homelessness in their life.
2018 research from UCL and Kensington and Chelsea Learning Disability Service found that of 106 rough sleepers, over 10% of them ‘showed strong signs of autistic traits that would be consistent with an autism diagnosis’.
This tells us that a large group of people potentially do not have their needs met, and we as a sector need to be creative and varied in our approach to outreach for these individuals.
Why might a neurodiverse person be more likely to experience homelessness?
There are a great number of reasons someone may find themselves experiencing homelessness; family breakdown, financial hardship, unemployment, a combination of all of the above and more. Depending on the severity of an individual’s neurodiversity, they may be at significantly more risk of falling into one of these groups.
If they’re undiagnosed, or services/support staff aren’t informed enough to accommodate any additional needs, it’s easy to see how someone might not be reactive to services or outreach.
How can we better support neurodiverse people experiencing homelessness?
Greater awareness of different conditions
Improving knowledge around neurodiverse conditions and how to recognise them is key. That way, we can hopefully better enable outreach teams to communicate effectively with those harder-to-reach people experiencing homelessness.
Appropriately staffed and supported accommodation
Training and awareness are futile if there aren’t services to receive individuals once they accept the support of a team.
A huge consideration is ensuring there are spaces available that understand the intricacies of neurodiverse conditions with appropriate staff support. Otherwise, we’ll find that individuals could end up in the vicious cycle of homelessness, and we run the risk of them becoming skeptical of offers of support.
At Simon on the Streets, we’re always thinking of new ways to engage with the people we support. Neurodiversity Celebration Week is just a reminder that we’re all unique and deserve to be treated as individuals. In short, we all deserve to have our needs met, even if that takes a little creativity.
If you’re concerned about homelessness, please reach out to our team who will be happy to help.
There are a number of useful resources available to help you support a neurodivergent person, including this guide from Homeless Link.