For Sofie Night, autism advocacy is integral to her life. After 26 years in employment, she has published the book Autism and ADHD Employment, My Trials and Triumphs: A Journey of Resilience and Advocacy, detailing her experiences as an autistic woman in the workplace. She highlights the aspects of the workplace that are difficult to access as a neurodivergent person and provides resources and explanations for how to make employment more accessible to people with autism and ADHD.
Like many other autistic women, Sofie’s autism diagnosis didn’t come until she was in her late 40s. She explains how she always felt different but could never pinpoint it – whether it was due to her childhood trauma and PTSD or due to being a Belgian person living in England and having a more direct, European style of communication. She told me, “I’ve always tried to find reasons as to why I didn’t fit in that much”, and her diagnosis of autism gave her some insight into why she experiences things differently to other people. Over three quarters of autistic people in the UK are not in employment, which Sofie suggests is due to “systemic barriers” and “workplace cultures that fail to embrace difference”.
Over three quarters of autistic people in the UK are not in employment, which Sofie suggests is due to “systemic barriers” and “workplace cultures that fail to embrace difference”.
This percentage does not reflect the abilities of autistic people, but the inabilities of workplaces to accommodate them, something Sofie is committed to changing. The book is mainly centred around a difficult period of time at work in which she was a victim of bullying by management and found it increasingly difficult to cope in such a hostile environment. Although she suffered a horrible ordeal, she emphasises that “I don’t want to come across as someone who’s very negative, even though I’m going through a very negative experience”. By writing about her experiences on social media, and through poetry, she was able to process this experience, which enabled her to turn it into this book.
While speaking to her, she highlighted her desire for an inclusive workplace where her “differences are seen as something to be celebrated.” Autism and ADHD Employment, My Trials and Triumphs details her experiences in a workplace not made for her, exploring her struggles with management, communication with colleagues and acceptance in the workplace. Her “autistic perils,” as she labels them, mean she often gets overwhelmed at work and prefers to express herself through email rather than conversation, as she can plan out her responses better. She details how she has often been reprimanded for her inability to understand office power dynamics and her communication style.
Sofie was inspired to write the book after years of sharing her experiences on social media, gaining a large following on LinkedIn posting about navigating autism in the workplace. People often contact her, thanking her for sharing her struggles as it has made them feel less alone and given them the courage to continue. She explained: “I hope that by sharing this, someone else might feel a little less alone.” The book is a collation of emails, social media statuses, poems and essays, written in a non-linear and repetitive manner to represent the unstructured, chaotic aspects of the autistic mind. She commented that the way she thinks ‘doesn’t fit into chapters’, and the book’s non-linear structure reflects that chaos.
“I hope that by sharing this, someone else might feel a little less alone.”
Sofie Night
Sofie suggested that in order to be more inclusive in the workplace, people should spread autism awareness and commit to learning how to be a better ally to neurodiverse colleagues. She signposted the LinkedIn user Bridgette Hamstead and the website Neurodiversity in Business as great tools for learning about neurodiversity.
Autism and ADHD Employment, My Trials and Triumphs: A Journey of Resilience and Advocacy is available on Amazon.
Content Warning: discussions of Suicide, Addiction, Bullying and Eating Disorders.
