Melissa St-Louis was an adult before her neurodiversity was identified, and the diagnosis came in through the side door. She’d been seeking help for exhaustion.
Paying for the diagnosis was its own challenge. St-Louis, a resident of Quebec, had been seeing a mental-health practitioner for some time, and that provider—not a family physician—eventually made the diagnosis. While she knew her insurance would cover only a fraction of the cost of those visits, a conversation with her employer’s benefits team might have revealed options for covering more of her out-of-pocket expenses. But she didn’t know to ask, just as she didn’t yet know how to define her condition.
St-Louis’s story will be familiar to many people whose neurodiversity characteristics don’t conform to textbook descriptions, or whose behaviors have been labeled in one (incorrect) way for so long that the true diagnosis is masked—even to themselves.
The Centre for ADHD Awareness, Canada estimates that two million Canadians have a form of neurodivergency, and SafeCare BC notes: “Most—if not all—have trouble communicating that they experience challenges in the workplace due to fear of job insecurity, judgment, or discrimination.”
What doesn’t always come out in conversation does show up on insurance claims. Drugs prescribed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) rank sixth on TELUS Health’s list of top 10 categories based on the dollar value of claims submitted to private drug plans, states TELUS Health’s 2026 Drug Data Trends & National Benchmarks report. They account for five per cent of all claims. So, like neurodiverse employees themselves, companies are contending with the impact of neurodiversity in the workplace even if they may not realize it.
Employers that proactively reach out to and support neurodivergent employees—starting right from recruitment—reap substantial rewards. As succinctly summarized by SafeCare BC: “Neurodivergent individuals often have incredible strengths that can benefit workplaces in big ways. Many have excellent memory, deep focus, or out-of-the-box thinking that can be game-changing.”
Once she identified as neurodiverse, St-Louis considered how this self-knowledge could add a new dimension to her own career in organizational development. That led to her co-founding Nüense, whose services include management coaching and psychological risk-factor mitigation in workplaces.
In a recent podcast by Benefits Alliance, “Navigating Neurodiversity in the Workplace,” St-Louis talks about how companies benefit from a more robust approach to developing and supporting a neurodiverse workforce. In this article, Take 5 for Wellness shares several of her key takeaways.
A guide for employers, ADHD in the Workplace: Creating a Neurodiverse Environment, is also available from the Centre for ADHD Awareness, Canada.
Get the conversation—and training—started. Self-stigma and the fear of discrimination are real. Employers play a key role to normalize the conversation about neurodivergence “because not so long ago, it was taboo,” says St-Louis. Open, thoughtful communication and management training create a psychologically safe space, which enables people to request adaptive measures that help them thrive in the workplace.
Don’t be shy with the younger crowd. There tends to be a generational divide in how job applicants and employees approach their personal circumstances. “Younger generations are more used to having these discussions and having adaptive measures in school. They get into the workplace and feel more comfortable disclosing and requesting what they need to be their best self at work,” St-Louis says.
Use claims data to inform outreach. Lack of awareness or self-stigma may prevent neurodiverse employees from accessing care from trained healthcare professionals, such as a mental-health practitioner, who can make a big difference in the daily quality of life. Claims data often provide clues, notes St-Louis. “If we have a rise in medication claims, but we don’t have a rise in claims for other kinds of professional support, maybe we need to up our games when it comes to communicating how those professionals can be included in the support toolbox.”
Be welcoming from the get-go. A key strategy is a more accessible and inclusive process for recruitment and hiring. The wording of job descriptions and interview questions make a difference. Offer flexibility for how interviews are conducted. Apply that same awareness to improve the process for performance evaluations.
Tune in to the full podcast to hear more from St-Louis about how a thoughtful approach to neurodiversity in the workplace can make organizations stronger.