Here’s a provocation: disabled and neurodivergent people are the most creative people in the world. And the advertising industry is ignoring them. Last year during Disability Pride Month, I wrote about my own experiences of my life-altering disability and how going slow is a creative advantage in this fast-paced world. I was overwhelmed by the response to it. A friend told me I was tenacious for going the opposite way to everyone else. It made me think, this is what advertising is all about – isn’t it?

When hiring creatives, I’m looking for two things: tenacity and curiosity. Disabled and neurodivergent people have both in bucket loads because we live in a world that wasn’t built for us every day – and ultimately, that survival is the greatest act of creativity.

Disabled people have changed the world for everyone (not just for other disabled people). Stephen Hawking opened our minds to new worlds. Harriet Tubman freed hundreds of people from slavery. Dame Evelyn Glennie taught us new ways to hear. Stevie Wonder has brought us hit after hit after hit. Greta Thunberg and her generation are defining climate activism. These people are mavericks. They are not mavericks because of their disability. They are mavericks because they had an innate ability to give the world new ways of seeing old problems. They are the great creatives, and it should come as no surprise.

When hiring creatives, I’m looking for two things: tenacity and curiosity. Disabled and neurodivergent people have both in bucket loads because we live in a world that wasn’t built for us