Reasonable Adjustments (Neurodiversity)

Adult Staff
8

Even with non CCF units the cadets medical history to an extent is shared.
If the parents are open and honest and declare it on the health form they have to fill out, then its there and should prompt conversation. Its just the issue of data protection and the amount of people who need to know. So if often makes it hard to help them due to having to keep the infomation to small circles.

Its a difficult position to be in with regards to cadet NCOs knowing something is off but us staff not being able to say its due to XYZ.

9

Maybe you should suggest an update to SMS to include details of how that persons learning can be helped.

For Cadets and CFAVs this isn’t something that would be classed as medical so could be shared more widely and would mean those with unique needs could be better catered for.

Helping someone to learn doesn’t necessarily mean they have to be neurodiverse either, could be they have other disabilities.

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10

I think this needs to be something picked up by ASPIRE. All the content I’ve seen from ASPIRE has been focused on LGBT related issues, which should be one strand of what ASPIRE offers, not the sole focus - which is how it feels. There’s zero point in having a group that focuses on promoting diversity and inclusion, if it only focuses on one area of diversity and inclusion; kind of defeats the point…

Input on neurodiversity would be very welcome. We’ve had a number of cadets with ASD over the years for example, and whilst we’ve done our best, some better guidance and support would be helpful.

It would be great to see a bit more engagement with the RAF on this, perhaps with someone like this chap: https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles/the-skys-the-limit-for-former-raf-air-cadet/

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11

The best advice I can give is to speak to parents and cadets and make it clear at joining that disclosing anything on a medical form doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be precluded from taking part in anything, but that if you know about it you can help make sure they are included.

We’ve had some real dinosaurs and idiots in our wing in the past complaining and giving people a hard time for being “difficult” on a camp, saying things like “I won’t take them again”. I reckon nearly all the issues can be avoided completely by good open communication.

For example, we’ve just had a new joined who is being assessed for ADHD. All I did was ask their mum “what techniques, strategies and tips work at school or work at home that you can share with us, to help support them whilst they’re here?”.

We had a parent who was excellent who, along with a TG23, sent a “cheat sheet” of how to support their child, things you might see and what that might mean, how to support them if they’re presenting in certain ways. It was amazing, and something I’ll remember for a long time.

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12

There’s a difference though between knowing about the cadet’s conditions, and knowing how those are usually managed in school. The latter isn’t always available.

13

If anyone wants to ask specific questions, feel free to DM me and I’d be very happy to try and help answer them. I’ve led some neurodiversity training locally, and spoken to the ASPIRE team about doing something a little more broadly.

It’s almost impossible to suggest blanket adjustments, even for specific conditions. Everyone with ADHD experiences it differently. Everyone with ASD experiences it differently. Comorbid conditions (e.g. ADHD and Autism, or ADHD and Dyscalculia) just complicates it further.

The only blanket advice that would actually work is to talk to the cadet about what they need. The majority of neurodiverse cadets I’ve spoken to recently have been very happy to talk about what they need, and often it’s just time, repetition, or for you to be understanding about “stupid” questions.

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14

:100:

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15

Can we also include CFAVs in any changes that are made? Late diagnosis of neuro diversity is on the increase but people even without a diagnosis do often know if they need some help to learn things. As a training organisation we need to train CFAVs to train cadets so it’s best we are as inclusive to the CFAV element as possible.

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16

No exepriance of a local unif offering accommodations, just discrimination :frowning:

17

What you’ve encountered is unfortunate and I would like to think not representative of the org.

My squadron is lucky enough to have a highly experienced member of staff, working with neuro diverse and disabled children daily, but not all have that. We have a (I would say a “proud”) track record of regularly accepting and supporting ASD and neurodiverse cadets and also have parents of each on our committee at the at the moment.

But it’s highly believable that there are units out there that simply haven’t yet found themselves attracting as broad a range of needs and presentations, and their volunteers not being personally experienced with or exposed to such diversity.

I’m sorry to you that this is your experience of us, but agree there’s a case that we should have better signposted resources internally, though we do have what we call ACP 15 (Inclusion Policy) and ACP 29 (Guide to Supporting Individual Needs in a Training Environment). Both of those could possibly benefit from the availability of further resources as they are very general and surface level in many of the conditions discussed, but then we have an Inclusion Team with reps and contacts in each wing and region.

I don’t think it would apply in your case based on what’s described, but region HSEP advisors are also able to provide specialised, individual risk assessments where there are physical or site hazard aspects that may need to be considered.

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18

Bit of a soul baring exercise…

I’m in my 50s - for those of you on here who have met me - I’m confident that you’ll say that I don’t act it…

The past few years have been a very steep learning curve while I come to terms with Neurodivergence.

In my case strongly ADHD - with some Autism (but still waiting for an adult diagnosis for confirmation).

…which came as quite a shock to me, as I’d always assumed I was very Neuro-typical.

Based on my own experience, I would say that as a whole, RAFAC has the potential to be a superb organisation for supporting individuals with ND.

At the outset - RAFAC is a group, or team environment for “people that don’t do teams”.

To start with, it’s a place where individuals WANT to be voluntarily - as opposed school / work, where there’s a requirement to be - regardless of how you’re feeling / coping.

It’s a niche group - with further niche sub-groups for training / participating such as Drill, Shooting, Aircraft Recognition, Model Making, Cyber, Radio, Road Marching etc etc… meaning an individual can more or less tailor their participation to their own interests and abilities.

Individuals tend to be supported and encouraged as appropriate, with all aspects through a genuine understanding by their peers and those closest.

Sometimes this comes about because there has been a conversation between those involved and the Squadron staff - sometimes, it’s because there’s an unspoken recognition.

The reality is, there is VERY little formal advice from HQAC - not least because Neurodivergence is such an incredibly broad church.

It’s estimated that 1:4 students are on the spectrum and 1:5 adults in the workplace - BUT experts widely acknowledge that these figures are almost certainly a major underestimation.

But if we are being honest with ourselves - I think it is fair today that the prevalence of ND staff AND cadets across the entire corps is a lot higher.

It’s not a stigma - it’s not a deficit - it’s just about being wired differently.

Clear case in point is for many of us who look at the bonkers requirements many standing orders come with - with my ADHD hat on, I’m thinking “why on earth are we doing THIS…?” Only to be told “because is says so…”

Case in point - my favourite “an aerial photograph is required of the nearest hospital is required in the EASP”…

Until such time as helicopters can be booked via white fleet, to enable CFAVs to conduct their own Cas-Evac flights… providing W3W, Postcode and a streetmap SHOULD be more than enough…

…but apparently not in my former Wing…

Ho hum!

19

Very separate to the main discussion points - but what the heck??? Yes, Google Maps can normally be a suitable source, but that is an example of one of the most pointless requirements I’ve ever heard (RAFAC or otherwise). What numpty dreamt that one up?

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20

Which is utterly irrelevant as the casualty can and if they sustain a major injury are transferred to the major trauma unit if the case is serious enough, for instance in North Wales, then they are transferred to Liverpool (adults and Paediatrics) or Stoke. A far distance from Ysbtsy Gwynedd in Bangor. The nearest hospital may actually be a psychiatric unit or have no A/E department.

Back on topic?

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21

The org is absolutely full of Neuro Diverse people and we are getting a lot better at catering for everyones individual needs.

I recently staffed a course where we had people who had failed SAAI courses with other providers due to their neuro diversity needs. Safe to say with the RAFAC they had no issues and passed with ease with no altering of the bar of standards, just simple changes to make them feel more comfortable.

It is possible, people just need to be open about their needs in the first place and then trainers need to understand those needs to accommodate them.

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22

Getting back on topic…

I was recently told by a friend who was attending a first aid course…. and the trainer had left a selection of fidgit toys on each group’s tables.

They explain that there was a large amount of course content to cover - but didn’t make any special reference to the toys… just let them be picked up and played with as and when needed.

The attendee then fed back that they had been impressed by the level of attention from all of the delegates… and that they perceived everyone to have taken more on board - compared with typical courses.

The point is - making SMALL changes to adapt the way information is communicated, for the benefit of the (relative) minority is actually beneficial to the entire group… in other words, “everyone does better…!”

I’ve brought this to the attention of my daughter’s school - who are now planning an experiment with students.

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23

The fidget toy thing is a trick I’ve heard of used in L3 Teaching and Learning quals. The instructor just carried it through to an actual teaching environment.

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24

Much the same as our regular service adjustments.

They started to realise that there were loads of us doing really good work and that, in many ways, the services can be quite good for us.

Some of the working environments are terrible, but adjustments for us will make everyone’s lives better!

You’re wellllllcommmmmmme… :notes::notes:

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25

Side note: teaching strategies aimed at neurodivergent learners also benefit neurotypical learners.

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26

That is very interesting

27

I am pretty sure I could name the ‘other providers’ - there is an unwillingness to adapt to the needs of the learner in some military circles.

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