Neurodivergence and inclusion in the screen industries: leaders and managers

As part of the Your life at work strand, we're offering training aimed at sharing workplace best practice as well as how you and your teams can stay healthy, happy, and productive at work. 

This course will focus on the role that screen industry professionals can play to ensure inclusion for people from neurodivergent communities, in particular those professionals in management roles who can help shape company policies and practices. We will identify what we mean by ‘neurodivergence’ and how we all have a role to play in promoting a fairer society. We will focus on practical strategies that can help ensure workplace inclusion. We will also discuss representation on screen and the importance of neurodivergent community members shaping the narrative and speaking for them (our)selves.

Who it's for

This course is for leaders and managers who work in film, animation, unscripted TV or high-end TV and wish to create more inclusive workplaces for neurodivergent people. 

The majority of the ScreenSkills online short course offering is for those at early career stage and above. As a result, we generally require applicants to have at least 3 credits (unless working in a traditionally uncredited role or production studio role). If you strongly feel you would still benefit from the training, please email USF@screenskills.com so we can assess if an exception should be made.

We are committed to ensuring all our courses are accessible to everyone. This course is designed to be as interactive as possible. Please email the above address if you have any access requirements and we will be delighted to help, be that clarifying the form such interaction is likely to take or discussing reasonable adjustments.

What it covers

• Defining and discussing key terms, including ‘neurodivergence’ (ND)
• Approaches that can be put in place to ensure ND inclusion in screen industry workplaces
• How screen professionals can be proactive in breaking down barriers created by society for some ND people

Threaded throughout the course:

• awareness of challenges faced by neurodivergent colleagues
• equitable approaches
• practical strategies to ensure inclusion

This is a 2-hour course. There will be a break half way through. The Zoom room will be open 5 to 10 minutes before the start time for anyone wanting to test their connection/ chat with others before the session starts. To actively participate, you will need access to a webcam and microphone (both of which are often already built into laptops), or you can plug in a headset.

If you haven’t used Zoom before, please download it to your device you will be using for the sessions in advance. You can download and use the software for free from the Zoom website.

Trainer:

Claire Cullinan is a PGCE-qualified teacher/ trainer, a qualified teacher educator (Masters level) and has research interests in inclusion, marginalised communities and adult literacies. She works alongside screen industry professionals to develop effective training approaches and she is the production editor for the Research and Practice in Adult Literacies (RaPAL) Journal.

How to apply

This session will take place online via Zoom. Click ‘apply now’ at the top of the page and follow the instructions to apply for your place: you must login or register before you are able to complete your application.

If you need additional support to complete your application or require the application form in an alternative format please contact USF@screenskills.com

Places on these free online courses are limited and applications are often highly competitive. To stand the best chance of securing a place, please be sure to consider the following:

• When asked to list your three most recent credits, please include the programme title and your job role.
• When asked what you hope to gain from the course, please be concise but ensure you cover the specific elements of the topic you would like to gain knowledge of and what gaps in your skillset you believe the course may address. A rewording of the course title or a general comment on career progression does not tell us much about how this course would benefit you.

If you are no longer able to attend, we ask you to please use the “decline ticket” function on the right hand side of the page so that we can release your place. Our sessions are often oversubscribed, so we’d like to give other freelancers the opportunity to fill available spots. Thank you for your consideration.

This course is supported by ScreenSkills, by the Film, Animation, Unscripted TV Skills Fund and High-End TV Skills Fund thanks to contributions from broadcasters, SVoDs and production companies.

This course would normally cost participants to attend, but thanks to this support, we are able to offer it to you for free. If you fail to attend, we reserve the right to request reimbursement of costs, unless your place can be taken by someone else.