A team is a group of people that work together and share goals.
But, what is a neurodiverse team?
From childhood, we are taught to work with other people in order to learn social skills, be organized, lead, be responsible and accept different opinions and points of view”. In fact, neurodiversity is, according to sociologist and activist Judy Singer, a synonym of neurological biodiversity, which means encompassing all the different types of neurological functioning.
Because of that, we can say that working with different people allows us to see and think differently, and that diversity is necessary in any organization to be more inclusive and respectful.
So what do you think are the advantages of being a neurodiverse team?
In our experience, after having worked for more than a year on a project with the majority of the staff being neurodivergent (60 of 68 members of the team) we can affirm that being a group of diverse people always counts above all else. Different ways of seeing and understanding the world always help the project and make it more cohesive and global.
For some of our members, this is their first-ever job opportunity, for some others, it is a place where they feel at their best, a place where they feel recognised and supported by coworkers who don’t judge them, but understand them and share their interests. These are people willing to work, they are motivated, committed, punctual, responsible and consistent with the work they deliver because they believe in it.
At Casa Batlló we take care of visitors and customer service from the point of access to the museum, delivery of audio guides and plant control, through the point of sale of photography and souvenir shops. We have incredible anecdotes such as the recurrent questions of the visitors. One of them in particular, about the Batlló family, we are very happy to share. One of our members has a deep interest in the history of the house. He knows lots of details about it and, any time we are asked, we know who to call for the answers. Another anecdote is about a family who dedicated a postcard to a member of the team as an appreciation for their kindness when they required the use of the elevator to move around the house. That is why, having a diverse group of people where each one of them shines with their skills is a gift- be it with the help of the devices, looking after the items on the bookshelves of the store and making sure they are always where they belong, or noticing any architectural detail from Gaudí that is worth looking and maintained by.
As the slogan? of our organization says, the passion for details is one of our strengths, and in such a large team it is essential, because together we can improve this project every day.
Written by Txell Dalmau, coordinator of the Specialisterne Spain cultural projects team.
(Text translated by Gerard Gras from Specialisterne Spain)