Why neurodivergent minds need better design — and how our spaces exclude them
4/27/202626 min
Flickering lights, windowless offices, overwhelming noise — bad building design affects everyone, but for neurodiverse people it can be exhausting. We explore how everyday design irritations are amplified for neurodivergent minds — and how the built environment can quietly work against the brain. We ask what neuro‑inclusive design really looks like, and why changes made for some could end up making spaces better for everyone. Plus it turns out that big changes are coming soon to Australian design standards on this very front.
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First 90 secondsShelley Deville· Guest0:00
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Anthony Burke· Host0:05
[upbeat music] Have you ever sat under a flickering overhead light and thought, "This feels like a form of torture," or worked in an office with no access to natural light at all? Now imagine those everyday irritations and distractions multiplied and intensified, and you start to understand how the built environment can profoundly affect people who are neurodivergent.
Tom Tutton· Guest0:33
Managing the environment is just really stressful, so people are having to work hard to work out what that noise is, to cope with that, and then to focus on doing what they're meant to be doing. And often it's actually really overwhelming, so it's got to that state where people are saying, "I can't be here anymore."
Danielle· Guest0:49
Going out into public is something we do a lot of research on in our household. We do a lot of research on what's the likely quietest time, what would be the main sources of noise, how long are we planning on spending there, that kind of thing.
Shelley Deville· Guest1:03
Autism is a spectrum, so you have got people with all these different needs and wants as well, and then you've got architecture that has many different ways to meet the same brief. So you've got two moving parts, so this is where the creativity and thinking outside the box is really, really important.
Anthony Burke· Host1:23
[upbeat music] I'm Anthony Burke, and this is By Design on ABC Radio National.