Event Ticket: Understanding Masking & Ableism in the Workplace (Non-Members)

Date: Friday, 20 February 2026

Time: 12:00pm – 1:30pm

Venue: Via Zoom 

What This Event Is About

Many neurodivergent professionals spend significant energy each day adjusting how they speak, move, react, and present themselves to fit in. This is called masking, and while it can help us navigate spaces that weren’t designed with us in mind, it often comes at a real cost.

At the same time, ableism shapes many of the unwritten rules we follow at work. It’s rarely intentional. Most of it stems from societal norms that treat certain ways of thinking, communicating, and working as the default, while everything else becomes something to fix, hide, or overcome.

This event creates space to explore both of these concepts honestly and practically. Whether you’re neurodivergent and wanting to better understand your own experiences, or you’re a leader looking to build a more genuinely inclusive workplace, this session will offer real insight and actionable strategies.

What You’ll Take Away

For Individuals

• A clearer understanding of what masking is, why it happens, and how it might be showing up in your own life
• Insight into the benefits and costs of masking, including its impact on energy, identity, and wellbeing
• Language to describe experiences you may have felt but never had words for
• Practical strategies for reducing masking in safe contexts and recognising when it’s serving you versus draining you
• Connection with others who understand what it’s like to navigate these challenges

For Organisations and Leaders

• A deeper understanding of how ableism operates, often unintentionally, through workplace norms, policies, and culture
• Awareness of how masking affects employee wellbeing, engagement, and retention
• Practical approaches for creating environments where people don’t feel they need to hide who they are
• Guidance on shifting from compliance-based inclusion toward genuine psychological safety
• Insight into the business case for supporting neurodivergent employees to show up authentically

Why This Matters

Ableism isn’t usually about bad intentions. It’s about assumptions so embedded in how we work and communicate that they become invisible to those who fit the mould. When workplaces expect everyone to network the same way, communicate the same way, or manage energy the same way, neurodivergent people often feel they have no choice but to mask.

This event is about bringing those invisible expectations into view, understanding the toll they take, and exploring what becomes possible when we create space for people to work as themselves.