Jonathan Andrews

In many ways, my career journey has been influenced by my advocacy work. When I first started looking for training contracts around ten years ago, I attended quite a few open days focusing on disability. I was diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum when I was nine years old, but I was never taught or brought up to think it was going to hold me back or stop me from doing things. It was always explained to me in terms of difference – that it may make certain things harder, but that it also gave me strengths.

I never felt I would be held back from what I was interested in, and I was quite keen to go to events to see what support there was around neurodiversity in the legal sector. I didn’t see many people that were open about working with autism, so it was something I wanted to advocate for. I began speaking with a range of students and with firms directly about their employees with disabilities and about neurodiversity, explaining the support they might need and how companies can improve recruitment of neurodivergent people.

When I discussed the initiative with Reed Smith, they were keen and signed up for it immediately, which I saw as a fantastic commitment from them. From that interaction, I decided to apply there for a training contract, and secured a place in the media team – I’ve since been in the media team for over four years, first as a trainee and now as a qualified solicitor.

They’re very supportive, particularly of the work that I’m involved in around inclusion for neurodiversity. It’s been a very positive journey – I’ve received great support and they very much recognize my strengths as a lawyer and in the work I do to help others. It’d be great if more firms were doing the same thing across the country and the world to ensure others have that same journey.

In terms of my personal journey, I was diagnosed quite young as being on the autistic spectrum compared to a lot of individuals, particularly women, who are often diagnosed as adults. I think my early diagnosis gave me the chance to develop a greater understanding of who I am early on in my life. My parents, too, has a wonderful approach and never highlighted it as something that could hold me back. Certain types of social interactions were certainly challenging, but I wasn’t taught to see myself as being lesser than other people, which gave me the confidence to be open so early on in my career.

The positives that I have found have been varied, including the ability to raise awareness but also having colleagues get in touch with me to discuss family members or friends who’ve had similar experiences to myself. I’ve been on secondments with clients who were setting up diversity initiatives and have asked for my advice, so I’ve found myself adding more value to client relationships because of my knowledge and expertise in this area. Being open about my disability has certainly filtered through to having advantages in my career as well as allowing me to advocate and help others.

Although the UK still has a way to go in terms of driving inclusion, it does measure favorably compared with other countries, particularly when considering the awareness of neurodiversity here. Awareness of autism and the understanding of the more obvious myths and misconceptions is greater in the UK than in some other places across the world. The media is more interested here in pushing for greater inclusion and this gives me the opportunity to do what I do, speaking openly about my disability and campaigning for others to do the same without fear of being treated differently. It’s great that we are now in a position where the idea of somebody who is autistic being a lawyer probably isn’t very surprising to most people. In many other countries, that itself may be something where more advocacy and persuasion will have to take place before it is seen.

Every nation of course has unique challenges: one of the great things about international involvement with advocacy is the exposure to the experiences of others. Not all people in all countries are in the same position we are in. We need to do what we can to support all individuals with disabilities across the world.

In terms of driving inclusion, a key piece of advice for any organization is that it must be considered at every level of the business. Sometimes, there is a focus on the need to hire diverse candidates, which is of course necessary, but it’s important that jobs are available to them at every level of an organization, rather than being disproportionately junior roles. The company must be inclusive at every level to ensure diverse talent feels supported and therefore more likely to progress into roles with more responsibility. It’s important that the individuals who are hired feel as though they are getting to where they want to be and stay within the company, rather than leaving a few years later. Neurodivergent people bring benefits to business and by having that inclusion at every level within your firm, you’re not only allowing them to thrive but also making the best possible use of their talent.

It’s also important that where DEI initiatives are taking place, they are shared and publicized. There may be people with disabilities going into entry-level roles who need to know that a firm is going to be looking out for them. For example, when I was looking to apply to Reed Smith, I could see the interest in diversity and support that was available for employees, which certainly made me gravitate towards them. There could be firms who are implementing policies and support around diversity and inclusion but aren’t really telling people about it, which isn’t helpful for encouraging people who really value that support to apply to them. Being as open as possible and publicizing about what you’re doing for diversity and inclusion is invaluable to any organization.