Global Neurodiversity-Supportive Standard Launched

George Angus Consulting (GAC) has today launched its Neurodiversity-Supportive Standard (NSS), an independent benchmark for neuro-inclusion in education and work settings, at the 5th Paris Conference on Education, part of IAFOR’s European Conference Series.

Somewhere between 15-20% of the world’s population is estimated to be neurodivergent: people who think, learn and process the world differently. Hold that against the skills gaps we discuss so constantly, and the waste becomes obvious. A fifth of the population, whose talents are routinely overlooked, misread, or pushed to the side. The human cost of getting it wrong is real and lasting: many neurodivergent people leave education with low self-esteem, low aspirations, and real difficulty finding and keeping work. None of this is inevitable, it’s what happens when we don’t build for it.

The NSS sets out what it means for an education or work setting to be neuro-inclusive: to genuinely support and appreciate neurodivergent people, but without ‘othering’ them, shifting from ‘they’ to ‘us’. It applies to any setting, of any size, in any industry or country, and rests on seven principles and four levels of recognition. Neurodiversity is broad enough to capture what single-condition schemes miss, and specific enough to catch what generic disability frameworks overlook. GAC owns the standard and assesses against it. The consultancy isn’t a training provider, and the NSS isn’t a course. Drawing on more than a decade in quality assurance, GAC reviews a setting, reports back on what it finds, and, where the setting meets the standard, awards recognition at the level it has reached. For a learner or an employee, a setting carrying the NSS is a signal: this is somewhere that will understand and support them.

“There’s a lot of goodwill around neurodiversity, but goodwill is hard to measure,” said Stuart Martin, Founder of George Angus Consulting. “We wanted to give settings something concrete: an honest read on where they stand, and a route to getting better. We also wanted learners and workers to be able to recognise a genuinely supportive place when they see one.”

The NSS grew out of GAC’s research Appreciating and Supporting Neurodiversity, completed in late 2024 for ConCOVE, FFCoVE, and Skills Group. With the NSS having now launched, GAC is inviting partners around the world across education and work settings, to pilot the standard ahead of a wider rollout. Schools, training providers, employers and other organisations interested in taking part can get in touch directly.