Teaching has never been an easy profession. Between lesson planning, marking, classroom management and administrative responsibilities, educators constantly balance competing demands. But imagine navigating these pressures while also managing sensory overload, executive functioning difficulties or the exhausting expectation to hide how your mind works.
For many neurodivergent teachers, this isn’t hypothetical. It is their everyday reality.
In her upcoming book, What About Us? Neurodivergent Educators: The Missing Piece Of The Inclusion Puzzle, author Shona O’Callaghan explores an uncomfortable question: Are schools unintentionally pushing talented educators out of the profession by failing to recognise their needs?
When Teaching Becomes More Than Exhausting
Every teacher experiences difficult days. However, for some neurodivergent educators, ordinary school environments can create additional challenges that intensify exhaustion.
Bright fluorescent lighting, noisy corridors, unpredictable interruptions and overwhelming administrative workloads can make an already demanding profession particularly difficult.
O’Callaghan illustrates these experiences through interviews with eight educators, including Thomas, an autistic former primary school teacher who describes feeling physically drained by classroom overstimulation.
Although Thomas loved working with children, the constant sensory demands eventually became unsustainable.
His experience raises an important question: How many capable teachers are leaving classrooms not because they lack passion or ability, but because their working environments don’t support them?
The Hidden Cost of Masking Neurodivergence
Imagine spending an entire workday pretending certain difficulties don’t exist.
For some neurodivergent educators, masking involves suppressing natural behaviours, hiding challenges or working harder to appear comfortable with expectations that others navigate more easily.
This constant effort can consume enormous emotional energy.
In What About Us?, science teacher Gabrielle discusses the exhaustion associated with masking her dyslexia and dyspraxia. Her experiences reveal how fear of judgment can prevent educators from expressing their authentic selves.
When teachers feel unable to discuss their needs openly, opportunities for meaningful workplace support may disappear.
Why Different Minds Bring Valuable Strengths
Here’s something education systems cannot afford to overlook: neurodivergent teachers often bring distinctive perspectives into classrooms.
Throughout O’Callaghan’s book, educators describe strengths involving creative problem-solving, empathy, innovative teaching methods and an understanding of students who struggle with conventional approaches.
Jo, a dyslexic educator, explains how thinking differently encouraged her to introduce imaginative learning experiences.
Meanwhile, Rosie shares how her experiences with dyslexia helped her recognise and respond to the needs of neurodivergent students.
These stories challenge the assumption that successful teachers must think, communicate or teach in identical ways.
What Can Schools Do to Prevent Teacher Burnout?
Supporting neurodivergent educators doesn’t necessarily require complicated reforms.
Sometimes, meaningful changes begin with listening.
Reasonable adjustments, accessible technology, clearer communication, flexible administrative approaches and supportive leadership can help educators work more effectively.
However, O’Callaghan also emphasises that individual accommodations alone are not enough. Schools must reconsider workplace cultures that unintentionally reward conformity while overlooking different strengths.
By recognising neurological differences as part of ordinary human diversity, educational institutions can create environments where more teachers feel valued.
A Book That Could Change the Conversation
What About Us? Neurodivergent Educators: The Missing Piece Of The Inclusion Puzzle offers more than an examination of teacher burnout. It gives overlooked educators a voice while challenging schools to rethink their understanding of inclusion.
Through eight honest interviews and practical recommendations, Shona O’Callaghan encourages readers to recognise that supporting neurodivergent teachers benefits the wider educational community.
Coming soon, this insightful book is a valuable read for teachers, school leaders, policymakers and anyone concerned about the future of inclusive education.
Because the question isn’t simply whether schools can afford to support neurodivergent teachers. It is whether they can afford to keep losing their talents.
