Episode 58: Freedom within a framework: how autism-inspired design builds neuro-inclusive culture without disclosure
Published on 11 November 2025 • Hosted by Dr Lisa Colledge
When I flew from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport with my autistic son Chris, I saw how good design quietly reduces the cultural barriers for neurodiovergent travellers. That story struck a chord online, and the active discussion that followed highlighted themes that sttongly resonated.
Last week, we looked at progress over perfection. This week, I’m exploring a second theme that emerged from your comments: the importance of designing in freedom within a framework.
💡 I’ll be marking International Day of People with Disability (3 December) with a free live presentation inspired by the response. If you’d like to be first to hear when registration opens,
register for my newsletter, The Neuro-Inspired Question.
At first glance, freedom and structure seem so conflicting and opposite that you might imagine they can’t co-exist. But in practice, they belong together and complement each other perfectly.
Framework creates safety.
Freedom creates energy.
Together, they are a key component of how we enable every brain - autistic, ADHD, or otherwise - to work, healthily and productively, in its natural, preferred style.
For ADHD minds, too much freedom causes overwhelm, and too much structure causes suffocation. The sweet spot is clear goals provided, while offering flexibility in how to reach them, and that sweet spot is exactly what neuro-inspired leadership aims to create.
Airports like Schiphol model this beautifully. Their framework keeps people safe and moving efficiently, but their flexibility lets families like mine navigate in our own way.
One of the most remarkable elements was that we didn’t need to disclose anything more than a “cognitive impairment” to signal that we would be travelling on that flight, so staff knew to expect us. That’s the future of neuro-inclusion: design, not disclosure, that operates on trust.
When we design for difference from the start, leaders spend less time firefighting and people spend less energy fitting in. Inclusion isn’t the exception any more; it becomes the system.
