Why Holistic Assessment Matters: The problem with Putting Neurodivergence in Boxes 

Author Bio

This article is written by Genius Within Community Manager Helen Doyle. Helen is a subject matter specialist writing about neurodiversity and disability inclusion both from the perspective of her own lived experience and collaborating with the experts on our team to cover a wide variety of topics and views.

Question: When signposting employees for neurodiversity assessments, do you look for providers who assess condition by condition? Many organisations still do, but that approach can miss crucial parts of a person’s profile.  Neurotypes frequently overlap, and screening one label at a time risks getting partial answers and delayed support. 

If an employee thinks they have ADHD, for example, many managers would automatically signpost them for an ADHD assessment. Research estimates that 50–70% of autistic individuals also have co-occurring ADHD. Focusing in on a single neurotype so quickly may overlook intersecting traits, masking, and compensatory strategies that change how people present in both life and work. 

Rather than discussing this theoretically we thought it would be useful to get some specific insights from a lived experience perspective. We spoke with Genius Within employee Courtney Avery about her recent experiences of a holistic assessment and what she has learned from it.

Courtney said “Before joining Genius Within, I had separate ADHD and autism screenings. It was clear I met the threshold for ADHD and should pursue a diagnostic assessment, but I was labelled “borderline” autistic. That didn’t sit right with me. Spoiler: neurotypical people don’t usually spend a solid year researching whether they’re autistic. 

When you take the holistic approach an assessor can see patterns that single-condition pathways can’t capture. Turns out I’m an autistic ADHD-ers, but if it weren’t for a holistic assessment at Genius Within, I might never have received my autism diagnosis, something that has been genuinely life changing for me.” 

Courtney answered “My autistic and ADHD traits often mask or compensate for each other, and sometimes outright contradict each other. Where I scored lower on one set of measures, I’d often score higher on the other. That interplay can blur the edges in condition-by-condition tools and leave people in limbo.”

Courtney said “It started with 10 cognitive tests that produced a spiky profile of strengths and challenges, followed by a detailed developmental case history. Looking at my brain as a whole, rather than in separate boxes, uncovered patterns the individual screenings had missed. It also led to deeper exploration, including a sensory profiling assessment I hadn’t had before. 

This meant I got strategies and recommendations tailored to me as a person, not just to a label. That meant strategies that actually fit how I think, process information, and experience environments. This has been far more useful than a two-page checklist of yes/no items.”

Courtney says “When you’re signposting (whether for yourself or your employees) prioritise holistic assessments. They help uncover co-occurring profiles, reduce the risk of borderline outcomes, and result in support that’s genuinely personalised. At Genius Within, holistic assessments are less than a grand, there’s no long wait, and the process goes well beyond box-ticking. If you want decisions and adjustments that actually work, start with the whole person.”

Thank you to Courtney for sharing her experiences! Click here to learn more about assessments from Genius Within. 

Click here to read more about an approach that focuses less on diagnosis and more on the individual

To read another article from Genius Within about assessments click here.