“Accommodations” Is Doing More Damage Than You Think

I want to argue about a word.

I know. Stay with me.

The word is accommodations, as in “neurodiversity accommodations in the workplace.” It’s in job listings, HR policy documents, occupational health forms. It’s used by well-meaning managers and genuinely supportive employers. It’s become the default language for talking about what neurodivergent employees need.

And I think it’s quietly making things worse.

What “Accommodations” Actually Implies

Think about when we use that word in other contexts.

You accommodate a difficult guest. You accommodate a delay. You accommodate something that doesn’t fit the original plan.

There’s always a default in that framing. A standard. And then there’s the thing that doesn’t quite match it, the thing being accommodated.

In a workplace context, that thing is a person.

When an employer says they’ll “accommodate” an ADHD employee, the subtext is embedded in the syntax: the system is correct, you are the deviation, and we are doing you a favour by tolerating that.

Nobody usually says it that plainly. But people feel it.

I’ve sat in HR conversations where that word hung in the air like a favour being granted. Like a concession being made. Like I was presenting a problem and they were being generous enough to work around it.

The word sets a power dynamic before the conversation has even started.

Language Shapes Culture More Than Policy Does

You can write the best neurodiversity policy in the world. Quiet rooms, flexible start times, written agendas, async-first communication. All of it.

And then a manager can say “we’ll make accommodations for you” in a tone that makes someone never ask for help again.

I’ve watched it happen. Not dramatically, just quietly. Someone files something away and decides it’s easier not to raise it next time.

That hesitation doesn’t come from nowhere. It comes from feeling like a burden. And the language of accommodations primes people to feel exactly that because it positions their needs as extra. As outside the normal budget of what a workplace owes people.

When “accommodations” is the default word in policy documents, something gets embedded in the culture. The neurotypical workplace is the correct one. Everyone else is being fitted into it as best we can manage.

That’s the worldview the word carries. Most people using it don’t mean to carry it. But there it is.

What We Could Use Instead

A few things I’ve heard that actually work:

Adjustments. Neutral. Practical. Nobody flinches at adjustments. Adjusting how someone works isn’t a special favour, it’s just design.

Working preferences. Some organisations are starting to use this. It normalises the conversation, because everyone has working preferences. Neurodivergent employees just tend to know theirs more precisely, and for more specific reasons.

How we work. The most radical version — and honestly, the most functional. When you build flexibility into the system for everyone by default, you don’t need to single anyone out. Async communication. Output-based management.

Meeting agendas sent in advance. Written documentation over verbal briefings. These aren’t special measures for neurodivergent people. They’re just better ways of running a workplace. The neurodivergent employees benefit most visibly l, but nobody suffers from clarity and flexibility.

I’m not naive enough to think renaming things fixes structural problems.

But words shape how people experience structures. If you’re trying to build something genuinely inclusive, start by listening to how people in your team react when they hear that word. Watch for the small flinch. The slightly too-quick “no, it’s fine.”

If it’s there, you have your answer.

I’m genuinely happy to be told I’m making too much of a single word. Maybe I am.

But I’ve spent years watching people hesitate to ask for what they need, not because the policy wasn’t there, but because the framing made them feel like a problem first.

If you’re thinking about this at your organisation, my inbox is open. And if you’ve already made the shift to different language, I’d really like to hear what landed better.

You know where to find me.