Neurodiversity Celebration Week

I’m Jemma, Commercial Manager in Telent’s Legal and Commercial Team. I’ve been with Telent for nearly nine years now, negotiating contracts and helping teams with in-life project issues for Transport and Network Services.

I’ve been on the fringes of neurodiversity for a while; I have a nephew and brother-in-law who are both autistic. However, I didn’t come to properly understand neurodiversity until I had my first child in 2016, a little girl we named Chloe. She was different from the get-go as she didn’t sleep a wink…. ever! I’d always noticed she was less social than my friends’ babies, always watching – never participating. She was happy so I thought nothing of it.

I’m Laura, Learning and Development Manager within the wider HR Team at Telent. I support the People Strategy through new starter inductions, management and leadership development programmes, and embedding our Values and Behaviours across the business.

Our son Noah who is now nine, was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and anxiety in Spring 2022. This would have previously been termed ‘Asperger’s’, which relates to more high-functioning autism, but is now not a term used so commonly. When we were initially referred to the psychiatrist, Noah was assessed for both autism and ADHD, as he displayed many of the traits from both neurodivergent conditions.