Around 1 in 7 people in the UK are neurodivergent. That includes ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, and Tourette syndrome. The job search was not designed for the way many neurodivergent people work, think, or communicate. But a CV is a document, and documents can be written to your strengths.
This guide covers the practical decisions: whether to disclose, how to frame non-linear career histories, what the law says about adjustments, and how each condition maps to genuine CV strengths worth leading with. It is written for UK job seekers. The legal framework (Equality Act 2010), the support programmes (Access to Work), and the cultural expectations on CVs (two pages, no photo, no DOB) are all UK-specific.
Should you disclose on your CV?
That is your decision and nobody should make it for you. What we can give you is what the rules actually say, so you are choosing rather than guessing.
You are under no legal obligation to disclose at CV stage. An employer generally cannot ask about your health or disability before making you an offer, with a small number of exceptions, one of which is arranging adjustments to the recruitment process itself. The Equality Act 2010 protects you from discrimination once an employer knows, but it cannot do anything about an unconscious reaction in the thirty seconds a recruiter spends on your application. Both of those things are true at the same time, which is exactly why the decision is hard.
There are three points where disclosure usually comes up, and they are separate choices rather than one:
- At application stage only when the role specifically welcomes it (Disability Confident employers, neurodiversity-positive job ads) or when adjustments are needed to make the process fair
- At interview stage when asking for reasonable adjustments (extra time, written questions in advance, a quieter room)
- After an offer when adjustments to the working environment are needed
You can do any of those without doing the others. Asking for extra time at interview does not oblige you to have said anything on the CV, and saying nothing at application stage does not close the door later.
One thing worth knowing before you weigh it up: the advert usually will not help you decide, because it almost never says anything either way. We counted that, and the numbers are further down this page.
The Equality Act 2010 and what it covers
Under UK law, many neurodivergent conditions qualify as disabilities under the Equality Act 2010 if they have a substantial and long-term effect on day-to-day activities. This includes ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and dyspraxia in most cases.
What this means in practice:
- Employers cannot lawfully discriminate against you in recruitment because of a neurodivergent condition
- They must make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process and workplace once they know about your condition
- You can ask for adjustments at any stage, including before interview
Common reasonable adjustments in recruitment include extra time in timed tests, written questions sent in advance, a quieter interview room, and being allowed to bring notes. You do not need to wait for an employer to offer these. You can ask.
What job adverts actually say about this
When you are deciding whether to mention a condition, the sensible first move is to read the advert and see how the employer talks about inclusion. We counted how often they say anything at all. The answer is the reason this decision feels so unsupported.
Across 7,291 UK job adverts we read in full:
- 12.3% mention inclusive recruitment in some form, roughly one in eight.
- 8.5% carry the Disability Confident badge, the government scheme employers opt into.
- 2.9% mention reasonable adjustments, about one in thirty-four.
- 0.63% use the word neurodiversity in any form. Forty-six adverts out of 7,291, or one in 158.
Read that last line again if you have ever felt you were the only person wondering about this. For a subject that has had years of conference panels and company blog posts, it has barely reached the document candidates actually read.
Two honest caveats, because they change how you should use these numbers. This counts what adverts say, not what employers do. An employer who says nothing may handle adjustments perfectly well and simply never write it down, and plenty do. And the silence is not a failure of duty: government guidance explicitly allows an employer to ask whether a candidate needs an adjustment, or to wait to be told. Most wait.
What it means practically is that a silent advert tells you very little, so do not read it as a warning sign. The 8.5% that carry the Disability Confident badge are the ones who have told you something, and that is worth knowing when you are deciding where to spend your energy.
Framing a non-linear career history
Many neurodivergent job seekers have career histories that do not follow the expected pattern. Short tenures, gaps, pivots, periods of intense output followed by burnout. Standard CV advice is not built for this. Here is what actually works.
Short tenures
Group roles at similar organisations or in the same sector into a single block rather than listing each separately. "Contract and freelance roles in digital marketing, 2021 to 2023" followed by two or three headline achievements is cleaner than five separate 6-month entries with dates that raise flags.
Employment gaps
Gaps under 6 months rarely need explaining on a UK CV. For longer gaps, one line is enough: "Career break for health reasons" or "Independent study and freelance work." You do not owe a detailed explanation at application stage. If it comes up at interview, you can say more, or not.
Multiple pivots
Lead with a strong professional summary at the top of your CV that frames the pivots as deliberate. "Ten years across operations, product, and data analysis" sounds like range. The same history listed chronologically without context sounds unstable. The summary is where you write the narrative.
Condition-specific framing
Each neurodivergent profile maps to genuine strengths. The table below is not exhaustive, and you know your own profile better than any guide does. Use what is accurate.
| Condition | Genuine CV strengths | Common framing challenges |
|---|---|---|
| ADHD |
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| Autism / ASD |
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| Dyslexia |
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| Dyspraxia / DCD |
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ADHD
Group short roles at the same company or in the same sector into a single block. Lead with your highest-intensity achievements, not a chronological list of duties.
Autism / ASD
Write out your achievements in concrete, measurable terms. "Reduced processing errors by 34%" beats "good attention to detail." Your CV can do the self-promotion you find uncomfortable in person.
Dyslexia
Run your CV through a text-to-speech tool and listen back. Ear catches what eye misses. Then run it through a tailoring tool to verify keyword alignment before applying.
Dyspraxia / DCD
Focus on the outcomes you delivered, not the process. Dyspraxia affects motor coordination not cognitive ability, and a strong CV reflects that distinction clearly.
The self-promotion problem
Many autistic and ADHD job seekers understate their achievements on CVs. This is not modesty, it is a genuine difficulty with self-promotion that does not reflect the actual capability. It shows up as duties-led bullet points ("responsible for managing accounts") instead of outcome-led ones ("retained 94% of enterprise accounts through a product transition that lost the competitor 30% of theirs").
The fix is mechanical, not psychological. For every bullet point on your CV, ask: what happened as a result of this? What number changed? What would have been different if you had not done it? The answer to one of those questions is usually your actual bullet.
Writing a first CV for a neurodivergent teenager
A fair number of people reading this are not writing their own CV. They are a parent sitting down with a sixteen year old who needs something for a Saturday job, a college application or an apprenticeship, and who has no work history at all.
That is a different problem from everything above, and in some ways an easier one. Nobody expects employment history from a school leaver. What they are looking for is evidence that this person turns up, finishes things and can be relied on, and a teenager usually has plenty of that. It just does not look like a job.
Things that count as evidence at sixteen, and routinely get left off:
- School subjects, particularly any coursework or project they chose and saw through
- A hobby pursued seriously over years, which is the clearest evidence of sustained focus most teenagers have
- Caring responsibilities at home, which a lot of families do not think to count and which demonstrate reliability better than most Saturday jobs
- Sport, cadets, scouts, a band, a club, anything with a regular commitment and other people depending on them
- Volunteering, including the informal kind nobody wrote down
- Anything they have built, run, modded, drawn, coded or collected obsessively
The common mistake is writing it in your voice rather than theirs. A CV that sounds like a proud parent reads oddly to an employer and, worse, your teenager will not be able to talk about it at interview because the words are not theirs. Write the list of evidence together, then let them put it into their own sentences, however plain those sentences are. Plain and genuinely theirs beats polished and borrowed.
On whether to mention a diagnosis: the same reasoning applies as anywhere else on this page, with one addition. A teenager may well have an education, health and care plan or existing support at school, and the adjustments that helped there often translate directly to a workplace request later. That is useful to know about, and it is still their call, not yours.
If you want somewhere to start, our first CV builder was built for exactly this: no work history, no account needed, and it works from school subjects, grades and activities rather than job titles. Paste in the advert they are going for and it will suggest which of those things to lead with.
Access to Work
Access to Work is a UK government programme that pays for support at work for people with disabilities and health conditions, including neurodivergent conditions. It is significantly underused.
What it can fund:
- A job coach during the first weeks in a role
- Assistive technology (text-to-speech, dictation software, noise-cancelling headphones)
- Support workers for communication or travel
- Mental health support, including therapy specifically related to staying in work
You apply at gov.uk/access-to-work. The grant goes to your employer to cover the cost. You can apply before starting a job. It does not affect your tax credits or Universal Credit.
UK support organisations
- Access to Work (gov.uk/access-to-work), funded workplace support
- Shaw Trust (shawtrust.org.uk), free employment support for disabled people
- Remploy (remploy.co.uk), specialist employment support, including neurodiversity
- National Autistic Society (autism.org.uk), employment resources and employer engagement
- ADHD UK (adhduk.co.uk), workplace guides and employer resources
- Dyslexia Association (dyslexia.uk.net), workplace assessment and support
Sausage Dog tailors your CV to match any job advert in under a minute. It checks keyword alignment and restructures your experience for each specific role. Free tier covers 3 tailors per day.
Try Sausage Dog freeFrequently asked questions
Do I have to disclose autism or ADHD on my CV?
No. There is no legal requirement to disclose a neurodivergent condition on a CV or in an application. The Equality Act 2010 protects you from discrimination once you do disclose. Many neurodivergent job seekers choose to disclose at interview stage or after an offer, not at CV stage, to ensure their application is judged on merit first.
How do I explain employment gaps caused by burnout or mental health?
Short gaps of under 6 months rarely need explaining on a UK CV. For longer gaps, a one-line functional explanation works well: "Career break for health reasons" or "Freelance and independent study, 2023 to 2024." You do not owe a detailed explanation at CV stage. Save the fuller context for an interview if it comes up.
What are reasonable adjustments UK employers must make?
Under the Equality Act 2010, UK employers must make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and job applicants, which includes neurodivergent conditions. Common adjustments include extra time in interviews, written rather than verbal briefs, a quieter workspace, flexible start times, and structured onboarding. You can request adjustments at any stage of the process.
Is it worth mentioning ADHD or autism as a strength on a CV?
It depends on the role. Hyperfocus, pattern recognition, systems thinking, and deep specialist knowledge are genuinely valued in tech, research, data, creative, and legal roles. In sectors where the link is less direct, leading with your achievements is usually stronger than leading with a condition. Both approaches are valid.
How do I write a CV for my autistic or ADHD teenager who has never had a job?
Lead with evidence rather than employment. School subjects and coursework they chose, a hobby pursued seriously for years, caring responsibilities at home, sport or clubs with a regular commitment, and any volunteering all count and are routinely left off. Write the list together, then let them put it into their own words, because they need to be able to talk about it at interview. Our first CV builder is built for this case and needs no work history.
Do UK job adverts say whether they welcome neurodivergent applicants?
Almost never. Across 7,291 UK job adverts we read in full, 12.3% mention inclusive recruitment in some form, 8.5% carry the Disability Confident badge, 2.9% mention reasonable adjustments and only 0.63% use the word neurodiversity at all. A silent advert is not a warning sign, because government guidance lets an employer wait to be told rather than ask, and most do. It simply means the advert cannot help you decide.
Where can I get free CV help as a neurodivergent job seeker in the UK?
Access to Work (gov.uk/access-to-work) funds workplace support including job coaches and assistive technology. The Shaw Trust and REMPLOY both offer free employment support for people with disabilities. National Autistic Society and ADHD UK both maintain job search resource pages. Your local Jobcentre Plus adviser can also refer you to specialist employment support.
