NeurodiversAtSea today broadly welcomed the Maritime Skills Commission’s Human Skills and Behaviours report, published this month. The report looks at the skills and behaviours the UK maritime workforce will need in the years ahead, and it is encouraging to see neurodiversity recognised as part of that picture. But we believe the report understates how far the industry still has to go before neurodivergent seafarers are properly supported at work.
What the report gets right
The Commission calls for “promotion” to attract a neurodiverse skills base, and for the industry to be inclusive of people with autism, people from different cultures, disabled people and neurodivergent people. It acknowledges that neurodivergent people “are often particularly suited for jobs where intense focus is required”. We welcome both points.
We would encourage the Commission to go further and engage with the idea of the spiky profile: the common neurodivergent pattern of real strengths in some areas alongside more difficulty in others. Intense focus is one strength among many. Research points to a much broader range, including pattern recognition, attention to detail, creative problem solving and calm in a crisis, many of which suit life at sea particularly well.
Where we disagree
The report states that neurodivergent seafarers “could be better supported with their additional needs” and that “work could be done to help them achieve their full potential”. That message needs to be amplified urgently.
Apart from adjustments in examinations, we find no evidence of systematic workplace adjustments in the seagoing workforce. We find no mechanisms within safety management systems under the ISM Code, and no leadership competences under the STCW Convention, designed to support the substantial share of seafarers who may have a neurodivergent condition such as dyslexia, autism or ADHD. We therefore cannot support the report’s claim that, at sea, “neurodiversity is now better supported”. Without that support, the likely result is systemic discrimination, individual breaches of disability law, and talent lost to the industry.
Technology is not a substitute for adjustments
The report suggests there may be “more suitable opportunities” for neurodivergent and physically disabled people because of the trend towards working from home. We see real potential in remote operations and maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) for seafarers with strong technical aptitude and interests. But neurodivergent people are already at sea, in every rank and department. Their needs can’t wait for future technology, and they shouldn’t have to move ashore to be accommodated.
We are calling instead for reasonable adjustments to be available in today’s seagoing workplace, through accessible technology, better training for officers and managers, and Universal Design: designing procedures, documents and workspaces so that they work for as many people as possible from the start.
An invitation
We share the Commission’s call for “more understanding and research about diversity and in particular, neurodiversity”, and its emphasis on “treating people as individuals, accepting that not everyone will fit the same mould”. That is exactly the work we do. We invite the Maritime Skills Commission to engage with NeurodiversAtSea and with our research, and we would welcome the chance to help turn the report’s recommendations into practice.
For employers who want to start now, our guides to reasonable adjustments and neuroinclusive recruitment set out practical, low-cost steps that work on board and ashore.
Media enquiries: hello@neurodiversatsea.org
