Why RethinkCare's Louis Chesney wants to help make room for neurodiverse talent in the workplace

When Louis Chesney joined the team at RethinkCare, a global behavioral and mental health platform supporting neurodiversity, he knew it would enable him to make the kind of change he'd always wanted to see in his own community. 

"I have an intersectional identity as a gay, Hispanic man that is also neurodivergent," Chesney says. "Through self reflection I realized that the work that I was doing through those identities within ERGs is what I wanted to do as a full time job and I wanted that to be sustainable."

An estimated one in five people are neurodiverse, according to neurodiversity nonprofit Understood.org, which includes conditions such as autism, ADHD and dyslexia. A recent study from JPMorgan Chase found that neurodiverse employees can be 90-140% more productive than their neurotypical peers when given the right support, yet in 2020, only 7% of companies had neurodiversity recruiting plans in place, according to a report from Universum. 

As the neurodiversity program manager at RethinkCare, Chesney is out to change that. Since joining the organization in 2020, Chesney has helped shape RethinkCare's neurodiversity strategy by assisting in the launch of over 150 new resources for users — including expert-led video and audio sessions as well as courses for business leaders, managers and neurodiverse employees — and expanding the platform's neurodiversity content made available to employers. 

Chesney also led the expansion of their existing consultation option to include board certified behavior analysts that can help neurodiverse individuals with areas like time management and organizational skills.

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"It was about flipping the script for me," Chesney says. "It was about not just predominantly focusing on interventions for the individual, but how do we create inclusive environments in workplaces that were really originally designed for neurotypical people? How are we able to reimagine these workplaces and make them conducive to individuals who are neurodiverse?"

Chesney also works very closely with RethinkCare's client success teams and their sales team to educate clients on why adding neurodivergent support and solutions would be helpful to them. 

"It has been a journey for me to find acceptance within all the different intersections, and I've had to really look at myself and accept myself," Chesney says. "But the things that had challenged me early in life and that I've overcome successfully are what empowered me to become an expert in these areas. Now I'm able to bring this sort of unique experience and knowledge and incorporate it into business practices and that is really empowering."