Chapter 8: Using Clean Language Interviewing to Explore the Lived Experience of Neurodifferent Job Applicants

Clean language is the foundation of coaching work delivered by Genius Within, a non-profit company that provides assessment, coaching, training and HR consultancy for neurodifferent adults and their employers. Genius Within works with thousands of employed and unemployed clients each year as well as those who are incarcerated. Evaluation of clean language in coaching for neurodifferent clients has formed one doctoral thesis (Doyle, 2018) with a further study in progress. The method's utility in drawing out experiences of mastery is in line with self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997) and has been demonstrated to be particularly successful with this minority population (Doyle, 2021; Doyle & McDowall, 2015). The staff of Genius Within apply clean language fluently in a range of contexts, across multiple research activities, training and awareness initiatives, as well as workplace intervention programmes. In this chapter, two Genius Within employees who are also involved in academic research describe the use of a clean language interviewing (CLI) approach to evaluate a psychometric tool used in recruitment. The authors were commissioned by the test designer to identify the prevalence of implicit biases within the tool, which might constitute hidden barriers for neurodifferent applicants. The chapter is introduced with a brief history of neurodifferences and a contextual frame for the study, followed by outlining our process and results. We will conclude with proposals for the utility of CLI more broadly within neurodiversity as a method of facilitating innovation and dismantling socially constructed norms.