Chris Bonnello
Neurodiversity advocate, autism trainer and consultant | "Autistic Not Weird" author | Aiding the wellbeing and potential of neurodivergent employees | Shortlisted for the 2023 Speaker Awards
Chris Bonnello is an autistic advocate, award-winning writer and international speaker, also a novelist and a former teacher. Since 2015 he has spoken about neurodiversity from both a professional and personal perspective; not merely encouraging acceptance, but teaching about the sheer importance of brains that think differently. His advocacy venture has flourished into a full speaking career, leading him to deliver for clients as far away as India and Sydney Opera House.
His personal catchphrase for his advocacy is “Human progress relies on diversity of thought”, a mantra which influences his attitudes towards the importance of developing inclusive workplaces and of seeing neurodivergence as an essential strength which should directly contribute to a company’s success.
Bonnello is a professional member of the Professional Speakers Association. His corporate work, which has included clients such as Rolls Royce, Yahoo, Invesco and Toyota, seeks to enable teams to get the very best from their neurodivergent employees. His most-requested topics include ‘Neurodiversity, and making the workplace work’ and ‘The art of accommodation’, each of which discuss the totally unnecessary obstacles faced by neurodivergent employees and how to approach them with an affirming attitude and strengths-based approach. Other clients who want a more personal approach often request ‘Lessons I wish I’d learned growing up autistic’, which has applications outside of the workplace. All of Bonnello’s talks are infused with his off-the-wall sense of humour, incisive points and neuroaffirming attitude.
His online platform ‘Autistic Not Weird’ has amassed a six-figure following, providing advice, insights and guidance to a worldwide range of people, including autistic people themselves, parents and teachers of autistic young people, professionals, and those who simply want to understand the world from an autistic perspective. His insights are informed by both his personal experience of growing up autistic, and a career in teaching which stretched across mainstream primary schools, special schools, and education outside the school system. To this day he keeps himself involved with the education profession, providing school training to staff and workshops for students.
Bonnello is the author of several books including the Underdogs novels, a dystopia war series with heroes from a special school, the second of which was joint runner-up in The Guardian’s ‘Not The Booker Prize’. Among other accolades, he was shortlisted for the 2023 Speaker Awards (Sustainability and Positive Impact Speaker of the Year), the 2017 National Diversity Awards (Positive Role Model for Disability), and won the National Autistic Society Professionals Award for Outstanding Achievement by an Individual on the Autism Spectrum in 2019.
Outside of his advocacy life, Bonnello is a proud stepfather of two, godfather of many, and formerly a captain of thirteen years in his village’s Boys’ Brigade youth group. He also competitively speedsolves Rubik’s cubes, recently winning the silver medal in a competition for successfully blindfold-solving 10 cubes at once.
Chris Bonnello is an autistic advocate, award-winning writer and international speaker, also a novelist and a former teacher. Since 2015 he has spoken about neurodiversity from both a professional and personal perspective; not merely encouraging acceptance, but teaching about the sheer importance of brains that think differently. His advocacy venture has flourished into a full speaking career, leading him to deliver for clients as far away as India and Sydney Opera House.
His personal catchphrase for his advocacy is “Human progress relies on diversity of thought”, a mantra which influences his attitudes towards the importance of developing inclusive workplaces and of seeing neurodivergence as an essential strength which should directly contribute to a company’s success.
Bonnello is a professional member of the Professional Speakers Association. His corporate work, which has included clients such as Rolls Royce, Yahoo, Invesco and Toyota, seeks to enable teams to get the very best from their neurodivergent employees. His most-requested topics include ‘Neurodiversity, and making the workplace work’ and ‘The art of accommodation’, each of which discuss the totally unnecessary obstacles faced by neurodivergent employees and how to approach them with an affirming attitude and strengths-based approach. Other clients who want a more personal approach often request ‘Lessons I wish I’d learned growing up autistic’, which has applications outside of the workplace. All of Bonnello’s talks are infused with his off-the-wall sense of humour, incisive points and neuroaffirming attitude.
His online platform ‘Autistic Not Weird’ has amassed a six-figure following, providing advice, insights and guidance to a worldwide range of people, including autistic people themselves, parents and teachers of autistic young people, professionals, and those who simply want to understand the world from an autistic perspective. His insights are informed by both his personal experience of growing up autistic, and a career in teaching which stretched across mainstream primary schools, special schools, and education outside the school system. To this day he keeps himself involved with the education profession, providing school training to staff and workshops for students.
Bonnello is the author of several books including the Underdogs novels, a dystopia war series with heroes from a special school, the second of which was joint runner-up in The Guardian’s ‘Not The Booker Prize’. Among other accolades, he was shortlisted for the 2023 Speaker Awards (Sustainability and Positive Impact Speaker of the Year), the 2017 National Diversity Awards (Positive Role Model for Disability), and won the National Autistic Society Professionals Award for Outstanding Achievement by an Individual on the Autism Spectrum in 2019.
Outside of his advocacy life, Bonnello is a proud stepfather of two, godfather of many, and formerly a captain of thirteen years in his village’s Boys’ Brigade youth group. He also competitively speedsolves Rubik’s cubes, recently winning the silver medal in a competition for successfully blindfold-solving 10 cubes at once.
Neurodiversity, and making the workplace work
Wondering why neurodivergent employees struggle so much in the workplace? I can assure you, it’s not because they have less potential than neurotypical employees. In this talk, I discuss the background surrounding neurodivergent struggles – in recruitment, retention and performance – and how to meaningfully and effectively address them.
Suitable for companies of all sizes, who have a genuine wish to get the best from their neurodivergent employees.
The art of accommodation: improving autistic employees' experiences
Life is made harder for autistic workers whose employers baulk at the mention of 'accommodations'. After all, how do you actually do it? What will the impact be on your workplace, or even your finances? In this talk, I make incisive points about what "accommodations" actually are, why they're usually less trouble than you've been led to believe, and what the consequences are of getting it right.
Suitable for companies of all sizes who have a genuine wish to get the...
Meeting the needs of your autistic clients and service users
After a century of malpractice, often acclaimed by non-autistic 'experts' and delivered by workers with honest good intentions, society is now demanding the highest quality provision for autistic service users under their care, including those with complex disabilities. But what does that actually look like? I use my experiences as an autistic special education teacher to talk about how to truly and meaningfully personalise care provision, and offer guidance on how to prioritise a client's...
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