Kelly Grainger

Having been diagnosed as autistic in 2019 and a year later with ADHD, Kelly Grainger set about promoting neurodiversity awareness, understanding and acceptance in the workplace. He is now a leading autism and neurodiversity international keynote speaker, consultant and trainer.

Kelly was diagnosed after his two children were also diagnosed as autistic. Having simply been handed a report and not offered any support and guidance, combined with his bosses negative reaction and lack of empathy, Kelly was spurred to change direction and launched Perfectly Autistic.

Since then he has partnered with the mental health charity, Mind, working with their Mental Health At Work team, promoting good mental health around autism and neurodiversity in the workplace.

What is autism?
According to the National Autistic Society, autism affects how people communicate and interact with the world. There are approximately 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK. Autistic people see, hear and feel the world differently to other people.

Autism Spectrum Condition, ASC for short, is more commonly known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). All autistic people share certain difficulties around communication, social interaction and imagination, but being autistic will affect everyone in different ways.

Kelly runs training sessions, awareness workshops and webinars and has worked with organisations including O2, UN Global Compact Network UK, Suez, Chubb Insurance and more to support them with neurodiversity at work, to help create a happier, healthier and more productive workforce for all.

He was also involved in the Heathrow Express Sunflower lanyard scheme, as well as being a speaker at The Autism Show. Kelly is regularly called-upon by the media to discuss neurodiversity and has been featured in The Daily Telegraph, HR Zone, iNews, Huffington Post, Newsweek and other publications.

As a neurodiversity and autism speaker, Kelly Grainger talks about his journey of leaving the corporate world after 23 years in senior sales and marketing roles, having being diagnosed as autistic and having ADHD.

As well as being responsible for growing the business, Kelly was also heavily involved in the recruitment, on-boarding and training of individuals and teams, for some of the world’s largest organisations including PepsiCo (Walkers, Tropicana, Quaker), Interface, Merlin Entertainments (Alton Towers, Legoland, London Eye) and News International. Kelly understands exactly what is needed to ensure that neurodivergent individuals thrive at work.

On a more personal level, Kelly discusses his life being a parent with his wife and business partner Hester, to two autistic children, who also have ADHD.

If you are looking for a neurodiversity speaker or an autism speaker, Kelly Grainger can help to make your entire workforce, healthier, happier and more productive using practical autism and neurodiverse-friendly principles.

He also teaches businesses and organisations of all sizes how to overcome stereotypes associated with autism and other related conditions to become neurodiverse inclusive.

Mental Health at Work
Kelly Grainger is incredibly excited and proud of his partnership with Mental Health at Work, part of Mind, on such an important topic as neurodiversity in the workplace.

Having worked for global corporations such as PepsiCo, ITV, Hitachi, News UK and Merlin Entertainments, he wants to ensure that neurodiversity in the workplace is recognised and given the platform it deserves, to ensure positive mental health at work for all.

Kelly was invited to work with Heathrow Express to promote awareness of hidden disabilities and the sunflower lanyard scheme and worked on a research project with O2. He has spoken at the United Nations Global Compact Network UK. He has also been invited to speak with a host of organisations including BP, Omnicom, Suez, Moodys, Chubb, The Guardian and more.