The FAA’s Hiring Scandal

Working effectively in ATC without burnout hanging over your head constantly favours a certain amount of neurodivergence. A certain kind of delight in detail, delight in predictable progression of system. The overload needs to invigorate , not fatigue.

This doesn’t make ATC professionals better people. It doesn’t make them smarter. It doesn’t make them superhuman. It makes them better at a certain specific kind of work, and the same traits probably make them worse at many others.

We need to stop treating neurodiversity as if it’s a scale from good to bad. It’s just a kind of diversity.

Just like physical diversity. Strong, big frames make a person better suited to certain kinds of work. Lithe, diminutive builds make great aircraft mechanics. Thin, tall builds favour other work, short and stocky morphology makes other jobs more comfortable and easier.

Why should neurodiversity be any different? People are good at different things. Genetics plays a huge role in morphological and neurological development. is there really any difference, or is neurodiversity just hidden morphological diversity?

Different is not a value judgement.

Neither the FAA situation nor the article are about neurodiversity.

> We need to stop treating neurodiversity as if it’s a scale from good to bad. It’s just a kind of diversity.

In the situation of hiring people for specific jobs, filtering for a perceived "neurodiversity" would have no scientific basis.

Fortunately, hiring doesn't work this way. The idea is to hire for people who are qualified for and capable of the job, not to try to evaluate questionable proxies like neurodiversity.

I think you maybe misunderstood what I was saying. I’m saying that neurodivergence is why some people thrive at certain jobs that others would find exhausting.

Ergo we should test for ability, not some arbitrary representation of race, sex, or other non-task related metric.

Testing for ability is exactly what they were originally doing before the NBCFAE got involved in the FAA's well established hiring process.

I get your point, but to be clear this is already what they were doing since 1989 up until 2013.