Am I the Asshole?

By Nicola Knobel

Most managers are not trying to be the problem. Most neurodivergent employees would tell a different story.

Am I The Asshole? Work Edition is the book for every manager, HR professional, and organisational leader who wants to do right by their neurodivergent team members and has not yet had the tools, the research, or the legal framework to do it properly.

Written by occupational health and safety professional and proudly AuDHD author Nicola Knobel, this book covers the full arc of employment, from recruitment and onboarding through to daily communication, feedback, performance management, PPE, and organisational change, across multiple Commonwealth jurisdictions including New Zealand and Australia.

Drawing on decades of occupational health and safety practice, a Master of Laws, and lived experience as an AuDHD professional, Knobel builds the case from the ground up. Part 1 establishes the legal foundation, walking through what health and safety law, human rights legislation, and employment relations frameworks actually require of organisations, with reference to decided case law across the Commonwealth. Part 2 examines what the research tells us about psychosocial harm, psychological safety, stress biology, and the neurodivergent experience at work, and why those conversations are the same conversation. Part 3 translates that legal and research foundation into a step-by-step practical framework covering every stage of employment. Part 4 introduces the B.R.A.I.N. framework; Belonging, Respect, Inclusion, Awareness, and Neurodiversity; a values-based leadership model for organisations ready to move beyond compliance and build workplaces where neurodivergent people genuinely thrive.

Rigorously cited, legally grounded, and written in plain English with zero tolerance for corporate waffle, this is the book that finally says what your HR department has known for years and never had the guts to tell you.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1067133712
• ISBN13: 9781067133719
• Release Date: May 2026
• Publisher: Nicola Knobel
• Length: 484 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.2" x 6.0"