Abigail Agyei MBE

I'm a senior policy advisor and change maker and have seven years of experience working in policy development, specifically with more of a focus on supporting community groups and marginalized groups. I have ADHD and Dyspraxia. I feel that in many ways it's kind of helped my career as I've always been incredibly passionate about intersectional identities and supporting people from marginalized communities. I think my strong sense of fairness, empathy,  generosity and passion is because of my neurodiversity. 

I feel like I'm often in spaces where there are not a lot of people that are like me. I think that being a young Black woman with ADHD and Dyspraxia has given me the ability to think outside the box and do things differently. I'm keen to support people with lived experiences like mine to progress in the Civil Service and in the government political sphere in general.  

Managing time and organization is often my biggest battle, having a visual timer is helpful because I can hyper-focus or sometimes just lose track of time. I also have a big whiteboard that I use to write my top priorities so I can stare at it and remind myself when I need to get things done. Exercise has helped me throughout the pandemic, it has really helped me focus, stay calm, and with my mental health.

And I think that community is incredibly important as well, groups like I'm Paying Attention, which is a group for ADHD and autistic women and ADHD Babes, a group for black women with ADHD have been good.