Everyone Has a Unique Talent: Christine Ferguson on Neurodiversity in Cyber

Recorded live at AISA SydneySec 2026, host David Savva-Willett is joined by Christine Ferguson, Inclusion Specialist Lead in DXC Technology's Social Impact Practice, where she leads the DXC Dandelion Program. Since 2014 the program has supported over 350 neurodivergent people into sustainable technology and cyber security careers across Australia, Europe, Asia and now the Middle East.Christine had just come off stage with her SydneySec session Neurodiversity in Cyber: People, Pressure and Performance, and the conversation follows the same three threads. What neurodivergent professionals bring to a cyber team that routinely gets overlooked. What pressure and masking actually feel like from the inside, and why an escalating manager and an escalating analyst never produce a good outcome. And what genuinely changes for a team, not just an individual, when a workplace gets the accommodations right.Christine speaks openly about her own dyslexia and about wearing the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower lanyard at the conference so that people could see an invisible disability made visible. She closes with the one small change she would ask of any leader listening, which turns out to cost nothing at all.Cyber Voices is the official podcast of the Australian Information Security Association. Share your feedback at cybervoices@aisa.org.au.