Learning from the Experts: Analysing Responses to the Question “Is there anything you wish professors or colleagues knew about being neurodivergent?”

Presenter

Liam McDermott

Rutgers University

Abstract

The neurodiversity paradigm, created by Australian sociologist Judy Singer, and expanded upon greatly by many other scholars, has begun to gain traction in the classroom. As more and more educators commit to celebrating the diversity of minds present in their classroom, we have an incredibly valuable opportunity to ask ourselves how we can expand the boundaries of an accessible classroom to meet the needs of neurodivergent students, and make make our institutions more accessible to our neurodivergent colleagues. However, we cannot begin to ethically make these changes without the explicit inclusion of our neurodivergent colleagues and students, and without making sure their voices are at the forefront of any conversation about neurodiversity in the classroom. Therefore, we here present an analysis of 18 responses from neurodivergent students and faculty to the question: “is there anything you wish professors or colleagues knew about being neurodivergent?” and discuss the implications for teaching practices and creating a more accessible classroom.