In undertaking this project I’m conscious of my own positionality. I’m not disabled or neurodivergent and I’m not professionally trained in this area. My motivation comes from a desire to remove barriers to learning and to address systemic factors which marginalise different groups of people. Coming from a student-centred pedagogical background and now working in the digital learning environment, I feel we are well placed to address these digital accessibility barriers from a practical point of view and from a social justice perspective we have a moral imperative to do so. I also feel strongly that this is about more than digital accessibility (although this is important), but about using Moodle to help create a more level playing field for everyone, including other marginalised groups, and acknowledging the intersectional nature of many of these barriers.

There is more about my rationale in Rationale: Moodle, disability and social justice. Here, I thought it would be useful to briefly look at some of the different perspectives on neurodiversity and disability, particularly in higher education.

Neurodivergence is a complex term and those who are neurodivergent are best placed to determine the language and their own preferences in terms of how they identify. Bearing that in mind, neurodivergence is, however, often used to describe neurological difference such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia and ADHD, or Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) and according to ACAS ‘Being neurodivergent will often amount to a disability under the Equality Act 2010, even if the person does not consider themselves to be disabled’.  (ACAS n.d.)

The use of the term neurodiverse is an approach which aims to describe and include a wide range of neurodevelopmental conditions, without pathologising them.

‘Neurodiversity is a relatively new term. It helps to promote the view that neurological differences are to be recognised and respected as any other human variation. It is used to counter negative social connotations that currently exist and to make it easier for people of all neurotypes to contribute to the world as they are, rather than attempting to think or appear more ‘typically’.’

(Neurodiversity and co-occurring differences, n.d.)

I’m not sure how useful it is to list common differences here, not least because neurodivergence is precisely about divergence and acceptance, and listing common differences might be a blunt tool as they will only apply in some cases. In addition, there is an argument where, since I am not a ‘disability expert’ it is more appropriate and useful in this context to focus on the common functional challenges neurodivergent people often face. I have discussed this, with clear examples, in another post ‘UX design for neurodiverse, visually impaired and disabled users‘.

As well as neurodivergent participants, I also asked for visually impaired or disabled students to contribute to my project and 3 of the 6 participants were visually impaired in different ways. Again, this is a particular area of disability where digital tools can be used in a functional and supportive way. For example creating material that is readable by a screen reader, navigable via a keyboard, ensuring good colour contrast, using an appropriately sized font and making good use of clear, graphical images or icons. It would also have been interesting to see what else we could do to meet the needs of people with a wider range of disability. This is something we will need to look at in future.

I would guess that neurodiverse students often ‘go under the radar’ in HE and are expected to find workarounds a lot of the time. Some people won’t have a diagnosis or don’t wish to declare, as well as those who are accessing support from the Disability Service but who don’t want to ‘stand out’ or be different from their peers.

‘Currently the onus is too often on neurominority students to find a longer way around to meet neuro-normative expectations. To transform practice, learning and teaching must be  designed for a neurodiverse student body, and learning contexts created in which neurodivergent students are seen, understood and enabled to thrive.’

(Hamilton and Petty, 2023, p.3)

I’m not sure how much this is true for people who are blind or have mobility impairments. I suspect it’s still true, but in a slightly different way, where staff assume they are getting the help and support they need from the Disability Service and perhaps don’t consider what else can and should be done to remove potential barriers. Hamilton and Petty talk about the need to move away from this ‘medical paradigm’ and pathologising language, and towards a Universal Design for Learning approach, in which ‘…students, and especially those in minoritised groups, flourish in learning environments in which they feel that they belong and are valued.’ (Hamilton and Petty, 2023, p.4). This would include practical shifts like flexibility in the mode of assessment, presenting information in a variety of modalities, taking regular breaks, but also a shift in perspective where diversity is valued and nurtured.

Erevelles and Minear also talk about this deficit model of disability and align disability with other socially constructed ‘categories’;

‘CRT scholars (like other radical scholars) have mistakenly conceived of disability as a biological category…Disability studies scholars, on the other hand, have critiqued this ‘deficit’ model of disability and have described disability as a socially constructed category that derives meaning and social (in)significance from the historical, cultural, political and economic structures that frame social life.’

(Erevelles and Minear, 2010, p.7)

Erevelles and Minear also discuss the role of disability as a, or the, critical category when looking at intersectionality and its impacts. They highlight the fluid nature of the terms used to describe or diagnose some disabilities and they argue that Critical Race Theorists have not sufficiently acknowledged disability within intersectionality.

The National Autistic Society website highlights the intersectional difficulties faced by some people who are both black and minority ethnic and autistic, making it harder to get support when they need or want it. They quote Iqra Babar, an autistic artist;

“I love being an autistic, Muslim Pakistani woman. My identity in itself is so diverse, which I am really proud of! It does make it harder to live so freely however, with all of the stigma and discrimination that surrounds both autistic people and Muslims. Race and autism intersect a lot and talking about race in autism conversations is so important.”

(Autism and BAME people n.d.)

Meeting disability needs is still too often seen as an extra, something more to add to the workload, rather than something positive and creative. This is particularly challenging in the market-driven higher education environment in which we operate. However, I feel that there is a lot of scope for creating a more compassionate, inclusive environment at CSM but we need to be having these conversations more often in more teams and with more students. As Hamilton and Petty say, ‘Educators have a unique opportunity to cultivate compassion within the learning environments that we create.’ (Hamilton and Petty, 2023, p.4)

Bibliography:

ACAS (n.d.) What disability means by law: Definition of disability Available at: https://www.acas.org.uk/what-disability-means-by-law#:~:text=Attention%20deficit%20hyperactivity%20disorder%20(ADHD,consider%20themselves%20to%20be%20disabled (Accessed 17 January 2024)

British Dsyslexia Association (n.d.), Neurodiversity and co-occurring differences, Available at: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexia/neurodiversity-and-co-occurring-differences. (Accessed: 17 January 2024)

Erevelles, N., & Minear, A. (2010). Unspeakable Offenses: Untangling Race and Disability in Discourses of Intersectionality. Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies 4(2), 127-145. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/390395. (Accessed 20 October 2023)

Hamilton, L. and Petty S. (2023) ‘Compassionate Pedagogy for Neurodiversity in Higher Education: A Conceptual Analysis’. Frontiers in Psychology 14 (16 February): 1093290. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1093290. (Accessed: 17 January 2024)

National Autistic Society (n.d.) Autism and BAME people Available at: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/what-is-autism/autism-and-bame-people (Accessed 17 January 2024)