The Challenges of Neurodiversity in Colleges
I’m very proud of William & Mary’s neurodiversity
initiative. I’m even prouder to see
other schools following our lead. Making
college campuses more accepting of the neurodiverse is an important step toward
making a more ND-friendly world.
It’s time for neurodiverse faculty to come out, and stand as
role models for students and staff.
Everyone knows how autism, ADHD, dyslexia and other neurodiverse
conditions disable us as children. What we need to balance that are successful
adults who attribute their achievements in part to neurodiversity.
Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to get college staffers to
come out, as this letter demonstrates:
Dear Mr. Robison
- As an Adjunct Instructor at the
____________, I've had the unfortunate opportunity to witness instructors &
administrators demonstrate bias against autistic students. I need advice. I
want to speak with the Dean of Academics about this institutional problem.
However, I'm concerned that I may not be invited back to teach. Do you have any experience with this sort of
challenge?
How can we expect faculty to announce their own
neurodiversity when they see discrimination against neurodiverse people? I would not have fear about speaking out at
William & Mary, because neurodiversity advocacy is my role. But even here at this college, with a provost who's a vocal advocate of our mission,
faculty tell me they are afraid to come out, as in this exchange:
“Even with the neurodiversity initiative, and the talk about
neurodiversity being good, I’m still afraid coming out could jeopardize my
promotion from assistant professor. I
want to help you but I have to look out for my career and family.”
What’s the answer to this dilemma? I believe it comes down to courage and
passion. We must be brave enough to
announce our neurodiversity to the world, knowing some will embrace us but
others will discriminate against us. We
must speak up even knowing there may be a personal cost before there is a
collective gain. And that’s where
passion comes in – we must believe in our cause so much that we push through
the negative personal consequences in pursuit of a greater goal for all.
On college campuses, we must recognize that there are
barriers to both students and staff coming out, and we should encourage
both.
What are some thoughts for bringing this about?
John Elder Robison
All words and images (c) 2015 John Elder Robison
The opinions expressed here are his own. There is no warranty expressed or implied. While reading this essay may give you food for thought, actually printing and eating it may make you sick.
Comments
My son was first diagnosed at 5 years of age. He was a behavioral problem and to get help in school labeled by the I.E.P. team as mentally disturbed. At about age 6 he was diagnosed with ADHD, at about age 8 with oppositional diffient disorder. A sweet, loving, beautiful intelligent, amazing person, afraid to do anything wrong and not be good at everything he had to do. Most of his greatest issues occured in public school a very inappropriate enviroment that was not capable of changing or adapting to his needs or ever being a suitable enviroment. An environment where there were few choices and often only one way to do things. Rigid in all the wrong ways, limited, for the wrong reasons. It did not have the resources to accomidate him. I kept asking questions until I asked tbe roght one. Now in his 4th year in a private school with other children on the spectrum. He is thriving. Not over night and a ways to go, but loves going to school. Finally the right diagnosis about age 9, Autism/Aspergers, Neurodiverse. When my son was age two I was pretty sure he had some form of Autism. It took some research, some persistence on my part and the right type of Doctor to get this accurate diagnosis. I took my son to see John at a book signing for "Raising Cubby". I did this to see what an adult that was neurodiverse looked like. I was amazed what he has accomplished and what he is doing for this population of neurodi erse people. I think a light bulb turned on in my son. My hope was he knows now that there is enormous opportunity for him. And there will be with the right support as the world is becoming more aware and flexible of how special, important this valuable resource of neurodiverse people can be . My son recently took the high school exit exam. He scored almost 100% without doing the essay portion of the exam. Brilliant. Now this kid should be able to go to college...
I'm thankful that it was well-received, though certainly not everyone on campus knows (or cares). On a positive note, I was asked to present at a forum for faculty. (Attendance is voluntary.) I accepted. It's through the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, and it's part of an initiative for colleagues to tell and hear life stories to promote community among us. I'm nervous about it but I know it's the right thing to do.
my second year by my parents. They had never told me I was diagnosed as autistic
as a child. I decided not to tell anyone as I could see from doing research no one knew anything. There would have been a lot of stigma.
I feel like a lot of the teachers in school in general thought I was lazy, rebellious, and some of them just let me pass.
I wish they had had prograns back in the seventies, eighties, and nineties...
Yes. That's the way EVERY equal rights initiative has come about.
Keep up the good work, John. We need your voice. You come from a place many of us cannot, and many of those who might also be there, cannot.
The other day a teacher I know who is in a new school this year said to me, "I wish someone would come and drop a crop duster with ADHD meds on my kids" - and later referred to her more challenging students as "dumb"
That's pretty sad. But what makes this sadder is she said this to me, even though she knows I have ADHD and two wonderful kids with ADHD.
But wait - it gets worse - she ALSO has ADHD, and she ALSO has a kid with ADHD.
This woman could be walking into her school as the advocate and champion for kids with ADHD. She could be open about her challenges and her gifts. She could be the one fighting in the staff room for less classroom management and behavior control, and more inclusive teaching methods and activities. There have to be teachers with neurodiverse brain wiring in every school, I'm sure - the statistics for ADHD, Autism, Mood Disorders, LD's and so forth, would make it highly unlikely that there wouldn't be. We need those teachers to stand up as examples if we are ever going to get the education system to understand that neurodiversity exists in every classroom and therefore, neurodiverse classrooms needs to be the norm.