This article is written by Shereen, a first year PhD student, and a student Equity Champion in response to the Neurodiversity-Focused Inclusive Education Forum.
The Neurodiversity-Focused Inclusive Education Forum was led by Dr Sadhbh O’Dwyer, a researcher from the University of Limerick, who specialises in inclusive education and health. She gave a talk on a ‘journey through theories of justice’ and concluded with proposing solutions to increase neurodiversity inclusion in workplaces, and research she is doing into this. Here are some of my ideas in relation to the session:
Neurodiversity
Neurodiversity acknowledges that neurological differences, like those found in autism, ADHD, and dyslexia are natural variations of the human brain and cognition.
Theory of Neurodiversity and Social Justice
Neurodiversity is a matter of social justice. Viewing neurodiversity through a social justice lens can improve health outcomes and workplace support for neurodiverse individuals.
Epistemic Injustice: Discrimination against someone's credibility or capacity as a knower or speaker. There are 2 types of epistemic injustice:
- Testimonial Injustice: Not being believed because of prejudice. Dismissing ideas due to perceived lack of credibility or value, due to a characteristic (e.g. race, ethnicity, neurodiversity).
- Hermeneutical Injustice: Not being given consideration due to shared vocabulary not accommodating alternative perspectives. For example, implying someone is ‘different’ reflects a lack of understanding and acceptance of neurodiversity.
Supporting Neurodivergent Professionals – Solutions for the Future
We can implement solutions to improve workplace inclusion for neurodiverse people. This is a matter of justice – we need everyone to flourish.
Capability Approach: Focuses on a person's abilities rather than limitations, aiming to remove barriers so everyone can achieve their potential.
- Assessing the strengths of neurodiverse individuals, using a tailored approach to each person. Looking at ‘functionings’ that are required to support you to achieve full capacity
- Diversity training for all staff
- Mentoring schemes for junior doctors with disabilities
- Flexible working hours
Examples of Work in Practice:
- Applying the capability approach to medical education and training.
- Creating an inclusive screening approach for junior doctors with disabilities.
This talk ties into my work as an Equity Champions. We aim to do the following:
- Amplify student voices for those from marginalised communities
- Raise awareness of EDI initiatives in the school among students
- Bring together students at events to further our sense of community.
Dr Sadhbh O’Dwyer’s talk fostered a great sense of support and community. Many comments from attendees of the talk expressed their support and sense of hope they felt her solutions and research!
However, going forward, there is still a lot of work to do. We need to keep raising awareness of neurodiversity within our local community at the university, and wider communities outside. We also need to raise awareness of how neurodiversity and intersectionality are interconnected and highlight the diverse ways individuals experience the world.
It’s important for us to make an inclusive culture within the university. If anyone has suggestions for any events or talks they would like on this topic, please contact inclusiveeducation@sgul.ac.uk.