ADW: Life as a Neurodivergent Educator

Project summary

I was diagnosed with ADHD last year; I suspect I’m autistic, too. I’m also in my 11th year of being a secondary English teacher. I love being a teacher, but my diagnosis gave me some potential answers about why I’d found some aspects of being a teacher — and a modern human — so challenging.

I wanted to find out about others like me, and I wanted to better understand where we are as a society in our knowledge and attitudes to neurodivergence and neurodiversity. I wanted especially to consider how schools could be better places for neurodivergent people — staff, as well as students — to live, learn, and grow. This year, I became Neurodiversity Lead, which means I'll be working with our neurodivergent students and staff to make our school as inclusive as possible.

I formed some questions:

• What is the current state of neurodiversity discourse in 2023?
• What is the current state of neurodiversity and neurodivergence in schools in 2023?
• Why should we care about neurodiversity?
• What does it mean to be a neurodivergent adult?
  • How can neurodivergent adults be supported?
• What does it mean to be a neurodivergent teacher?
  • How can neurodivergent teachers be supported in schools?

I’m currently trying to figure out some answers. Most of my work is in note form (and there are a lot of those), so this page is a challenge to myself — publish more ideas, and build the work incrementally. Keep an eye on my blog!

Outcome

I’m hoping that the finished project will be a book. It would contain a mixture of:

1. Personal memoir
2. Testimony from neurodivergent educators and school staff
3. Engagement with the literature

Linked work

These are links to writing I think relates to this project, sometimes rather tangentially!

• Leading on neurodiversity in a secondary school
• Daily Notes, 23 June 2023: medicine, neurodivergence
• Daily Notes, 21 June 2023: Sweetgrass, Spiders, Extended Cognition
• Thoughts 24 Apr 2023: Language activism, slowing down, stopping
• You are depressed
• WrightNews: on screams (3–9 October)
• Masking the deficit
• We're all going to die: on depression
• Hyperactive-Inattentive: #WrightNews 12-18 September

Reading list

• Asherson, P. et al. (2010) ‘Is ADHD a valid diagnosis in adults? Yes’, BMJ, 340(mar26 1), pp. c549–c549. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c549.
• Baird, A. (2020) ‘Teaching While Autistic: Constructions of Disability, Performativity, and Identity’, Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture, 2(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.9707/2833-1508.1040.
• Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A.M. and Frith, U. (1985) ‘Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind” ?’, Cognition, 21(1), pp. 37–46. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8.
• Boonstra, A.M. et al. (2005) ‘Executive functioning in adult ADHD: a meta-analytic review’, Psychological Medicine, 35(8), pp. 1097–1108. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/s003329170500499x.
• Callahan, B.L. and Plamondon, A. (2019) ‘Examining the validity of the ADHD concept in adults and older adults’, CNS Spectrums, 24(5), pp. 518–525. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1092852918001190.
• Chown, N. et al. (2017) ‘Improving research about us, with us: a draft framework for inclusive autism research’, Disability & Society, 32(5), pp. 720–734. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2017.1320273.
• Cook, J. et al. (2020) ‘Camouflaging Behaviours Used by Autistic Adults During Everyday Social Interactions’. Available at: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-96362/v1.
• Cook, J. et al. (2021) ‘Self-reported camouflaging behaviours used by autistic adults during everyday social interactions’:, Autism, pp. 13623613211026754–13623613211026754. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613211026754.
• Frith, U. and Happé, F. (1994) ‘Autism: beyond “theory of mind”’, Cognition, 50(1–3), pp. 115–132. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(94)90024-8.
• Geffen, J. and Forster, K. (2018) ‘Treatment of adult ADHD: a clinical perspective.’, Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, 8(1), pp. 25–32. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/2045125317734977.
• Hupfeld, K.E. et al. (2022) ‘Hyperfocus: The ADHD Superpower’, Frontiers for Young Minds, 9, p. 625433. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2021.625433.
• Hupfeld, K.E., Abagis, T.R. and Shah, P. (2019) ‘Living “in the zone”: hyperfocus in adult ADHD’, ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders, 11(2), pp. 191–208. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12402-018-0272-y.
• J. Moncrieff and S. Timimi (no date) ‘Is ADHD a valid diagnosis in adults? No’, BMJ Preprint. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c547.
• Jaarsma, P. and Welin, S. (2012) ‘Autism as a Natural Human Variation: Reflections on the Claims of the Neurodiversity Movement’, Health Care Analysis, 20(1), pp. 20–30. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-011-0169-9.
• Kosaka, H., Fujioka, T. and Jung, M. (2019) ‘Symptoms in individuals with adult-onset ADHD are masked during childhood’, European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 269(6), pp. 753–755. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-018-0893-3.
• Lawrence, C. (2019) ‘“I can be a role model for autistic pupils”: investigating the voice of the autistic teacher.’, Teacher Education Advancement Network Journal, 11(2), pp. 50–58. Available at: https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/4658/1/LawrenceICanBeA.pdf (Accessed: 6 May 2023).
• Lawrence, C. et al. (2021) ‘“Howling at the scrabble-board”: exploring classroom literature from an autistic viewpoint’, English in Education, 55(2), pp. 164–176. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/04250494.2020.1801345.
• Leslie, A.M. (1987) ‘Pretense and representation: The origins of “theory of mind.”’, Psychological Review, 94(4), pp. 412–426. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.94.4.412.
• Lorde, A. (2018) The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House. London: Penguin Books (Penguin modern, 23).
• Milioni, A. et al. (2014) ‘High IQ May “Mask” the Diagnosis of ADHD by Compensating for Deficits in Executive Functions in Treatment-Naive Adults With ADHD’, Journal of attention disorders, 21. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054714554933.
• Milton, D. (2012) ‘On the ontological status of autism: the “double empathy problem”’, Disability & Society, 27(6), pp. 883–887. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2012.710008 (Accessed: 6 April 2022).
• Moheb Costandi (2017) Why the neurodiversity movement has become harmful, Aeon. Available at: https://aeon.co/essays/why-the-neurodiversity-movement-has-become-harmful (Accessed: 5 April 2022).
• Oliver, M. (2013) ‘The social model of disability: thirty years on’, Disability & Society, 28(7), pp. 1024–1026. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2013.818773.
• O’Neill, C. and Kenny, N. (2023) ‘“I saw things through a different lens…” : An Interpretative Phenomenological Study of the Experiences of Autistic Teachers in the Irish Education System’. Available at: https://doi.org/10.35542/osf.io/9vr2u.
• Ornella, D.-K. et al. (2023) ‘Transcranial random noise stimulation combined with cognitive training for treating ADHD: a randomized, sham-controlled clinical trial’, Translational Psychiatry, 13(1), pp. 1–11. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02547-7.
• Pearson, A. and Rose, K. (2021) ‘A Conceptual Analysis of Autistic Masking: Understanding the Narrative of Stigma and the Illusion of Choice’, 3(1), pp. 52–60. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2020.0043.
• Perry, E. et al. (2022) ‘Understanding Camouflaging as a Response to Autism-Related Stigma: A Social Identity Theory Approach’, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52(2), pp. 800–810. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-04987-w.
• Russell, G. (2020) ‘Critiques of the Neurodiversity Movement’, in S.K. Kapp (ed.) Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement: Stories from the Frontline. Singapore: Springer, pp. 287–303. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8437-021.
• Salehinejad, M.A. et al. (2020) ‘Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in ADHD: A Systematic Review of Efficacy, Safety, and Protocol-induced Electrical Field Modeling Results’, Neuroscience Bulletin, 36(10), pp. 1191–1212. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12264-020-00501-x.
• Silberman, S. and Sacks, O.W. (2016) Neurotribes: the legacy of autism and the future of neurodiversity.
• Singer, J. (1998) Odd People In: The Birth of Community Amongst People on the ‘Autistic Spectrum’. University of Technology, Sydney.
• Tamm, L. et al. (2021) ‘The Association of Executive Functioning With Academic, Behavior, and Social Performance Ratings in Children With ADHD’, Journal of Learning Disabilities, 54(2), pp. 124–138. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219420961338.
• Walker, N. (2014) ‘Neurodiversity: Some Basic Terms & Definitions’, Neuroqueer. Available at: https://neuroqueer.com/neurodiversity-terms-and-definitions/ (Accessed: 20 August 2023).
• Wood, R., Happé, F., et al. (2022) Learning from autistic teachers: how to be a neurodiversity-inclusive school. London ; Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
• Wood, R., Crane, L., et al. (2022) ‘Learning from autistic teachers: lessons about change in an era of COVID-19’, Educational Review, pp. 1–23. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2022.2103521.
• Wood, R. and Happé, F. (2023) ‘What are the views and experiences of autistic teachers? Findings from an online survey in the UK’, Disability & Society, 38(1), pp. 47–72. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2021.1916888.

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