7-Day Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge

(Download the Introduction to the 7-Day Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

Many people are unfamiliar with the term “neurodiversity,” a concept originating in the autistic community and made widely known, in particular, by Jim Sinclair, a pioneer of autistic self-advocacy. Briefly, “neurodiversity” refers to the range of neurological divergence from “neurotypical” patterns of cognition. The term and concept originated from the neurodiversity movement, a social movement that argues that society should accommodate and include people with neurological disabilities rather than seek to cure them or enforce typical behavior. Human minds vary, and these variations do not all require a cure. The term also can imply that no typical or normal brain exists at all; all brains are variations on a theme.

Associated primarily with autism (now known clinically as autism spectrum disorder [ASD]), neurodiversity usually also includes attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, and dyspraxia as well as many other conditions. Some apply the term not only to innate conditions but also to acquired conditions, for example, neurological divergence caused by brain injury. Different disability communities have different politics. While some do seek cures or other interventions designed to promote typical function, a growing number of communities have adopted the neurodiversity framework as offering a better approach to research, support, and advocacy.

While neurodiversity is consistent with services and supports designed to help people achieve important person-centered goals like communication, independent living, and avoiding self-injury, therefore, the neurodiversity movement rejects the idea that service provision or research should promote typical behavior, like eye contact or standard movement and speech patterns.

Neurodivergent people are subject to much stigmatization, discrimination, exclusion, and bullying in various aspects of life. While the numbers of those diagnosed as autistic have grown particularly dramatically in recent decades, autistic people and other groups of people with neurological disabilities continue to face high rates of unemployment and underemployment, even when obtaining significant education and other credentials. Add to this that, all too often, neurodivergent people have been prevented from advocating for their own needs. Much as in the workplace, the dominant practices and structures of education are generally not designed with neurodiversity in mind.

Because we are compressing multiple issues into the span of seven days, each day we will offer a set of main suggested readings, videos, podcasts, and the like. We’ll also provide several additional resources for those wanting more, as well as a set of resources relevant to that day’s focus. That way, you will have many options for participation.

We hope you enjoy it all, but do read, view, or listen as you choose.

With each day’s topic, we will also include an introduction. This should be especially helpful for those who are less familiar with the idea of neurodiversity.

You also may notice some areas of disagreement and debate, even within the framework of inclusion. We present a variety of views and resources that support inclusion and acceptance; however, we do not necessarily endorse any particular position or interpretation. To promote discussion and reflection, we are setting aside an opportunity for people in the Brandeis community taking the Challenge to come together to process their thoughts and feelings. This will be held midway through the Challenge. It is entirely optional, and all are welcome in this space.

Introduction to Neurodiversity

(Download Day 1 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

Statistics on neurodiversity vary by source of information as well as over time. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) currently reports that 1 in 54 children in the United States is autistic.

For ADHD, the CDC estimates that just about 11% of all US children have been diagnosed at some point with ADHD, but these rates have changed over the years. In addition, there are debates not only about causes of ADHD and about disparities in diagnosis, both correct and incorrect ones, but also about how rising diagnoses may, for example, be the result of pharmaceutical company influence. There has furthermore been some debate over the concept of ADHD itself and its underlying elements, some of which appears motivated by denialism. All of this is exacerbated by the relative lack of people with ADHD running ADHD advocacy and policy organizations and otherwise directly involved in these discussions.

The prevalence of dyslexia likewise has been hard to pin down, with perhaps a fifth of the population being dyslexic, while research into dyspraxia is sparse, even though roughly 10% of the total population may be dyspraxic and some estimates are higher.

Not only are diagnoses increasing, but disparities in diagnosis by race and gender are also diminishing (issues we discuss this week). Meanwhile, laws protecting disabled people from discrimination such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Improvement Act (IDEA/IDEIA) have helped larger numbers of students obtain the supports they need to complete high school. As a result, larger numbers of neurodivergent people are attending college and entering the workforce with a range of degrees and other credentials, many facing discrimination and other obstacles.

As we begin our 7-Day Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge, you may notice that many discussions of neurodiversity are highly medicalized, more inclined toward medical descriptions of individual impairments (the medical model) than toward analyses of social structures and practices that create impediments for some people but not others (the social model of disability). This tendency is common throughout discussions of neurodiversity and in some cases reflects an expectation (or hope) to eliminate or cure autism or other similar neurological disabilities. Related to this is the fact that many people describe neurodiversity in terms of certain deficits. For example, autism is often characterized as a set of deficits relating to communication, social interaction, and behavior rather than as a range of strengths and differences that autistic people possess. The same is true of other neurological disabilities falling under the construct of neurodiversity.

Although some medicalized perspectives are included, the intention is to present a range of views from varying perspectives of social justice and to provide a sample of pertinent resources. Neurodiversity, as a concept and a movement, acknowledges challenges that many people with neurological disabilities face as disabled people in our society, but sees autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other neurodiversity in terms of strengths and differences as well as challenges.

We hope you enjoy the readings, videos, podcasts, and blog posts we offer in the Heller School’s Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge.

• Jim Sinclair, “Don’t Mourn for Us” (Autism Network International; originally published 1993) and “Why I Dislike ‘Person First’ Language” (Love & Autism; originally published 1999)
• “Neurotypical” (Trailer, 1:41 mins)
• Rosie King, “How autism freed me to be myself” (TED talk, 6:01 mins)
• Dean Bragonier, “The True Gifts of a Dyslexic Mind” (TED talk, 16:51 mins)
• Blake Charlton, “Defining My Dyslexia” (Op-Ed, New York Times, May 22, 2013)

If you’d like more for today:

• Emily Hanford, “Hard to Read: How American schools fail kids with dyslexia” (APM Reports, September 11, 2017)
• “Human Neurodiversity Should Be Celebrated, Not Treated as a Disorder” (Op-Ed, Now This, 3:15 mins)
• You’re Wrong About, with Eric Garcia (Podcast, 45:54 mins)

Further Resources for Day 1:

• Joseph F. Kras, “The “Ransom Notes” Affair: When the Neurodiversity Movement Came of Age” (Disability Studies Quarterly, 2010)
• cripchick, “Scary ransom notes campaign” (cripchick’s weblog, December 14, 2007)
• Eric Garcia, “I’m Not Broken” (The Atlantic, December 4, 2015)
  NOTE: Lydia Brown uses the pronouns “they/them” or no pronouns.

• Joanne Kaufman, “Campaign on Childhood Mental Illness Succeeds at Being Provocative” (New York Times, December 14, 2007)
• Ari Ne’eman, “An Urgent Call to Action: Tell NYU Child Study Center to Abandon Stereotypes Against People With Disabilities” (post, December 8, 2007)
• Sarah Pripas-Kapit, “Historicizing Jim Sinclair’s ‘Don’t Mourn for Us’: A Cultural and Intellectual History of Neurodiversity’s First Manifesto” (Ch. 2 of Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement)
• Steve Silberman, Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
• MaryAnne Wolf, “Dyslexia’s Puzzle and the Brain’s Design,” Ch. 7 of Proust and the Squid

Neurodiversity and Representation

(Download Day 2 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

There are many misunderstandings surrounding autism and other neurodiversity, often leading to fear, prejudice, and stigma. Nonverbal or minimally verbal autistic persons are especially subject to misperception. In many cases, these misunderstandings have led to interactions with others that harm autistic people. Negative interactions with teachers, health workers, police, and others are linked to high rates of discrimination and social exclusion that autistic people particularly experience. Similarly, they face high rates of health challenges (including COVID-19), homelessness, and suicide. We will explore some of these challenges this week.

In response to the problems facing the autistic population, on April 2, 2008, the United Nations celebrated the first annual World Autism Awareness Day and April is designated as Autism Awareness Month. Currently, many have been pressing to replace the word “awareness” with “acceptance,” giving us Autism Acceptance Day and Autism Acceptance Month, which would stress a more inclusive goal.

Today we look at awareness and representations of neurodiversity and neurodivergent persons among the public and in the media, exploring the extent of acceptance. Of all neurodiversity, autism has received the most attention. From Dustin Hoffman’s portrayal of “Rain Man” to Greta Thunberg’s public embrace of her actual autism as a “superpower,” a lot has changed in how autism is represented and perceived; yet much misperception persists, as do numerous barriers to inclusion and equity. (Thunberg met with many positive but also some negative depictions in the media; see Further Resources for more.)

In recent years, several characters in TV series, novels, movies, and other formats—most portrayed by non-autistic actors—have been coded as or perceived to be autistic or “on the spectrum”; more rarely, some have been identified as such. The list is growing. These would include series such as Atypical, The Big Bang Theory, Bones, Criminal Minds, The Good Doctor, House, and Parenthood, and the HBO adaptation of the Stephen King novel, The Outsider, as well as the Korean drama It’s Okay to Not Be Okay and the Danish-Swedish dramaThe Bridge (remade for American audiences from the original Bron/Broen); novels such as Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books and, more recently, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and the Stieg Larsson Millenium series; movies such as Adam, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (based on the Larsson novel), and Mary and Max; and video games such as Overwatch (which includes the autistic-identified character Symmetra). Many of the representations on this list and beyond have been criticized by those in the autistic community as inaccurate and/or harmful.

• Autistic Self Advocacy Network, “About Autism” (Web resource)
• Melanie Yergeau, “I stim, therefore I am” (Video, 3:01 mins)
• CommunicationFIRST, “LISTEN” (Video, 5:26 mins)
• Autistic Self Advocacy Network, “Disability Community Condemns Autism Speaks” (post, October 7, 2009)   *You may want to view one of the videos to which this resource responds: Autism Speaks, “I Am Autism” (3:43 mins)

• Rebecca Burgess, “Understanding The Spectrum – A Comic Strip Explanation” (Handout, March 5, 2019)
• Matthew Rozsa, “Autism in pop culture has come a long way — but there's still room to grow” (Salon, April 2, 2019)

If you’d like more for today:

• Ashley Spencer, “The Golden Globes Celebrated Sia’s ‘Music.’ Autistic Activists Wish They Hadn’t” (New York Times, February 11, 2021)
• MUSIC – Official Trailer (Video, 2:04 mins)
• Also see Autistic Self Advocacy Network press release, “Disability Organizations: MUSIC Is Dangerous” (February 7, 2021)
• Nera Birch, “Why It Was Difficult to Watch 'Everything’s Gonna Be Okay' as an Autistic Woman” (The Mighty, January 21, 2020)

Further Resources for Day 2:

• Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Welcome to the Autistic Community (web resource)
• Julia Bascom, ed., Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking
• Alaina Leary, “Autism On Television Needs More Diverse Representation” (Teen Vogue, April 18, 2017)
• Sara Luterman, “Trouble on Sesame Street” (Slate, August 16, 2019)
• Sara Luterman, “Don’t Call Greta Thunberg ‘Superhuman’” (Slate, October 11, 2019)
• Sonya Freeman Loftis, “The Autistic Detective: Sherlock Holmes and His Legacy” (Disability Studies Quarterly, 2014)
• Pixar, “The Making of Loop” (Video, 3:14 mins)
• Steve Silberman, “Greta Thunberg became a climate activist not in spite of her autism, but because of it” (Vox, September 24, 2019)
• Washington Post, “How TV shows like ‘Sesame Street’ can help normalize autism” (Video, 3:41 mins)
• Suzannah Weiss, “Here's Why We Absolutely Need to Stop Using the Term ‘On the Spectrum’” (Mic, April 15, 2016)

Neurodiversity, Race, and Ethnicity: Representation and Diagnosis

(Download Day 3 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

As noted in a recent Ruderman white paper: “Disability intersects with other factors such as race, class, gender, and sexuality, to magnify degrees of marginalization and increase the risk of violence. When the media ignores or mishandles a major factor, as we contend they generally do with disability, it becomes harder to effect change.” Because disabled persons are subjected to widespread discrimination and are also overrepresented in communities most subject to systemic racial discrimination, such as the African-American community in the U.S., a complex relationship between disability and race leads to particularly negative interactions of disabled persons of color (among them, those who are autistic and otherwise neurodivergent) with police, healthcare workers, and the like. Autistic young people, for example, are already more likely to be stopped by police than their non-autistic counterparts, affecting as many as 20% of autistic youth, according to one study, and many of these will be arrested. In addition, autistic people of color are often victims of violence, including within their families.

Without solid intersectional research, however, we cannot understand the full relationships between neurodivergence, race, and ethnicity. Another factor to consider is the scarcity of researchers of color who study issues relating to neurodiversity.

Autism itself has a white privilege problem, as Morénike Giwa Onaiwu has written.

Research on racial and other similar disparities affecting neurodiverse people has in the past suffered from the disparate diagnosis rates by race and ethnicity (and sometimes, too, by immigration status). A recent CDC report does suggest, however, that for autism these diagnostic gaps may be diminishing. At the same time, media representation of neurodiversity promotes the association of autism and other conditions with white men and boys, in particular. (And this association has been reflected, though negatively, in the media discourse on the “autistic shooter.”)

With respect to ADHD, these diagnoses are the subject of much debate and controversy, including as diagnosis relates to race, and how and why racial differentials have been changing. These discussions are ongoing and our sources below provide a snapshot at the time they were produced of that ongoing debate.

Because of the number of issues involved and range of views, we offer two days devoted to neurodiversity, race, and ethnicity. Each day still has many resources from which to choose.

Today is devoted to issues mainly of representation and diagnosis. Tomorrow is devoted to issues related to the impact and effects of the intersection of racial and ethnic disparities with neurodiversity.

• Carrie Arnold, “Autism’s Race Problem” (Pacific Standard Magazine, June 14, 2017)
• Kayla Smith, “Disability Rights in Black 2020” (Video, 2:09 mins) and Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, “Autistics of Color: We Exist…We Matter” (Reprinted February 19, 2020)
• Casey Rentz, “Black And Latino Children Are Often Overlooked When It Comes To Autism” (NPR, March 19, 2018)
• Finn Gardiner, “Rejecting the Politics of Shame” (Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism, April 29, 2016)
• Lee Romney, “Public Schools Are Failing Black Students With Dyslexia: One Grandmother’s Story” (Audio, 19:06 mins)
• Areeba Ahmed, “Now Desi Me, Now They Don’t: Growing up With Asperger’s as a South Asian-American” (Brown Girl Magazine, July 13, 2016)
• Adriana White, “Why We Need More Latinx Autistic Stories” (WNDB, October 6, 2020)

If you’d like more for today:

• “Timing of the Diagnosis of Autism in African American Children” (Video, 4:09 mins)
• Michel Martin, “African-Americans With Autism Face Additional Challenges” (NPR, February 21, 2016)
• Myles Moody, “From Under-Diagnoses to Over-Representation: Black Children, ADHD, and the School-To-Prison Pipeline” (Journal of African-American Studies, 2016)
• Joseph Milord, “Experts Worry Black Kids Are Misdiagnosed With ADHD” (Elite Daily, December 16, 2016)
• Scyatta A. Wallace, “70 percent increase in ADHD among black children, study finds” (The Grio, February 15, 2013)

Further Resources for Day 3:

• Lydia X. Z. Brown, E. Ashkenazy, and Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, eds. All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism
• Melody Cao, “In Asian communities, raising a child with autism can be a lonely, difficult road” (Center for Health Journalism, July 12, 2015)
  NOTE: This resource illustrates how many attempts at awareness, even when well-intentioned, are often not focused on autistic or otherwise neurodivergent persons, but instead generally on their families. Cao’s investigation was reported as “Breaking the Silence,” which focuses on awareness and adheres to the view, rejected by the neurodiversity movement, that autism is in need of cure.
• Alicia Montgomery, “Autism, Like Race, Complicates Almost Everything” (NPR, April 12, 2014)
• Steve Silberman, “The Invisibility of Black Autism” (Undark, May 17, 2016)

Neurodiversity, Race, and Ethnicity: Impact and Effects

(Download Day 4 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

Today, we continue our examination of neurodiversity, race, and ethnicity by looking at some of the impact and effects of the intersection of neurodiversity with race and ethnicity. We concentrate on the African-American community and many of yesterday’s resources are relevant to today’s focus. Included in this discussion is reflection on how the neurodiversity community and movement itself has had discriminatory and exclusionary effects on people of color that need to be addressed.

As in Day 3, given the number of issues that fall under this topic, we once again offer numerous options from which you may choose. (And, even then, there are other angles we could still explore.) Our goal is to look at how these intersections play out in people’s lives from various perspectives.

• Romanza McAllister, “Catch-22: ADHD, Work, & the ‘Black Tax’” (ADDA, May 13, 2020)
• Shawn Anthony Robinson, “Ain’t No Stopping (Me) Now” (Inside Higher Ed, October 7, 2016)
• Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, “‘They Don't Know, Don't Show, or Don't Care’: Autism's White Privilege Problem” (Autism in Adulthood, 2020)
• Eric Garcia, “What It Feels Like To Be An Autistic Person of Color in the Eyes of the Police” (Daily Beast, April 13, 2017)
• Zack Budryk, “Amid Black Lives Matter protests, advocates seek pardon for autistic Black man convicted in 2010” (The Hill, Changing America, July 28, 2020)
• Ameer Baraka, “Black Boys With Dyslexia Need Love and Learning, Not Shame and Prison” (Education Post, October 15, 2019)
• Adriana White, “5 Must-Read Books by Black Autistic Authors” (Geek Club Books, January 27, 2021)

If you’d like more for today:

• Timotheus Gordon, Jr., “Remembering Stephon Watts is Essential to Neurodiversity” (NOS Magazine, February 2, 2017)
• Samantha Michaels, “People in Prison Are Way More Likely to Have Dyslexia. The Justice System Sets Them Up to Fail” (Mother Jones, April 30, 2019)

Further Resources for Day 4:

In addition to the previous day’s resources:

• ADDitude editors, “ADHD and Race: Fighting for Equality in Health Care” (includes extensive list of resources)
• Bazelon Center, “‘Defunding The Police’ And People With Mental Illness”
  NOTE: While mental illness is not always included under neurodiversity, it sometimes is and, in any event, many people with neurological disabilities do also have conditions classified as mental illnesses, conditions that may compound racial or ethnic discrimination and exclusion. In addition, some people may inaccurately perceive neurological disability as mental illness in instances where this is not the case.

• Lorena Brownlee, “African-American Overstimulated And #Autistic” (Art of Autism, reposted June 1, 2020)
• Kerima Çevik, “#AutisticWhileBlack #BlackHistory2021: Vaccination While Black” (The Autism Wars, February 6, 2021)
• Kerima Çevik, “#AutisticWhileBlack: Justice For Marcus Abrams” (I∩tersected, June 29, 2017)
• Desiree R. Jones and David S. Mandell, “To Address Racial Disparities in Autism Research, We Must Think Globally, Act Locally” (Autism, 2020)

Neurodiversity, Gender, and Sexuality

(Download Day 5 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

The ratio of males to females diagnosed with autism has been traditionally high, around 4 or 5 to 1. More recently, however, studies more attuned to how autism might appear in girls, whether due to social expectations or other reasons, have been conducted. “Camouflaging” or “masking,” for example, leading to detrimental effects, is known throughout the autistic community, but is especially common among autistic girls and women. This new approach to understanding autism in girls has reduced the ratio, although some disparities remain.

Some researchers have proposed controversial theories of autism and gender such as the “extreme male brain” theory, which is rejected by most autistic self-advocates. Concern over autism’s association with homosexuality and transgender, nonbinary, and genderqueer identities has also produced harmful theories and practices.

There have also been issues of gender disparity in ADHD diagnosis and diagnosis of other neurodivergence, though these have been less widely explored.

Today we explore aspects of the intersection of neurodiversity with gender and sexuality, some of which have already begun to be considered in previous days. The depiction and understanding of autism have long been entwined in gender constructs, such as the belief of some experts that “refrigerator mothers” cause autism and the popular view, persistent to this day, that autistic people are predominantly “tech nerds” and the like.

• Sarai Pahla, “Women and Autism. Towards a Better Understanding” (TED talk, 16:02 mins)
• Francine Russo, “The Costs of Camouflaging Autism” (Spectrum, February 21, 2018)
• Heidi Borst, “Navigating My Son’s A.D.H.D. Made Me Realize I Had It, Too” (February 25, 2021)
• Louis Molnar, “The Intersectionality of Autism and Homosexuality” (The Advocate, March 10, 2017)
• Bryony White, “The Link between Autism and Trans Identity” (The Atlantic, November 15, 2016)
• Nick Walker, “Neuroqueer: An Introduction” (Neurocosmopolitanism, May 2, 2015)
• Sebastian Rubino, “The man behind ex-gay ‘conversion therapy’ started out trying to make autistic children ‘normal’” (LGBTQ Nation, March 17, 2021)

If you’d like more for today:

• Somer Bishop, “Why It’s So Difficult to Diagnose Autism in Girls” (Slate, October 8, 2015)
• VERCIDA, “Dyspraxia and Diversity: The Gender Divide” (December 14, 2015)
• Katelyn Burns, “How Our Society Harms Trans People Who Are Also Autistic” (Medium, April 24, 2017)

Further Resources for Day 5:

• Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network
• Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Information & Resources for Parents & Caregivers of Newly Diagnosed Autistic Girls
• Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Before You Go: Know Your Rights & What to Expect at the Doctor and in the Hospital (Trans Autistic Healthcare Guide)
• Emily Paige Ballou, Sharon daVanport, Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, eds., Sincerely, Your Autistic Child: What People on the Autism Spectrum Wish Their Parents Knew About Growing Up, Acceptance, and Identity
• Emily Paige Ballou, Kristina Thomas, and Sharon daVanport, What Every Autistic Girl Wishes Her Parents Knew
• Kristin Bumiller, “Quirky Citizens: Autism, Gender, and Reimagining Disability”
• Jordynn Jack, Autism and Gender: From Refrigerator Mothers to Computer Geeks
• Deborah Rudacille, “Living between Genders”
  NOTE: This article is informative but it does use some stereotypes of autistic and trans people.

• Maxfield Sparrow, ed., Spectrums: Autistic Transgender People in Their Own Words
• Melanie Yergeau, Authoring Autism: On Rhetoric and Neurological Queerness

Neurodiversity, Education, and Employment

(Download Day 6 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

Education and employment are two of the most important social and personal challenges that neurodivergent people face. Through the hard work of activists and advocates, the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 and other pieces of legislation and regulation such as the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Improvement Act (IDEA/IDEIA) have meant that a much greater number of neurodivergent people are completing high school and going on to employment or higher education.

Yet, education and employment pose numerous difficulties for autistic and other neurodivergent people, particularly due to prejudices against them and to structures and practices in schools and workplaces that impede or openly discriminate against them. Here again, more attention has been paid to autism than to other conditions falling under neurodiversity.

For example, research has shown that autism is one of the few conditions where those with a college degree, or higher, have a lower rate of employment than those without the degree, though both rates are high. And, while many more autistic people are graduating from high school and seeking employment or higher education, research shows that as a group they have lower employment rates not only compared with non-disabled persons but also compared with other disabled communities, and that they have fewer opportunities for independent living.

Both unemployment and underemployment are common among autistic people. This is occurring even as talk—which may be appealing to some employers—of an “autism advantage” or “neurodiversity advantage” is heard today. (A similar view can be found with respect to ADHD and to dyslexia.) However, the idea of such advantage may diminish support for the wide diversity of neurodivergent people in terms of interests and skills as well as needs.

Employment constitutes one of the most important means by which people find social inclusion and financial stability along with improved health. With ever more autistic people attending college or obtaining post-secondary education, the situation is a cause of great concern.

Some organizations and companies—such as through Autism @ Work programs at several large global technology and finance companies—have sought to address the autism employment problem, with some limited success. However, many of these efforts are aimed at individuals with highly specialized skills that not all autistic or neurodivergent people possess. In addition, the programs also can sometimes reinforce stereotypes of autistic and other neurodivergent people and, in the wrong circumstances, could be exploitative.

Today we look at the education and employment situation facing neurodivergent people along with some policies and practices that might address this situation.

• Autistic Self Advocacy Network, “Navigating College: A Handbook on Self Advocacy Written for Autistic Students by Autistic Adult”
• Paul Shattuck, “Youth with autism face barriers to employment and education after high school” (Video, 2:19 mins)
• Maxfield Sparrow, “Why Is the Autistic Unemployment Rate So High?” (Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism, February 26, 2018)
• Sarah Carr, “The Tricky Path to Employment Is Trickier When You’re Autistic” (Slate, September 22, 2017)
  NOTE: This article describes a common problem for many neurodivergent people but is accompanied by a “puzzle-piece” image, often used to represent autism as a set of deficits.

If you’d like more for today:

• Universal Music and Megan Rhiannon, “Creative Differences” (Handbook for Inclusion)
• Olivia Tucker, “Students with Cognitive Differences Say COVID-19 Derailed Their Routines” (Teen Vogue, November 13, 2020)
• Ashlea McKay, “5 Benefits of Hiring Neurodiverse Staff” (NeurodiversityHub resource)
• Ashlea M., “7 things the autistic person in your workplace needs from you” (LinkedIn, January 2, 2017)
• The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity, “Tips from Students”

Further Resources for Day 6:

• Autistic Self Advocacy Network, “Benchmarks to Inclusion: Creating Core Principles to Facilitate Autistic Student Success in Higher Education” (White paper, 2020)
• Autism @ Work Playbook (for employers)
• Anne Roux, et al., “Employment Outcomes of Young Adults on the Autism Spectrum” (Fact sheet, 2015)
• Job Accommodation Network (Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor), “Autism Spectrum”

Neurodiversity Going Forward: Where Are We Now?

(Download Day 7 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

Today we will ask, “How can we achieve true acceptance and inclusion of neurodivergent people at Brandeis and the larger world?” The question is meant to encourage reflection and thought as well as plans for action.

In the Further Resources section, we offer some options for parents and others who seek to support their children, friends, coworkers, and so forth, but now pass the question of how to achieve inclusion and equity to the wider community at Brandeis and beyond. Views within the neurodiversity community are as varied as its members are, but most in the community hope to see an acceptance and true inclusion of neurodivergent people that goes beyond simple awareness. Examples abound in schools, workplaces, and the wider community where awareness exists, but not genuine acceptance and inclusion.

As part of today’s suggestions, we offer a map of the Brandeis campus depicting the various offices, departments, or functions that a neurodivergent person, whether student, staff, faculty, or even visitor, might encounter, either regularly or occasionally. The idea behind creating the map is to allow us to imagine how such a person might feel when approaching and trying to navigate the campus or engage in learning or working, while also meeting their support needs. How, for example, would neurodivergent people, in all their variation, experience the spaces between these parts of campus? The answer one gives to this question could help to prompt reflection on how to support and include neurodivergent people at Brandeis and how to encourage any efforts that have begun.

“Nothing about us without us” is more than a slogan heard among disabled activists; it is a goal and a demand. As Morénike Giwa Onaiwu has said: “Far too often the labor of marginalized people is minimized and treated as if it were of little value; meanwhile, those with vastly more privilege go on to profit enormously from the resources they have derived from those same seemingly ‘less valuable’ people.” Neurodivergent people of all races, genders, and other identities must be included in all forms of decision-making about themselves and in all knowledge production and policy formulation about autism and other neurodiversity. Parents and other family members cannot substitute for neurodivergent people themselves but have their own perspectives; they do have contributions to make.

Thank you for taking the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge this week and for thinking about the issues that have been raised. Now it’s up to you.

• Shain M. Neumeier, “‘To Siri With Love’ and the Problem With Neurodiversity Lite” (Rewire.News, February 9, 2018)
• Jenny Bristol, “It’s Time for Acceptance: 10 Reasons to End Autism Awareness Campaigns” (Geek Club Books, April 18, 2019)
• Parenting Autistic Children with Love and Acceptance, About PACLA
• DeThorne, Laura S., “Revealing the Double Empathy Problem” (The ASHA Leader, April 1, 2020)
• A Neurodiversity Map of Brandeis (or click here for the text-only version, found in the appendix):

If you’d like more for today:

• Peter Mitchell, Elizabeth Sheppard, and Sarah Cassidy, “Autism and the double empathy problem: Implications for development and mental health” (British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2021)
• Liz Pellicano, “Autism advocacy and research misses the mark if autistic people are left out” (The Conversation, April 10, 2018)
• Monique Botha, “Autism: A Quick Trip to My Home Planet” (TED Talk, 30:00 mins)
  NOTE: This might be paired well with the blog post by Tiffany Hammond, “Why the Social Model Will Not Save Us,” or other discussion of the social model of disability and intersectionality, which complicates the discussion.
• Reese Piper, “‘Keep The Change’ Is The Movie The Autistic Community Has Long Been Waiting For” (Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, April 9, 2018)

Further Resources for Day 7:

• Autistic Self Advocacy Network, “First-Hand Perspectives on Behavioral Interventions for Autistic People and People with other Developmental Disabilities” (Report, 2017; by Finn Gardiner)
• Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, “What is Autistic Burnout?” (Handout)
• Steven K. Kapp, Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement
• Cynthia Kim, I Think I Might Be Autistic: A Guide to Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis and Self-Discovery for Adults
• Anne McGuire, War on Autism: On the Cultural Logic of Normative Violence
• Damien Milton, “On the Ontological Status of Autism: The Double Empathy Problem” (Disability & Society, 2012)
• Maxfield Sparrow, “If Not ABA, Then What?” (Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism, April 7, 2017)
• Michelle Sutton, ed., The Real Experts: Readings for Parents of Autistic Children

Text-only version of the Brandeis Neurodiversity Map. Represents Administration, Staff (includes some students), Faculty, Undergraduate Students, and Graduate Students, as well as campus offices and services that relate to neurodiversity:

Division of Student Affairs

• Department of Community Living
• Dean of Students Office

Academic Services

• Student Accessibility Support (SAS)

Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO)
• University Ombuds
• Programming, Training, Education and Development (PTED)
• Gender and Sexuality Center (GSC)
• Intercultural Center (ICC)

Prevention, Advocacy, and Resource Center (PARC)

Brandeis Counseling Center (BCC)

Human Resources

Staff unions

Faculty unions

Brandeis Alumni Association

Heller Alumni Association

Undergraduate Students

• DEISability
• Divisions: Science; Humanities; Social Science; Creative Arts

Hiatt Career Center

Rabb School for Continuing Studies 

Graduate Students

• Schools:
  • Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
    • Center for Career and Professional Development
  • Heller School
    • Heller School Office of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity
    • Heller School Career Development
    • Heller Disability Working Group
    • Heller Student Association
  • International Business School (IBS)
    • Career Strategies Center
    • IBS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee
• Graduate Student Association

Library

Center for Teaching and Learning

Institutes:

• Lurie Institute for Disability Policy
• Institute for Behavioral Health
• Other research institutes