Balancing the Experience of Being a Neurodivergent Academic

I came across this paper today and really enjoyed reading it: Kattari, S. K., & Erickson, D. (2025). “If you’re asking for my diversity, you’re asking for all of me”: Challenging experiences of neurodivergent higher education faculty in the United States. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000639

It covers a lot of ground about neurodivergency in academia. Here are 5 key points the article discusses:

1. Systemic Oppression and Neurophobia: Neurodivergent academics face systemic oppression and neurophobia in higher education, including microaggressions, invalidation of their research, and penalisation for their neurodivergent traits. ​ Academia often favours neurodivergent traits that align with productivity while negatively viewing or even punishing traits like fatigue or sensory overwhelm.
2. Challenges in Accessing Accommodations (Reasonable Adjustments): Academics often struggle to access accommodations due to unclear processes, stigma, and institutional barriers. ​ Accommodations are frequently designed for students rather than staff, and HR departments often lack the necessary training to support neurodivergent needs effectively. ​
3. Impact of Masking: Neurodivergent academics are often pressured to mask their neurodivergence to fit into neurotypical molds, which leads to exhaustion, harm, and a lack of authenticity. ​ Masking is unsustainable and negatively impacts mental health and overall well-being. ​
4. Intersectionality of Identities: Neurodivergent academics navigate multiple intersecting identities, including race, gender, and sexual orientation, which shape their experiences in academia. ​ Marginalised identities compound challenges, but some faculty find strength and affirmation in their intersectional identities. ​
5. Communication Barriers and Additional Work Load: Neurodivergent academics face significant challenges in communication due to neurotypical expectations, leading to extra unpaid work in order to adapt to those expectations. ​ Institutions often privilege neurotypical communication styles, creating barriers and misunderstandings that impact acdademic evaluations and relationships. ​

The authors describe how, despite the social model of disability being introduced in the early 1980s and the neurodiversity movement in the 1990s, higher education continues to perpetuate ableism and prioritise neurotypicality within its systems. They suggest that institutions must focus on reducing stigma, prejudice, and exclusion while addressing identity and cultural factors. How can we remodel higher education structures to create supportive, inclusive environments that integrate social and institutional factors?

I can identify with the issues that the authors describe, although I think they are a reflection of society more than something necessarily specific to HE. However, I also believe that HE can be a place where neurodivergent individuals can flourish:

1. Unique Cognitive Strengths: Neurodivergent individuals often exhibit heightened pattern recognition, creativity, and problem-solving abilities, which are valuable in academic research and innovation. These strengths can lead to novel insights and interdisciplinary contributions which are valued in teaching, learning, and research. (Clouder et al., 2020)
2. Epistemological Standpoints: Neurodivergent scholars bring alternative ways of knowing and understanding, challenging dominant paradigms and enriching academic innovation and discourse through lived experience and critical reflexivity. (Rosqvist et al., 2025)
3. Collective Knowledge Production: Neurodivergent academics often engage in collaborative, community-based research that values co-production of knowledge, enhancing inclusivity and methodological diversity (Rosqvist et al., 2025).
4. Resilience and Adaptability: Navigating non-inclusive systems fosters resilience and adaptability in neurodivergent individuals, traits that are advantageous in the dynamic and often uncertain landscape of academia. This resilience and adaptability positively impacts others in the university community (Clouder et al., 2020)
5. Challenging Normative Structures: By questioning normative academic practices, neurodivergent scholars help reshape institutional cultures, advocating for more inclusive, flexible, and humane academic environments. (Clouder et al., 2020)

Being a neurodivergent academic often feels like a balancing act – trading off the positives with the negatives. Overall I feel that the positives do outweigh the negatives, but the efforts to get that balance are often on the shoulders of the neurodivergent individuals. The experience could, and should, be so much better. How do we get there?