INC: new neurodiversity-positive research informing campuses across the UK

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I'm sharing information about the new neurodiversity-positive research informing campuses across the UK, part of York St John University Institute of Social Justice, which I have been and remained involved with as part of the Participatory Advisory Group (PAG).  Below are extracts from Jamie Williams' blog which you can read in full clicking here

From “Admiring the problem” to ‘What works’…

Neurodivergent students often tell us they don’t feel like their struggles are noticed, and we wanted to ensure we heard them.
However, we also wanted to enact achievable changes based on what people told us. We wanted to go beyond “admiring the problem”, not only asking “what’s wrong?” but also “what works?” – by identifying existing good practices and making pragmatic recommendations to inspire change at all levels of HE.
By showing what neurodiversity-affirming practice is already being achieved within the current constraints of the HE landscape, adjustments cannot be dismissed as an abstract but unachievable wish.

We set up the Participatory Advisory Group (PAG) to explore this, and we were hugely lucky to be joined by a fantastic mixed-neurotype group of students, former students, and professionals who had experience with the YSJ campus and wanted to take an active role throughout the project.
The PAG has shaped every aspect of the research by:
⭐️ Providing crucial feedback at every part of the process
⭐️ Telling us they were sick of seeing diagnostic labels and stereotypes, or clinical language and imagery that didn’t speak to their experiences, in research
⭐️ Contributing designs, posters and wording for recruitment material and our online padlet (see pictures!)
⭐️ Contributing questions and collaborating on our interview schedule
For the research team, this has been an absolute joy and a means of genuinely sharing the responsibility for the project. In fact, such was their influence that when we needed to recruit additional Research Associates, we did so from within the group, extending the PAG’s influence further.

We hope that this research will improve the experiences of students and staff at YSJ and, more broadly, at other educational institutions and professional organisations. To this end, we are partnering with other universities to share INC’s methods and key findings.

Project INC has already been cited in training within public-sector, charity, higher education, and private-sector contexts.

The INC themes contributing to active belonging, such as ‘Believe me, talk to me’, ‘Shared responsibility’ and ‘Identity spaces’ are already informing the support that Spectrum First provides for University students and professionals at all levels, whether it is being used in one to one strategy development, or is being shared with Student Support, Academic, or HR Departments.

The core message of ‘what works’ is something people can connect to and be inspired by how individuals who perceive and work differently can thrive in many different contexts.
We are excited to see where it goes and how far it can spread!

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