George Muniz Gund
October 25th 2022
The conversation around Autism, ADHD and Neurodiversity in general is rapidly changing, leaving many wanting to learn more about how to better accommodate Neurodivergent individuals Below I lay out some of my suggestions as an Autistic person on how to do so
*I wanted to start this post by saying that this article represents the views of one Autistic person. Not all Autistic people will agree with my views and I do not speak for the entire community. With that said, let’s get to it.
**Throughout this article I will use the terms “Neurotypical” and “Neurodivergent”. A Neurotypical individual is one whose brain is wired in a similar way to most of the population. A Neurodivergent individual is one whose brain is wired in a different way than most individuals. Neurodivergent conditions (or neurotypes) include Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and many more.
The narrative around Autism, ADHD and other similar neurological conditions has been very pathology based for quite some time. It is only now starting to slowly begin to change, thanks to the countless efforts of Autistic advocates, whose voices are so often silenced and ignored in favor of acclaimed non-Autistic “Autism researchers”. Many (not all) of these researchers write about Autism as if it were a scary disease of some sort and characterize Autistic people as if they were foreign specimens. When talking about Autism, they seem to focus solely on the struggles of Autistic people, such as executive dysfunction, sensory sensitivities (a symptom of sensory processing disorder), apraxia of speech, impaired neuromotor function, etc…
These are all legitimate struggles that Autistic people have and need support for, however, researches and professionals often fail to associate the struggles of Autistic people with the specific disabilities listed above which are many times linked to Autism but do not represent Autism as a whole. Autism is a spectrum of many different traits, which can be experienced to different intensities by different individuals, and the intensity of those traits can even vary throughout the course of a single day. A lot of these traits are quite positive, such as hyperfocus, complex reasoning, literal thinking, heightened senses and many more. A big problem is that most people that write about Autism don’t highlight the positive traits nearly enough if at all, which in turn leads to very negative views, stigmas and stereotypes of autism and subsequently the creation of harmful therapies such as ABA, that essentially force autistic people to suppress their natural traits in order to behave in a “more appropriate” neurotypical manner. I speak at length about this in this article I wrote recently about ABA, here is the link for reference https://differentnotbroken1293.com/aba-therapy-and-its-roots-in-systemic-ableism/
As more people become aware of how harmful ABA like therapies can be to autistic and neurodivergent people in general, there has been more effort to create and apply more inclusive environments and supports for neurodivergent people, that focus on accomodating each individual based on their needs, rather than forcing them to fit neuronormative molds that might not be aligned with their neurology. Below I will give you an idea of what some of these environments and supports can look like. However, before I do this, I just wanted to highlight the problem a lot of the disabled community has with the term “special needs” and why we prefer people use “support needs” instead. I know that when people use this term they have good intentions, because they are not using other terms that are outwardly and highly ableist. Believe it or not, “special needs” is a term also rooted in ableism, despite being much more subtle. The issue is that by calling the needs of disabled people “special”, we are separating their needs from the needs of other individuals, promoting separation rather than inclusion. Furthermore, we have to acknowledge that every disabled person is different and no disability is the same, therefore disability related needs are also different and vary greatly depending on the individual and their specific disability. Disability support needs are human needs, and there is nothing really special about them.
In my opinion, the first major thing to consider when accommodating an Autistic individual is their individual sensory sensitivities and needs. A lot of Autistic people have a condition called Sensory Processing Disorder (or SPD), which affects the way the brain receives sensory input such as light and sound. A lot of autistic people have very heightened sensitivity to bright lights and loud sounds, so much so that they become extremely frazzled and overwhelmed, to the point of experiencing pain, since after all the same parts of the nervous system that are responsible for feeling physical pain are triggered in these situations. For these individuals, environments with dimmed lighting and quiet sound are ideal in order for them to feel more comfortable and at ease.
Another really important accommodation, also related to neurodistinct individuals with Sensory Processing Disorder, is to allow extra time for these individuals to process information. A lot of people misinterpret these individuals and assume that they are not paying attention or didn’t understand what was said, but in reality they just need extra time to process that information in their brain, and once they do, it’s usually pretty well cemented, at least in my case.
Because I am Brazilian on my mothers side, I follow a lot of Autistic and Neurodiversity affirming pages in Brazil. I recently came across a post that absolutely blew me away. It was a post sharing a series of tweets from a Brazilian professor who had a class with a few students that were diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). He noticed that one of those students was struggling, as she scored only 27% on her most recent quiz. He then had a conversation with the student and the student revealed to him that she had hyperactive ADHD. He asked for her permission and took 45 minutes of class time to have a discussion about neurodiversity with the entire class. During this conversation, a few other students that identified as having similar needs and one more student that also had an ADHD diagnosis came forward as well. Following the discussion in class, the professor decided to make extra space in between the last two rows for the students that needed to move around during class, so they could do so without missing any teachings. When the professor graded the next quiz, the same student (with hyperactive ADHD) , that had scored 27% on the previous quiz, scored 92%! This is what true inclusion and accommodation looks like! I legitimately feel that if people with developmental disabilities such as Autism and ADHD were supported, accommodated and included in a way that is beneficial not only to them but to their classmates as well (education wise), instead of forced to study alone in “special” classrooms or prescribed medication so they can behave in more “appropriate” neuronormative ways, we would have a much happier society overall.
In conclusion, when it comes to accommodating neurodistinct and/or disabled clients or students, when you notice any behavior, always stop yourself and think about what is causing that behavior and what can be done to make the person more comfortable. When you think you see disrespect, your student may be really overwhelmed. When you think you see manipulation, your student may be highly anxious. When you think you see aggression, your student may be scared. Ask yourself if there are any environmental stressors, a disparity between the task and the skill level, or any unmet needs that may be causing the student to struggle or perform poorly. Because a neurodistinct student, like any student, will do well if they can. I hope you enjoyed this article and that it was resourceful to you or anyone that you may know. Feel free to drop a comment below if you’d like to. 🙂
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