Reading (well, listening to, via Speechify) about intersectional PHD students reporting their struggles in academia (Bradbury 2023), I felt very seen. I feel bad even saying it, because I have always considered myself very privileged, but I have started viewing my path through life in a different light after being diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD last year.
I am an academic, supposedly, as I am a lecturer, but I am not academic in the traditional sense of the adjective. This is why I have enjoyed academic success, as a student, only when I have encountered a learning environment (BAhons Contour Fashion) that was suitable for my neurodivergent brain and I started struggling again when things got more tasking (MA and PgCert) in that department. Despite the differences in learning approach – practical vs text based – the big difference was also awareness. Awareness that I am not strong on big academic words as some other students / academics are, and awareness that this is due to something I can work on, but cannot control.
I am not purporting to understand the struggles or obstacles of a non white person, mearly because I was an immigrant in the UK – as my status never impacted on me negatively – but as a neurodivergent person I need to draw from my personal experience, however loosely related, in order to understand or relate to someone else’s issues.
So, the discussion about visible and invisible characteristics and how they negate the complexity of inter-sectionalism, as well as Asif Sadiq discussing how he was assumed to have struggled because of his race, make me think about how visibility and awareness are at the centre of the issue… how visibility impacts our bias and hinder our ability to get to know others.
We should always assume we are dealing with other complex personalities. We spend more time with ourselves than anyone, and we still discover things about our personalities decades into our lives, how can we expect to understand everything about another person with just one look? We should observe, over time, and be curious, to understand and learn from others, to ask their perspective; it’s bound to be different, as we are such complex creatures that no one is alike, and so must be our experiences.
Lastly, I am critical of the phrase “no one looks like me”. I understand the importance of visibile representation as a positive factor, but I find it defies the whole principle of intersectionality when aspiring academic, journalists, writers, artists, internalise whiteness as a single almighty impediment to their success. I’m not denying whiteness, but I wish it didn’t erase all other aspects of a creative personality in the eyes of the creative person. A frustrated part of me thinks: “you are creative, use your imagination!” or “it’s not an obstacle, it’s a nieche opportunity”. By all means, let’s use the discussion on whiteness and anti racism to burst the door open, not to help keep it shut from our side. I found comfort in the words of Arif Ahmed from The Telegraph, about the negative impact of tick-box inclusivity measures, and how inclusivity has to be practiced long term. (Orr, 2022) It speaks of a much more nuanced approach to mutual understanding; something that is much more compatible with intersectionality. I am glad to hear an academic raise this issue, and for the PgCert team to have included this resource as a discussion starter.