As an adult neuro-divergent individual I have realised that not only our students are often ND, but also my colleauges in industry and education are highly likely to be.
As a matter of fact at least three of us Contour staff, in a team of 10, are ND and one thinks they might be. Not only that, but given our ages, we have all gone through education at a time when the conditions weren’t as well understood, so none of us had an assessment or a diagnosis until later in life.
I conducted a quick interview with two colleagues to assess any differences with our students. The main questions where the same I intended to ask students:
1. What type of support have you found most helpful?
Question 1.
Their conditions were very different, so they had different needs at work or when going through PGcert. They found the support given as students very helpful. One used the mental health support and found that it was valuable with understanding and accepting their needs, as well as managing the overlapping demands of their work/student/personal life; the other used academic support and found it instrumental in raising the level they could achieve in their studies.
I found these answers to be applicable to student experience, and they confirmed the question was appropriate for the students interviews.
2. Do you feel part of a community?
Both colleague displayed a high level of understanding for the Contour students requirements that is based on kindness and patience. That was the only way in which the sense of community was felt: in a position of service, helping the students navigate the course and personal learning challenges. I felt that this view was informed by their positionality as tutors and adults, and I related to their answers as a late diagnosed ND individual.
Their answers again suggested this was a good question to ask, and opened the conversation to other topics.
I decided to continue with the two questions in the interviews with the students.