Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Seminar for Autism Awareness Month

Lived Experiences and the Importance of Awareness

Daisy Shearer, a physics PhD student at the University of Surrey and founder of the Neurodivergent in STEM project kicked off the event with a pre-recorded presentation discussing this project and her own personal journey with autism.  

Diagnosis of a close family member led Daisy to research autism and she found herself identifying with blogs written by autistic women, with their lived experiences aligning with her own. While being apprehensive prior to her initial assessment appointment, Daisy felt empowered by her diagnosis of autism at the age of 21 as it gave her access to reasonable adjustments which made University life easier for her.

Stating that lived experiences are key to fostering acceptance and vital for those on their own diagnostic journey, Daisy founded the Neurodivergent in STEM project aiming to empower neurodivergent minorities in STEM and STEM-adjacent fields through sharing stories from neurodivergent scientists.

Daisy's Personal Website

Chair of the event, Dr Jean O’Donoghue (School of Chemistry Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator) then proceeded to take the role of interviewer by engaging with the next two speakers through conversations rather than solo presentations.

First up, Andrew Hugill, Professor of Music and Professor of Creative Computing at the University of Leicester and author of Autistic Professor. Andrew shared that he was diagnosed with autism just 3 years ago after a relative suggested that he might be autistic. This provoked Andrew to conduct his own personal research about autism and, despite being sceptical at first, he came to the realisation that this was accurate. He went on to obtain a formal diagnosis, and noted that he prefers the term “identification” to diagnosis. This identification was highly beneficial for Andrew’s mental health and allowed him to be kinder to himself in the present and when reflecting on the past.

When asked how he functions in an academic setting, Andrew shared that he enjoys the structure and rules governing academia but that navigating the physical environment of higher education is challenging. Andrew noted that, in general, University environments can be physically hostile places for neurodivergent people. For example, fluorescent lights, the position of furniture and how a space smells might affect an autistic person but this viewpoint is rarely taken into consideration when designing spaces in academic institutions. He noted that, coming out of the COVID pandemic, Universities are looking at creating agile working spaces and that these are rarely suitable for autistic people.

• Autistic Professor
• Andrew's own website

Jean thanked Prof Hugill and introduced into conversation Georgia (George) Oliver, Information Security Consultant at The University of Edinburgh (CISO Office) who described her realisation that she is autistic as profound. This realisation came from reading blogs written by autistic mothers and Georgia (George) notes that this has helped her accept who she is, know her limits and empowered her to set boundaries and be able to communicate them with others.

Disabled Staff Network and Student Disability Service

Siobhán Carroll, Co-Chair Disabled Staff Network (University of Edinburgh), spoke next to highlight that this network aims to promote the needs of and providing a voice for disabled staff. Along with this, the network provides support in terms of reasonable adjustments for staff members as well as pastoral support, through creating networks for disabled staff to connect.

• Disabled Staff Network (EASE login required)

Laura Gaine, Autism Spectrum Mentor for Student Disability Service (University of Edinburgh), highlighted the one-to-one support offered by this service to neurodivergent students at all degree levels. This support comes in the form of academic (perfectionism, time management) and non-academic (sleep schedules, hygiene and negotiating social situations) advice with a mentor and allows students to explore their autism diagnosis in the context of university.

Two undergraduate students, Jessica Moore and Mark Todd spoke to share their experiences as autistic students who have engaged with the Student Disability Service. Jessica noted that she finds meeting other autistic students within the University helpful and that a positive of her diagnosis is having access to the reasonable adjustments that make University life easier. Mark spoke on how he enjoys being able to talk to neurotypical people about his experience to help them understand the issues faced by neurodivergent people.

Learning More

The seminar ended with a Q&A involving all the speakers (except Daisy Shearer), inviting questions from participants covering networking for neurodivergent people, overcoming being taken advantage of, when/how to disclose ones neurodiversity and useful adjustments and considerations for neurodivergent students.