Friday 22-03-2024 - 10:12

The first time I heard the word ‘diversity’ was when I was in primary school. I didn’t know what the word meant, and ironically, nobody else in the class knew what it meant either. We were in the same boat all those years ago; children who were keen to learn about the world. We didn’t realise until later that they were only teaching us about it so that we could adapt in accordance with it. When the boat sank, only those that had been given paddles were able to make it to shore.

 

Why?

Because when neurodiverse children attempted to build their own rafts, putting in even more work, they were told that this wasn’t the ‘proper’ way. So, they were left, deserted on an island that isolated them from the education that our country prides itself on being accessible to all.

         

 

Step 1: Send out the lifeboats!

Whilst it’s an incredible outlook to change the world for the future generation, what about the individuals who are already here? This relates to you, or students you know, here in our own university. At Edge Hill, there are a range of courses with a variety of different teaching methods depending on class sizes, coursework types and who even knows what else (hopefully the staff do!). We cannot really change which courses operate in certain ways, however what we can do is be welcoming – and I don’t just mean to people with neurodivergence. You will never know just from looking at someone if their brain happens to operate in a nonconventional manner, and some students might not even know themselves, but what you do know is that there is that possibility. Be welcoming to everybody.

 

To the person who sits next to you and clicks at their pen. To the student in your presentation group, who is struggling to raise their voice enough to be heard. To the tutor, who wants the window shut because the fountain is far too loud. These might seem like menial, inconsequential moments, but for some people, these small allowances come from a lifetime of complex struggles.

         

 

Step 2: Ready the harbour

Just because some individuals took a more winding journey, doesn’t mean they have any less right to the land. Nobody in our world should have a voice that isn’t listened to. Marcus Wilton, a teenage boy with neurodivergence, had this voice taken from him in primary school, when he was excluded three times. He was branded as ‘just a naughty boy’, even though he’d received multiple diagnoses early on. Marcus’ struggle with education particularly, but also life as a whole, was summed up in a few words that have stuck with me. He summed up his experience as feeling like ‘a PC in an apple store’ – and if anyone knows about gadgets, it would be Marcus, who has strived since moving to a specialist provision. He is now an aspiring games developer, and in mine and many others’ opinion, quite literally a genius.

 

Marcus is an inspiration to all, because although he was forced to leave that apple store, travelling for hours there and back everyday to a PC provision that provided education to meet his needs, he is now pushing in every way he can for a more accessible world. Despite his sensory struggles with crowds and his detrimental anxiety, Marcus stands up on stage repeatedly, in front of huge audiences, to deliver his message that celebrates his neurodivergence and encourages others to as well. Marcus doesn’t see neurodivergence as a hindrance, but as a ‘superpower’, and I believe that a large factor of this celebratory, positive outlook is because of the accepting, optimistic people he was surrounded with, due to being brought up by his incredible grandmother, Jean Fitzpatrick (former teacher, SENCO and head of inclusion, current chair of the Warrington Parents and Carers forum, along with so much more that this blog could be purely focused on her).

 

If we surround every individual with warmth and are willing to learn who they are, the first bridge is made to bring them into a more accepting world. Then, finally, we can complete…

 

 

Step 3: Celebrate

Everyone.