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Behind the Scenes: Writing our Neurodiversity module

When it comes to the human brain and central nervous system, the concept of neurodiversity states that we don’t all end up the same – individuals are categorised as either neurotypical (they process information and function in a way that society deems ‘the norm’) or neurodivergent (they analyse content in an alternative way).

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Posted 16/03/2022

Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple Inc., was known to be neurodivergent. Jobs was regarded as one of the leading revolutionists within the technological world. For over 30 years, he created a line of products that would go on to have cultural ramifications for many. His ‘Think Different’ marketing campaign went on to support the development of Apple products, such as the, iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and the Apple stores, apps, and music services. At the time of Jobs’ death in 2011, he was reported to be worth $10.2 billion. Leonardo de Vinci and Albert Einstein were also thought to be neurodivergent.

Dyslexia UK suggest that 10% of the UK population have dyslexia or dyspraxia, whilst The National Autistic Society have found that only 16% of adults with autism are in full time employment. 

But surprisingly, there are no specific statistics on unemployment amongst neurodivergent people, especially as society is, and has always been, full of neurodivergent individuals.

At the Access Group, we realise the benefits of having a diverse workforce, which can help inspire creativity, open communication, build trust between employees, and organisations. That’s why we wanted to build a neurodiversity module to help enable our clients to be as rich as possible in diversity.

We set up a focus group

There were a few challenges we came across when we began the design process; we had to:

  1. Sift through the vast amount of information on neurodiversity.
  2. Avoid writing based on our own perceptions rather than a lived reality.
  3. Balance how we talked about such a large and complex topic without offending those we wanted to support.

We decided to set up a focus group with neurodivergent people where they could share their experiences with us. ‘Processing information differently doesn’t mean it’s wrong’, was the biggest theme that came out of the conversations. We also discovered that trying to bring awareness to every aspect of neurodiversity in one module would not work, as it wouldn’t give the right level of attention to each topic.

The focus group helped us to shape the themes of our learning content and allowed us to focus our module on reshaping the understanding of neurodiversity.  

We invited contributors to share their views and stories

Our module explains to learners what neurodiversity is, and to explore what it might be like to live in a neurotypical world, as a neurodivergent individual. True stories are always a great way to help learners empathise with others, and to consider how they might feel given the same situation. So, we invited a number of contributors to share with us their views on neurodiversity, and their lived experiences.  

Our first contributor was an amazing lecturer from the University of Brighton, Dr Damon Taylor. He shared with us his technical understanding of neurodiversity, and his views on what it means to process information and the environment around you in a different way.

Following this conversation, our neurodivergent contributors were welcomed to share their experiences on camera. We had listened to their adjustments in the focus group which encouraged us to share the questions in advance. The environment was adjusted to their needs and made to feel comfortable, to encourage an open conversation. The questions were used as talking points and the content was captured via a natural conversation.

We worked with neurodiversity experts to help us with the content

We wanted the module to have neurodivergent voices at all stages of our design process, so we worked with a Subject Matter Expert (SME) who was also neurodivergent. The SME commented on the graphics we selected, and the questions and talking points we asked each contributor.

We delivered a great module!

As Learning Designers, we learned so much from working on this project. Neurodiversity has shown us the importance of physically collaborating with the communities about which we are writing. To be able to really understand a person’s lived experience, you need to hear directly from them, rather than through the eyes of someone else.

It’s easy to write content about people from your point of view and think you’re representing them; however, bias will unintentionally creep in. In society today, everyone wants to have their voice heard but if we write for others then we run the risk of taking something away from their truth. As a Learning Designer, it’s important to use the platform I have to allow people to be heard and seen. Thank you to everyone who has been involved, SMEs, contributors, specialists, and digital content creators. It has been a thought-provoking, eye-opening experience that will change my outlook.

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