Presenter: Lisa Joy Tuttle, MA, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA, and University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA

For learners with ADHD, the educational arena is often a significant area of struggle due to the psychobiological aspects of ADHD, its societal stigmatization, and structural barriers. As these students progress into higher education, they frequently report high levels of stress, perfectionism, and difficulties with emotion regulation potentially leading to overwhelm and burnout. For those pursuing an advanced degree—where an independent focus and little outside structure are the norm—social isolation, frustration accessing adequate supports within and outside their academic institutions, and the stressors of striving to conform to neuro-normative expectations may put learners’ mental health at risk and derail their academic and career prospects. This interactive session will present emergent findings from the facilitator’s PhD dissertation research-in-process exploring the struggles and strengths of 30 ADHD adults who have attained a doctoral degree or who are currently engaged in a doctoral program. The study, which was sparked by and incorporates the presenter’s lived experience, is the first to have been undertaken by a neurodivergent researcher with the aims of increasing the representation of neurodivergent students in doctoral programs and strengthening professional praxis. Attendees will come away with (a) a heightened appreciation of the challenges, resources, and capacities of neurodivergent scholars, (b) applicable strength-based approaches that are revealed in the research; (c) inspiration to persist in higher education, and (d) suggested adjustments that institutions of higher learning might make to support the mental well-being and success of this talented group. Keywords: ADHD, advanced degree, expertise-by-experience, qualitative research