For twice-exceptional (2e) individuals in immigrant communities, “Neurodivergent Joy” is often suppressed by a “double mask”—the pressure to meet cultural expectations while navigating neurodivergent traits. This session calls for a shift from compliance-based approaches to a Humanistic, Person-Centered framework. Using the Satir Iceberg metaphor, the presenter—a Lehman College graduate student, educator, and parent—explores how empathy and unconditional positive regard reduce internal barriers. Drawing from her son’s journey from depression to university success and her work at FlexSchool, this presentation demonstrates how person-centered support fosters authentic belonging, emotional resilience, and academic thriving for neurodivergent students in diverse cultural contexts.

This session explores how disability-led, sensory-friendly art spaces can foster neurodivergent joy, belonging, and authentic participation across higher education and community-connected learning environments. Drawing from the work of Bronx Special Kids, a parent- and disability-led organization, presenters examine art as a multimodal language that supports diverse communication styles, multilingual learners, and sensory needs. The session highlights inclusive design strategies—including visual supports, AAC-friendly engagement, flexible participation, and predictable structure—that move beyond compliance toward dignity and shared power. Participants will gain practical, replicable approaches for reimagining learning spaces where neurodivergent individuals are supported not only to access education, but to thrive.

Neurodivergent students at commuter institutions like CUNY often experience isolation despite the presence of formal accommodations. This in-person panel highlights the creation of the Neurodiversity Committee within Macaulay Mind as a student-led model for fostering belonging, leadership, and neurodivergent joy. Drawing on student survey research and lived experiences, panelists will discuss how peer-driven spaces help neurodivergent students feel seen, supported, and empowered. Attendees will learn practical strategies for building inclusive, student-centered neurodiversity communities that move toward authentic connection and advocacy.

Neurodivergent students, faculty, and staff in higher education often encounter institutional systems structured around accommodation compliance rather than environments that support sustained thriving. This workshop draws on doctoral research and lived experience to examine how routine academic practices, including assignment design, participation expectations, feedback processes, and time structures, are experienced by neurodivergent individuals. Through structured simulations and collaborative redesign activities, participants will examine masking, disclosure, and perception bias while reframing neurodivergence as human variation. Attendees will leave with practical, institutionally grounded strategies for cultivating neurodivergent joy, belonging, and authentic engagement in higher education settings.

The presentation will highlight inclusive teaching and engagement strategies developed through the CUNY Unlimited Program that are adaptable to any learning environment! 

A panel of students, staff, and faculty from Kingsborough, Hostos, Borough of Manhattan and Queens Colleges (that are all part of CUNY) will share joyful moments from meaningful faculty relationships to internship successes and involvement in inclusive creative art projects, together with ongoing barriers to access. 

The session will also examine the evolution of the Kingsborough Faculty Interest Group into a CUNY-wide Engagement Group as a transferable supportive and inclusive professional development model. 

Through student-led storytelling, collaborative problem solving, and open dialogue, participants will be inspired and will gain practical, research-based strategies to strengthen inclusive course design, self-advocacy, and institutional change. Come join in this important conversation!

A significant percentage of autistic and neurodivergent individuals are minimally verbal or non-speaking, yet research shows comprehension and cognitive capacity are often underestimated due to motor and communication challenges. This session examines how digital-based academic education, grounded in a presume-competence framework, can expand access, equity, and belonging for neurodiverse spellers in higher education. Aligned with CUNY’s disability and inclusion frameworks, including Universal Design for Learning (UDL), access-centered pedagogy, and ADA principles, this presentation emphasizes proactive design rather than reactive accommodation. Drawing on research by Dr. Vikram Jaswal and others, the session highlights evidence that non-speaking autistic individuals demonstrate agency and intentional communication when provided appropriate supports, reinforcing the need to separate motor output from cognitive ability. Led by Manisha Lad, autism advocate and Executive Director of Akhil Autism Foundation, the session integrates research, case examples, and a real college pathway to demonstrate how digital tools operationalize inclusive academic access. Akhil Lad’s journey—from being labeled nonverbal with limited expectations to pursuing an Associate Science degree—illustrates how partial homeschooling, online coursework, and college-level academics can be made accessible through intentional digital design. Participants will explore key categories of digital academic tools that support neurodiverse spellers, including interactive digital whiteboards, gesture- and visual-based math platforms, structured online learning environments, and multimodal assessment tools. These technologies reduce motor demands, allow flexible pacing, and provide multiple means of representation and expression consistent with UDL principles. The session also addresses implementation within higher education systems, including collaboration among faculty, disability services, tutors, and caregivers; digital access to instructional materials; and assessments that allow students to demonstrate knowledge without reliance on speech. The impact includes increased rigor, independence, persistence, and neurodivergent joy. This presentation invites CUNY partners to move beyond compliance-based models toward inclusive, technology-enabled academic environments where neurodiverse spellers are presumed competent and supported to thrive.

The Melissa Riggio Higher Education Program (MRHEP) is a post-secondary partnership program between AHRC NYC and the City University of New York (CUNY). The MRHEP program has opened many doors for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to have a fully inclusive college experience that was once denied. Students pursue lifelong learning, self-advocate, explore career goals, gain responsibility and learn collectively with all members of the college community. This presentation will give an overview of how self-discovery tools and curriculum are used to support the MRHEP scholars discover their preferences, learning styles, and personal goals. Following the presentation, a panel of MRHEP students will share their college experience and guide attendees with a hands-on activity utilizing one of the discovery tools discussed.

For many neurodivergent individuals, our passions are critical sources of meaning-making, social connection, and neurodivergent joy (Long, 2024; Wassell, 2026). This breakout session invites participants to share something that they are passionate about with other attendees in a grown-up version of show-and-tell. Participants might share photos of their bearded dragons, teach the group their favorite K-Pop dance moves, bring their translation of Beowulf, and more — whatever they are excited about, our Show & Tell participants are here to cheer on all presenters. All communication modalities are welcomed. The session will conclude with reflection on creating neurodivergent joy through passions.

This student-led panel centers neurodiverse participants from Tech Unlimited sharing personal stories of transformation during their transition into higher education. Panelists will discuss how community-based programs that prioritize choice, flexibility, and sustained support reshaped their experiences and shifted expectations from deficit-focused to strength-based. Moderated by LCSW Brittany Banks, students reflect on how pursuing passions through technology, collaborating on projects, and building community through mentorship and alumni networks changed how they viewed their potential. Attendees will gain insight into how these experiences challenge dominant narratives about neurodiversity and inform inclusive, social-emotional learning–centered environments that elevate student agency and long-term success.

Nonspeaking autistic people remain largely absent from higher education because rapid, real-time participation norms and uneven accommodations limit who can meaningfully participate and influence decisions. This neurodivergent-led session shares a practical framework for building inclusion-by-default systems. Using the TYPE project – six nonspeaking autistic co-designers and interdisciplinary collaborators developing an adaptive typing-based training system – as a case study, we show how communication-access practices and shared-authority practices enable nonspeaking collaborators to co-lead design and decision-making. Attendees will map their access ecosystem and leave with a draft “next 30 days” change to implement in classrooms, meetings, labs, and committees.

Students and educators who are neurodivergent often encounter higher education shaped by rigid norms and deficit perspectives. This session centers neurodivergent joy as a pedagogical goal and form of resistance. Drawing on the presenter’s lived experience as a neurodivergent faculty member leading an early education certificate taught in Portuguese, this session explores how language access and culturally sustaining practices foster belonging, confidence, and persistence. Through narrative reflection, applied examples, and interactive dialogue, participants examine predictable course design, multimodal engagement, and trauma-sensitive approaches that support regulation and connection. Attendees gain strategies and tools to cultivate inclusive environments in higher education settings.

This interactive session explores how creative, sensory-affirming workshops can cultivate neurodivergent joy, connection, and belonging in higher education. Drawing from a campus-based initiative that integrates crafts, affirmation, and low-pressure social engagement, presenters will demonstrate how experiential activities move institutions beyond compliance-based accommodations toward proactive inclusion. Participants will engage in brief hands-on reflection, examine implementation strategies, and leave with adaptable models for creating joy-centered spaces that support neurodivergent students’ well-being, self-expression, and community connection.

Neurodivergent students in higher education are often labeled disengaged or resistant when traditional structures fail to meet their needs. For autonomy-sensitive students, including those with a Persistent Demand for Autonomy (a.k.a. Pathological Demand Avoidance, PDA) profile, compliance-based environments can increase anxiety rather than support learning. This session reframes “resistance” as a signal for creative redesign. Grounded in Universal Design principles, lived experience, and current research, participants will explore autonomy-supportive strategies that reduce pressure, build trust, and foster engagement. These approaches not only support PDA and other neurodivergent students, but also promote belonging, agency, and neurodivergent joy across higher education settings.

D-CAP (Dub-C Autism Program) at West Chester University of Pennsylvania comprises a large group of students on the autism spectrum who participate in activities that promote academic, social, and career development. These students are passionate about spreading awareness of the autism spectrum and mitigating harmful public stigmas. Their panel will focus on the various benefits D-CAP provides its members and the broader neurodiversity community. Attendees will learn how higher education support systems work to provide neurodivergent students with a smooth transition into becoming independent and responsible adults. Additionally, panelists will share personal experiences that shaped their college experience, along with showcasing how specific autism supports developed a greater sense of confidence and authenticity within themselves.

Members of the CUNY Coalition for Students with Disabilities (CCSD) have thrived in university spaces for 37 years and counting! How is this possible? The ability to experience joy, success, and inclusion as a neurodivergent student starts with the proper foundation. Environmental changes, multiple means of access, and grassroots advocacy all provide the framework. In this presentation, CCSD not only explores the ways in which we celebrate neurodivergent joy every day, but the actions taken to lead us to a place of inclusion and self-celebration.

Autistic-led mentorship programs have unique potential to help Autistic students navigate the transition into college and/or the workforce gracefully. Yet, most programs pair Autistic mentees with non-autistic mentors. Making Mentors pairs Autistic college student mentors at CUNY and NYU with Autistic high school student mentees at NYC high schools. We will share how to make transitioning into adulthood more joyful and accessible through shared activities centered on mutual interests. Autistic mentors will share how their understanding of self-advocacy has deepened through their mentorship roles and how they guide their mentees to develop community, self-confidence, self-advocacy skills, and transition strategies.

Belonging Without Conforming explores neurodivergent joy through the lived experience of a neurospicy faculty member in physics and the arts. Diagnosed in her 50s after years of misdiagnosis, the presenter reflects on how creative, multimodal teaching practices - developed long before diagnosis - functioned as intuitive acts of care and regulation. Drawing on joy-centered multimodal pedagogy, sensory-informed learning, and storytelling, this talk reframes accessibility as belonging without conformity. Through reflection, experiential elements, and concrete teaching examples, participants are invited to imagine learning environments where neurodivergent ways of being are celebrated as sources of creativity, connection, access and joy.

When I was five years old, a school psychologist suspected something was different about the way I learned and processed the world. They questioned whether I had ADHD or autism, but at the time, having both was not commonly recognized. The uncertainty remained unresolved. In an immigrant household where Spanish and Italian were spoken at home, my differences were explained away as language confusion. I was placed in ESL, received extra help, tutoring, and academic support, yet I continued to struggle. Not just with schoolwork, but with friendships, communication, and understanding unspoken rules that others seemed to grasp naturally.

Early childhood teachers may be autistic women and are, anecdotally, often autistic women. Early childhood teachers are experts in observing and supporting play. Our longitudinal study of play has cultivated means of supporting a neurodiverse research team, which has enabled the study to more fully include early childhood teachers in the design of the study. This presentation will describe and discuss several unexpected methodological developments, all related to neurodivergent joy, that our research process has produced. The principal investigator is autistic and will present with fellow participant researchers from the project, including a current CUNY student and recent CUNY graduates.

This interactive workshop explores neurodivergent joy and creativity through stop motion animation, modeled after the Reel Works Support Lab. Led by professionals with experience in supporting neurodivergent youth, the session demonstrates how self-paced stop motion animation production supports diverse learners through tactile motor engagement, sound exploration, and visual storytelling. Participants will experience inclusive workflows that honor varied production speeds, communication styles, and sensory preferences. Attendees—including students, educators, and disability professionals—will gain practical strategies for using stop motion animation to foster self-advocacy, confidence, creativity and belonging while embedding proactive, joy-centered inclusion into learning environments for neurodivergent and neurotypical learners alike.