Presenters: J. Scates & Kelsey Reeder, Columbia University School of Social Work

This session will critically explore the relationship between academic rigor, executive function challenges, and burnout resistance among instructors and students throughout academia, particularly marginalizing and disabling the neurodivergent among us. Examining the existing academic landscape, we will discuss the following (and many more) innovative strategies and programming that bolster mental health and foster well-being for neurodivergent students within classroom, departmental, and institutional settings throughout the academy: generative assignment guidelines, outlined supports for neurodivergent ESL (English as a second language) students, integration of learning materials and formats catering to a range of learning styles, consideration of multiple means of representation and engagement in course content, flexibility in assessment methods, and ongoing evaluation and innovation. Using frameworks from the work(s) of disability justice activist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, we aim to push the academy from ‘supporting’ and ‘accommodating’ neurodivergence to building systems accessible to the disability and neurodivergence spectrums we all live upon. Educators, administrators, and mental health professionals will enhance their understanding of how academia’s traditional definitions of rigor inhibit all students, particularly neurodivergent students, from deep, experiential learning and comprehension. Instead, current conceptualizations and enforcement of ‘rigorous’ standards reinforce Paolo Freire's concept of the ‘banking model of education’, burnout, and ongoing marginalization.