Tactics for Advocating for Education of Neurodiverse Individuals in Underserved Populations
In the realm of education, it's crucial to acknowledge and address the unique challenges faced by neurodivergent learners from marginalized communities. These learners often encounter barriers such as rigid educational expectations, deficit-focused interventions, cultural stigma, and environmental inaccessibility.
To create more equitable educational and professional environments, educators and professionals can adopt neurodiversity-affirming practices that centre equity over equality, adapt environments to individual needs, and actively confront systemic barriers and stigma.
Key strategies include:
- Equity-focused support: Instead of treating all students identically, provide individualized accommodations such as quiet spaces, alternative communication methods, flexible deadlines, sensory tools, and movement opportunities that respect each learner's unique needs.
- Systemic adaptation: Shift from blaming the child for struggles to modifying learning spaces and teaching practices to reduce barriers and support neurodivergent ways of thinking and communicating.
- Inclusive, neurodiversity-affirming environments: Recognize neurodivergence as natural brain differences, not deficits. Use personalized learning tools—increasingly including AI-powered supports—that help build routines, self-regulation, and multisensory engagement tailored to individual processing styles.
- Advocacy and allyship: Promote the rights of neurodivergent individuals by challenging stigma, amplifying their voices, and advocating for inclusive policies and cultural change that address both neurodivergence and marginalization.
- Collaborative approaches: Professionals should work alongside neurodivergent individuals—particularly from marginalized backgrounds—to co-create supports that reflect lived experience and social justice perspectives, moving beyond purely medical models to view societal barriers as central obstacles to inclusion.
Specific barriers faced by these learners include rigid ideas of “fairness” that fail to accommodate diverse sensory and communication needs, deficit-based assumptions and attempts to make neurodivergent individuals appear "neurotypical," cultural stigma and invisibility, and lack of tailored resources and awareness among educators trained mostly in standardized models that do not reflect neurodivergent cultural or linguistic nuances.
Families can also play a significant role in supporting their learners' executive functioning skill development. Recognizing and building on student strengths is crucial for their confidence and motivation to continue to improve. Taking time to learn how the student learns best and what they value can help in teaching executive functioning skills effectively.
The Executive Function Resource Hub and the Executive Function Assessment can provide valuable resources for educators and families. However, it's important to remember that these tools may not fully reflect differences in culture or other belief systems. Life skills coaching (even online) can help fill the gap in communities with fewer local resources.
By adopting these practices and fostering a supportive, inclusive learning environment, we can empower neurodivergent learners from marginalized communities to thrive and reach their full potential.
[1] Understood.org [2] EdTech Magazine [3] Autism Speaks [4] NeuroClastic [5] National Education Association (NEA)
- To further empower neurodivergent learners from marginalized communities, stress management techniques and life skills coaching can be integrated into personal development programs, helping them navigate the challenges of life more effectively.
- In addition to adopting neurodiversity-affirming practices in the classroom, educators can facilitate time management skills by creating structured learning environments and providing tools for organizing tasks, which can greatly benefit these learners' personal growth and long-term success.
- Engaging in education-and-self-development exercises that focus on learning new skills, such as adaptive problem-solving and communication strategies, can help neurodivergent learners from marginalized communities break down barriers and foster a stronger sense of personal-growth and self-efficacy.
