Kathryn and a team of students and educators applied to Grants for Good in 2022 and were successful in their request for funding to support neurodivergent staff and students while at Massey.
With the funding received, the team has set up online neurodivergent groups, which meet monthly to discuss their needs and identify what resources would better support them.
Our team of six is comprised of cross disciplinary scholars who share a common focus on research within neurodiversity. We come from psychology, sociology, anthropology and education and are from diverse backgrounds. We have a variety of different community of practice groups including Dyslexia, ADHD and Autism as well as a wider community of practice on Neurodiversity with over 20 staff members. Some of the team identify as neurodivergent, the rest of us as allies and advocates, many with family histories of diversity.
Kathryn is the lead on this project but not for any particular reason, just she put her hand up at the right time. Kathryn is mother to an autistic daughter and has seen the struggles she faced with education, mostly in high school. Also as a lecturer to one of the first-year psychology classes, she founds she was getting many students approaching her with different learning needs. At the same time, the postgraduate students looking for topics to do research on were increasingly interested in and identifying as neurodivergent. Fortuitously Kathryn’s colleague, Sharon Crooks, was teaching the same psychology course on the Palmerston North campus and held similar interests, identifying as neurodivergent (ADHD) and having completed her PhD investigating lived experiences of autistic adolescents in mainstream NZ high schools. As a team, we wanted to make a difference for tertiary students, particularly those with diverse minds. Overall, we are a team of people dedicated to making tertiary education accessible and inclusive for all neurodivergent students and staff.
We are working to change the visibility of neurodivergence at Massey University by empowering students. We started on-line groups for neurodivergent students to begin to get students talking and discussing what they need and to see they are not alone. These run monthly and are a chance to connect with other students, get tips to surviving university as a neurodivergent student, and to feedback to the team on their priorities for change. Two students (neurodivergent) have been given scholarships to help with the work including technical and artistic resources, summarising information, and function as liaisons between staff and students. The next phase is a website plus other more practical resources, however this is planned as a collaborative approach with students so we will continue to have more sessions and opportunities to get their input.
Our research and personal experiences inspired us to take on this project. Because of our research we have innovative and cutting-edge insights into neurodivergent tertiary students which we wanted to see positively actioned rather than just being put into journal articles or institutional policy. This means that we remove the trickle down (and watered-down) effect which happens often with journal articles and policy development due to the length of time it takes to see change within the environment. The other inspiration was to work from the bottom up, working with the students, not telling them what they need but asking them.
There is a strong social justice movement globally around neurodiversity and this is our team’s passion – activism, social justice, and truly inclusive education so this topic was inspired by a global interest in this area as well as personal interest. We also saw TEC and the Disability sector in Aotearoa, New Zealand speaking out to identify this as an area requiring greater collaboration with neurodivergent students to better inform practice and impact student retention, success, and post-graduation experiences. This grant would give us an opportunity to take the time to focus on this area.
A member of the Dyslexia CoP brought this grant to our attention and a group of researching staff members decided to apply. We were looking for means to resource the activities we wanted to create and implement.
As with all grant applications with a team, it was a little stressful but the ability to try for something innovative which other funds are not interested in made it worthwhile. However, the value and input of the team I think was what made it a successful grant. Our different viewpoints and lived experiences, as well as shared passions aided the quality of the grant, however added to the time to prepare. As with most grants, the budget was difficult, not on costings but deciding where to focus spending. The other area that we discussed a lot was outcomes and how we would show that we had excellent value for money.
This work would not have been possible without the grant. Because were all volunteering much of our time in this area previously, however the grant gave us a specific focus and the motivation to work collaboratively on a larger impact project. It has enabled us to be able to make neurodiversity more visible in the University and to bring about change for students. It therefore gives us a reason to spend time on this area, to create resources, to talk with each other and the students to discern what is most needed and therefore how we might be able to strive toward meeting these needs and making them known by those with power to impact systemic change. Two neurodivergent students have had some funding that will support their learning but also give value to the team and impact what we hope to achieve by enabling additional insider perspectives.
We are passionate researchers of neurodiversity and wanted to see change within the university centred around the students and building from their needs within a system which is not designed for them. The grant has given us the opportunity to put into practice our focus which is to empower neurodivergent students to not simply accommodate them within existing structures of power. It means that this topic is worthwhile, that others see the value in supporting tertiary students (sometimes we feel alone in pushing for changes). The affirmation given in receiving the grants has been empowering for us.
Don’t hesitate. Take the opportunity. We were not sure if our project would be of interest and were excited by their willingness to try something outside of the box. The application is not that difficult but will take a little bit of time to prepare.
Be realistic and imaginative about what you would like to do. Get input from others (if you are an individual) or consider team grants. The value of differing viewpoints and ideas is super important. Allow time to prepare; someone will have to be the ‘named’ person on the grant for financial and reporting reasons (consider this carefully).
A start to empowering neurodivergent students within the University. Often ideas like accommodations are where Universities stop but to truly engage with all students we need to empower them in the ways they think, know and connect with the world. We want communities created to decrease isolation and the subsequent stress that comes from being marginalised and experiencing life as a minority student. Our goal is to increase student success and well-being. We want practical and tangible resources created that will help students succeed. We want to change attitudes and increase awareness of neurodivergent students. We want the students and staff to work together and see actionable changes. The university has policies about Student wellbeing and disability; however, we hope to provide outcomes to ensure change is appropriate and grounded in research, lived experience and expertise.
We hope in many ways from creating safe spaces for neurodivergent students and staff to be, to knowing where to get help and support, to providing practical and emotional supports, developing and circulating resources, and raising increased awareness within the university and wider community.
If you are interested and want to know more about Grants for Good and how to apply then click below.