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TITLE: Neurodiversity-affirmative education for autistic learners

Neurodiversity is a simple, incontrovertible scientific fact, but the implications of this concept are both profound and radical. In this lecture, Professor Sue Fletcher-Watson will start by exploring how recent findings are undermining historic models of understanding autism, and highlighting the need for a new framework of understanding. She will introduce and define neurodiversity and three core tenets of the neurodiversity paradigm. She will then draw on the work of prominent neurodivergent scholars to directly address some common misunderstandings around neurodiversity. In the second half of the talk, illustrated by examples from her team’s ongoing research, Professor Fletcher-Watson will work through the implications of neurodiversity for education. She will ask: what would neurodiversity-affirmative schools look like? And how can we create them?

Sue Fletcher-Watson is Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Edinburgh and Director of the Salvesen Mindroom Research Centre. She is interested in how children grow and learn, with a particular focus on development and neurodiversity. Her work draws on rigorous methods from psychology and applies these to questions with clinical, educational and societal impact. She strives to achieve meaningful partnerships with community representatives and to support neurodivergent leadership in research. She is an advocate for open science and good citizenship in research, and serves as Co-Director of Research Ethics for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

The lecture will take place on Wednesday,16th March 2022, at 18:00 GMT.