Neurodiversifying the Academy

‘Neurodiversifying the Academy’ aims to radically reimagine humanities research by centring neurodivergence to find new, accessible ways of inhabiting the academy.

The project will make transformative contributions to literary studies, neurodiversity studies, research cultures, and neurodiversity activism.

Its five overarching aims are to: - Uncover how nineteenth-century literary texts codified a neuronormative standard of being in response to specific moments of social reform - Establish models of literary analysis that centre neurodivergence - Drive new research agendas in the emergent field of critical neurodiversity studies - Address the epistemic injustice of enforcing neurotypically-informed expectations of form, expression, and production on neurodivergent researchers - Take steps towards neurodiversifying the academy going beyond individual accommodations to radically reimagine research practice The three workstreams – ‘The Legacy of the Dunce’s Hat’, ‘Neuroqueering Literary Theory’, and ‘Neurodivergent Research Methods’ – will combine disability-led literary criticism, archival research, performative modes of dissemination, collaborations with graphic illustrators and performance artists, and engagement with research cultures and research policy to answer the project’s primary research question: what are the legacies of the dunce’s hat in shaping the neuronormative structures of the contemporary academy?