Building a Neurodivergent Friendly University

It was a comment from a colleague that got the wheels turning for University of Melbourne academics Dr Matt Harrison, Dr Jess Riordan and Dr Sarah Timperley.

The comment came following the opening of a low-impact sensory space at the University of Melbourne, which Matt, Jess and Sarah had lobbied and received funding for. As they showed off the new space at its grand opening in 2022, an autistic colleague commented that it was the only accessible space in the whole faculty for those with sensory sensitivities.

The trio – all three of them neurodivergent themselves – thought it was a point well made, and realised they needed to better understand how neurodivergent staff and students experienced the university.

As researchers, they got right to work on what would become the University of Melbourne Neurodiversity Project, which aims to improve the university experience for neurodivergent staff and students. The researchers went straight to the top, submitting a proposal to the Vice Chancellor for more than $400,000 in funding for the pilot, which will enhance understandings of what neurodiversity and neuro-affirming teaching and learning strategies are, and provide places for staff and students to connect with each other and with the supports they need.

The fact that the project is focused on both staff and students is key, Matt said.

“It’s the idea that we’re all sharing these environments together,” he explained.

For the researchers, the word ‘environment’ encompasses both the physical and cultural spaces, sparking conversations on how to create inclusive cultural environments that foster understanding of things like different communication styles, needs for routines and predictability, and the draining impact of in-person meetings for many neurodivergent people.

And fortunately, they had an international example of success to draw upon, looking to Stanford University’s successful neurodiversity project.

Stanford University’s Neurodiversity Project  has similar aims to the one being implemented in Melbourne.

Matt first heard about it while visiting California for research. While there, he spoke to some people who had been through Stanford’s program, which piqued his interest. He, Sarah and Jess also looked through Stanford’s online resources to get a better idea of what they had done. They used what they had found to inform their own research goals and plans – including the aim to create real, lasting cultural change across the university.

“They get me”

Matt believes that the vast majority of people working in the university care about making it an inclusive space for all staff and students. For him, cultural change is created through education – which is why the trio has delivered 47 capacity-building workshops across various faculties and groups, including dentistry and health sciences, medicine and even the museums and collections team.

But before this, the team needed to get a feel for who they were working with and for. Realising they had no solid data on how many neurodivergent staff and students attend the university, they designed a university-wide needs-analysis survey to map them out.

539 neurodivergent students responded to the survey, along with 265 staff, plus many more who were questioning their neuro-identity or identifying as allies.

Matt believes part of the survey’s success was his team’s willingness to be open about their own neurotypes.

“I think that openness was quite refreshing for a lot of our participants in that survey. We had comments saying, ‘I can tell this is actually designed by someone who’s neurodivergent because they get me’,” he said.

Now, he added, the university can say it has the world’s largest dataset around neurodivergent people – and it is this data that will form the basis of the project going forward.

“A lot of people to reach”

The group is partnering with other Australian universities and TAFEs to set up a higher education network that will shepherd cultural change in the sector for neurodivergent people.

Matt added there has been global interest in what he, Jess and Sarah are doing at the University of Melbourne. This has resulted in speaking gigs at institutions across the United States, with further trips planned to the United Kingdom next year.

Despite the surging interest, he is realistic about the process of changing a large, old, traditionally conservative institution’s culture. After all, he said, it can take five to seven years to embed such changes.

“We’re hoping to get our project extended. We think we’ve been very successful in starting that conversation, but we still have a lot of people to reach in the university,” he said.

He expects co-design to play a role in creating more inclusive environments.

Already though, the team is making good progress. They recently held their first Celebrating Neurodiversity Research Symposium, a place for neurodivergent researchers to share their research and success.

The symposium also aimed to show neurodivergent researchers that they are valued within the university.

“The reason we wanted to do that was to support research by neurodiversity researchers. The idea was if you can see it, you can be it,” he said.

“We can be outstanding researchers when we’re in the right environment. And outstanding teachers, and outstanding students. [But] culture change just takes time.”

The trio of researchers hopes the project will see the University of Melbourne become “the world’s leading neurodivergent-friendly institution”, Matt said. They know, based on the example at Stanford University, that this scale of change can be done, and done successfully, and help neurodivergent staff and students flourish and feel safe.

“It will become a competitive advantage to be a neurodivergent, inclusive place because we will be the institution of choice for some very, very talented students, academics and professional staff members,” he added.

The staff and students surveyed remain optimistic about the project too, he said, and have been supportive of measures like the research symposium.

Matt remains hopeful that true inclusion will take hold in all education institutions.

“We’re getting there. I think the first thing to do is to lift up the rock and have a look and ask the tough questions – and it’s pretty unusual for any institution… to allow that to happen. I think the University of Melbourne deserves a great amount of credit for allowing us to ask those hard questions and to share that data.

“It’s something that we see as a bit of an ethical obligation in a way, that this needs to change for the next generation. We’re hoping that what we do will shape possibilities for people. We know for the next generation that’s coming through, that it’s going to make life a lot easier.”

Written by: Danielle Kutchel

January 2025