2025-McDermott

Situating Neurodivergent Learning and Performance Within Neuroqueer Perspectives

Presented by Dr. Liam McDermott

Date and Time

2025 Disability Summit

Date: Tuesday, April 22

Lecture: 11:35a-11:50a

Q&A: 11:50-12:00p

Presentation Materials

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Abstract

Ableism is normalized in higher education. It is systemic and pervasive, and often pedagogical best practices are developed and disseminated without interrogating how ableist norms underlie the very foundation of academia. It is critical that we break down systemic barriers in higher education to allow all students to succeed. One such barrier is how teaching and assessment marginalize neurodivergent students by privileging only specific neurotypical ways of learning. There is a dearth of research analyzing the non-normative ways neurodivergent students learn and perform STEM in a higher education setting. In this talk, we report on results from a systematic literature review of neurodivergent undergraduate STEM learning and performance and situate the results within Neuroqueer theory. We provide recommendations from the literature and discuss next steps for dismantling ableist pedagogy and creating neuro-inclusive higher education.

About the Speaker

Dr. Liam McDermott

Dr. Liam McDermott is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Connecticut – Avery Point, working with Dr. Erin Scanlon on their project investigating the ways neurodivergent physics undergraduates learn and perform physics. Liam is a neurodivergent physics education researcher whose professional goals include making the sciences a more equitable place for disabled and neurodivergent learners like himself, and creating neuro-inclusive curricular materials for educators in both k-12 and higher education.

Liam McDermott wearing a white lab coat. He has short brown hair and glasses. He is holding a baby snapping turtle in his hands, named Stumpy. The turtle is very small and very fat.