But areas like education, and specifically higher degree research, are still severely lacking in appropriate support for neurological difference. Such environments may even enhance or manufacture disability. Rather than using a deficit or disorder model that tries to fix the neurodivergence, support is needed that recognises and empowers unique strengths, caring for each person’s needs. Neurodivergence, as a term, includes a variety of conditions. This article comes from the perspective of an autistic ADHD (AuDHD) PhD student and supervisory team in a creative arts project.
Supervision as collaboration
High attention to detail. Creative problem solving. Hyperfocus. Expertise in favourite subjects. Creativity. Honesty. Pattern recognition. These are some of the strengths of the autistic brain. ADHD brains share many of the same traits. Seen through the lens of assets, many ND people are well suited to higher education. But universities are also unpredictable; sensorially overstimulating; and require complex social skills. They also operate with complex administrative processes and use language that requires a high level of decoding labour. Without adequate support it is an environment that could easily become disabling.
Our success as a team relied on active listening, honest, direct communication, curiosity, and a collaborative working relationship in lieu of a traditional top-down hierarchy. In our initial meetings we discussed characteristics of AuDHD and clearly defined the areas of support-needs to be aware of.
The supervisory team was divided into two areas of expertise: visual arts and psychology. As the subject of the PhD was trauma-related and practice-led, the two disciplines were able to balance support of both the student and the project. Both supervisors actively dived into the PhD candidate’s drafts while Lyndall played the major role in studio research and administrative tasks. Joanne provided guidance on trauma and the mental health aspects of the project.
The project engaged with the myth of the ‘heroic’ rapist and feminist counter-media practices. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, the research focused on the connection between Greco-Roman mythology with current socio-political debates around men’s violence towards women and traditional gender stereotypes. It centred on re-coding women’s experiences of sexual violence in visual art and news media, exploring strategies for countering the myth of the ‘heroic’ rapist (Figures 1–4).
The convergence of autistic and ADHD traits presents a unique challenge, necessitating a holistic balance between predictability and novelty. The implementation of a consistent weekly framework from the principal supervisor, with clearly defined expectations, effectively addressed the need for routine. Every Monday: new work was to be sent; Tuesday: feedback was provided; and Wednesday: supervision meetings were held. Within this structure the student was free to work on either the studio or exegetical component, whichever had their current interest. The need for novelty was satisfied through accommodating a non-linear progress that facilitated an interdisciplinary visual arts project that played to their strengths in terms of varied outputs. This consistent framework allowed the student to flourish, as every week had a clear balance between predictability and freedom. Both supervisors were also hypervigilant in terms of burnout as the candidate indicated from the start that ‘I don’t know how to pace myself or when to stop when I get hyper fixated’. Earlier in their candidature the candidate had hit burnout which took months to recover from.
It was acknowledged that the primary difficulties lay in navigating the administrative aspects of HDR, which necessitated immediate and hands-on support to mitigate anxiety and overwhelm. Literal thinking and executive dysfunction further complicated tasks such as form completion hence requiring more support in this area. This was effectively mitigated by pacing paperwork (one document per week), and by providing hands-on support in administrative tasks. Anecdotally the candidate realised what the principal supervisor was doing a few weeks into this process, with the candidate admitting that this had worked well: ‘because as soon as I realised, I tried to do more to get ahead of it, and immediately overwhelmed myself’. Reminding the candidate to stay focused on the one thing is key even though hyperfocus is part of the way they think. A clear plan and a way to assess where we were in the plan has also assisted in simplifying progress: ‘routine, but matched with novelty and creative freedom, that’s been held in really good balance, I think’.
Universal design for learning
Doctoral studies are traditionally structured around an ‘imagined ideal student’ which has changed very little. Universities often promote concepts of access and inclusion through ‘reasonable adjustments’ (RA). In practice, these rely heavily on self-advocacy from the individual student, adding to the burden of simply functioning in an essentially disabling environment. RA’s often don’t extend beyond offering extra time on assessments, and often do not include any information on the disabilities of the student. The final oral examination, a critical component to completing the PhD at ECU, designed for the ‘ideal student’, clearly disadvantage many autistic students who may need additional context and processing time for questions and have a bigger need for clear and literal communication.
Autistic students in particular have high drop-out rates from tertiary education with burnout, lack of awareness of their disability and adequate support being key issues.
Advocates for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) argue ‘barriers to learning are not, in fact, inherent in the capacities of learners, but instead arise in learners’ interactions with inflexible educational materials and methods’ (Rose & Myer, 2002, p. vi). In other words, it is the systems that need to change to accommodate a wider range of needs. Rose and Myer (2002) argue for separating academic outcome from process to accommodate for different learning styles, which would accommodate autistic bottom-up thinking and doing. Accommodations and changes to make the educational system inclusive would ultimately benefit everyone.
Dida Sundet is a Norwegian interdisciplinary visual artist and PhD candidate, now based in Perth, Australia. Dida has focussed her career on feminist counter-media practices and exploring the complexities of sexual violence. Her work explores ways to intervene and re-contextualise cultural narratives and representations of women through a feminist gaze. Dida is a proud neurodivergent academic with an extensive background in visual and performing arts and has exhibited widely in Australia and overseas. USUNDET@our.ecu.edu.auc, Edith Cowan University, ORCiD id: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1869-5866
Honorary Associate Professor Lyndall Adams is a contemporary artist and arts practice-led researcher drawing influences from the interface between post-structuralist and new materialist feminist thinking. Lyndall has participated in solo, collaborative and group exhibitions nationally and internationally and has published scholarly work on the role of ethical arts practice, public art, collaboration and interdisciplinarity, and creative research. Lyndall has supervised to completion over 30 research candidates winning the Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Awards for Excellence in Graduate Research Supervision in 2019 and 2022, and was awarded the ACUADS Lifelong Fellowship Award for 2024. l.adams@ecu.edu.au, Edith Cowan University, ORCiD id: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4577-6609
Professor Joanne Dickson is a Professor of Mental Health at Edith Cowan University. Joanne has published widely on mental health, with over 70 peer-review publications in esteemed international and national journals, in areas as such as wellbeing, depression, anxiety, trauma, suicide ideation, self-harm. Joanne’s research is regularly presented at international conferences. Increasingly, Joanne’s mental health research is taking an interdisciplinary approach, with research being conducted in several applied contexts (e.g., The Arts, and in Community, Education and Health contexts). Joanne has supervised to completion over 60 Doctoral and Master’s in Clinical Psychology students, and fulfils several international editorial roles. j.dickson@ecu.edu.au, Edith Cowan University, ORCiD id: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4626-8761
Main image: Figure 4: Dida Sundet, Philomela (2024), photograph, inkjet print, 203, 3 cm x 135, 47 cm. Courtesy of the artist.