Neurodivergent and Teaching in the Time of Covid-19

Neurodivergent and Teaching in the Time of Covid-19

Jamie G. Sturges

Rikkyo University

When I was diagnosed with ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Fall 2019, I assumed dealing with an upended mental and emotional foundation and sense of self while also juggling the demands of teaching at a private university in Tokyo would be my biggest challenges. How had my brain made sense of teaching for so long pre-diagnosis? How much of my approach had been based on what I learned in graduate school and on the job, and how much was intuition or based on either neurodevelopmental disorder?

And then: 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic began. Not only were I and countless other teachers in a holding pattern about when we would teach and how, but I was also in the positions of guiding faculty members through transitioning to an online format, helping faculty members accommodate special needs students in an online format, and also figuring out how to accommodate my own newly discovered special needs in an ever-changing environment.

Reflecting on three semesters of online teaching (so far), I will share my challenges with working online and accommodations I discovered and cultivated to help me adjust and have some control over an otherwise unstable and uncontrollable work situation. I will also share some advice and resources for fellow neurodivergent teachers--and neurotypical allies--to help us best continue handling these constantly new teaching challenges to the best of our abilities.