Why neuro-diversity is the ‘poor cousin of education’
Published
By Maximus Monaheng Sefotho
Johannesburg - In April 2023, British award-winning singer Lewis Capaldi left his fans stunned when he suddenly started twitching and shaking while performing his hit, Someone You Loved. For a moment, it appeared as if he was suffering from spasms, and when it became clearer that he could not continue the vocals, his adoring fans started doing a rendition of the lyrics, singing the hit back to him instead.
Yet, many did not know what condition he was suffering from. He later revealed that he was earlier diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome, which had been worsening. Locally, in South Africa, Idols contestant Edward Allen, a singer from Gqeberha, revealed in 2013 that he was living with Tourette syndrome.
Tourette is a neurological disorder that causes a person to make involuntary sounds and movements known as tics. It is characterised by sudden, repetitive and involuntary movements and utterances. This is part of the human condition known as neuro-diversity, which refers to a group of neurological diversity of the human brain conditions, which should be seen as a strength rather than a deficit. Neuro-diversity is part of human existence. We all need to embrace neuro-diverse people, especially in education. Institutions of higher learning need to make conscious decisions to include neuro-education specialisation in their curriculum at all levels.
Sadly, neuro-diversity is insufficiently emphasised in education. For example, very few faculties of education in universities offer courses in neuro-diversity. As a result, graduates who join the teaching profession feel inadequately prepared for meeting the needs of neuro-diverse learners.
While neuro-diversity is studied in disciplines such as neurology, neuroscience, neuro-chemistry, neuro-psychology, developmental neurobiology, developmental neuroscience, neuro-physiology, and neuro-philosophy, it features less in education.
Educational indifference to neuro-education research is overshadowed by the many neurons seen to be more scientifically sound. This is paradoxical as education, to be inclusive, needs to cater for all to learn.
Although there have been many improvements, such as quality of education, e-learning, inclusive pedagogies and education for girls and women as well as neuro-diverse people, gaps still exist. Neuro-diverse children are among the many learners that still lag behind their peers.
Part of the problem is that neuro-diverse children usually do not get diagnosed early enough to ensure proper inclusion into education. This may be mainly due to lack of knowledge among teachers regarding neuro-diversity. Generally, learning disabilities, sometimes known as learning needs, are what most teachers may be exposed to. However, this exposure could also be merely on the surface. Education systems, therefore, need to pay detailed attention to neuro-diversity and make it central to inclusive education.
Due to a lack of knowledge or sufficient education, neuro-education emerges as a poor cousin in neuro-sciences and neuro-diversity movements. It is making in-roads in multidisciplinary spaces such as education, psychology, neuro-didactics and neuro-pedagogy. Although contestable, neuro-diversity generally represents diversity and variance in brain function and cognition.
Neuro-diverse people do not consider themselves disabled, but that they are just different. A clarion call must be made globally for neuro-education to integrate aspects of the disciplines mentioned above into the curriculum. It is critical that neuro-diverse learners are not left behind in preparing for the world of work, for their own independence and sustainability of their lives.
Neuro-education must demystify and discard neuro-myths that may emerge from ignorance or even misplaced cultural representations. Neuro-education is surely an emerging field for which education students must aspire to specialise. The end goal of education is the sustenance of human life.
The purpose of neuro-education is to understand and apply cognitive neuroscience findings to the educational settings. Neuro-education links the learning experience to emotions towards the improvement of teaching methods and curricula.
In a yearly ‘Diversity is Phenomenal’ concert, prominent people in society were unanimously supporting the need to educate society about diversity. Prof. Steven Shore, an academic and pianist; Amira Willinghagen, a soprano singer; Jess Rhobus, poet, actress and youth ambassador; Zayne Harshaw, musician; Emmanuel Castis, musician and actor, all agree that education about neurodiversity is key.
Other prominent persons who concur with this include Michael Korins, musician and Autism self-advocate, Vernon Bernard and comedian Jason Goliath. Society needs to be educated in order to appreciate and support.
The importance of neuro-diversity cannot be underestimated, especially because of the high rate of unemployment among young people. As such, neuroscience and entrepreneurship may be the answer to sustainable participation of neuro-diverse people in the economy. Neuro-entrepreneurship, as the merging of neuro-science and entrepreneurship, is also an emerging field that education systems must embrace to truly educate neuro-diverse people for their own survival.
Neuro-entrepreneurship transcends conventional entrepreneurship and promotes an entrepreneurial mindset regardless of one’s situation in life. As most neuro-diverse youth may not have opportunities to be employed, developing an entrepreneurial mindset from neuro-education may serve to encourage them to create opportunities for themselves. Neuro-education could promote opportunity recognition and develop entrepreneurial cognition. This could be contrary to the popular ways of nurturing neuro-diverse people to depend on others.
Skills development in neuro-diversity should be benchmarked onto the 21st-century competencies. Contrary to popular belief, neuro-diverse people possess extraordinary skills in rare areas, such as pattern recognition, good memory, and powerful mathematical dexterity. Neuro-educators need to be equipped to embrace and promote these and other skills, regardless of their belief about neuro-diverse learners.
Maximus Monaheng Sefotho is Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Johannesburg