By Lydia Bark
My name is Lydia Bark, I am a part-time English Literature MA student and I am diagnosed as Autistic, have ADHD, and am disabled by a range of chronic illnesses. This might feel like a strange way to introduce myself but I promise that it is relevant and important that you know this about me. Firstly, I have lived experience of what I am about to talk about, and secondly, I see my identity as a key part of who I am, an inescapable, foundational, and important aspect of what makes me Lydia.
During my time as an undergraduate at the university, I did not seek support for my employability of future career decisions because I thought that being ‘employable’ meant being an inauthentic version of myself and that because I didn’t have the answers to some key questions (when to disclose, how to find suitable employers, how to communicate my needs) I felt like it was unreasonable for me to assume anyone else could help me. If I didn’t have the answers then why would someone else have them?
Since graduating, I gained lived experience of the working world as an undiagnosed neurodivergent person and even with my chronic illness diagnosis I really struggled to find the right words, language, and narrative to communicate what I needed to make the workplace accessible. I noticed that no matter how hard I tried to explain what I needed, I was overcome with feelings of shame and guilt that I even needed to have the conversation.
It wasn’t until I was diagnosed with Autism and ADHD that I began to give myself permission to really understand who I was, how my brain worked, and what I might need to make work work for me.
I found coming back to the university environment to do my MA comforting; I was back in an environment where I was allowed to be disabled and neurodivergent. Back in a space where there are clear services and support available for me to make the learning environment accessible. I felt like Dorothy returning to Oz.
Having the structure and services available to me for my learning felt like a refreshing change to the uncertain and shame-filled environment of the workplace. I quickly realised that even though I had left that unhelpful work environment, I was still affected by it. Shame and uncertainty began to creep into my head and I realised that the colour had been partly drained from Oz.
The technicolour world of understanding and accessibility was impacted by my knowledge that the rest of the world wasn’t like this. I understood that even though my learning might be supported here, there were still big questions about the workplace beyond: How do I protect myself from having another negative experience where I couldn’t effectively advocate for myself?
Reflecting on my experiences as I have transitioned out of (and back into) the university world into the working world, I realised that there were a lot of answers that I still needed to feel confident in communicating what I might need in a workplace and to find work that worked for me.
I really wanted to consider what could be done, and what support already exists, to help neurodivergent and disabled students feel comfortable and confident as they transition into the workplace because they have found another supportive, understanding, and safe environment. This is where my work really began…
I have worked hard to advocate for the neurodivergent/disabled student experience because the inescapable, foundational, and important parts of students' lives deserve to be suitably supported. I want to understand how the university can support neurodivergent and disabled students to feel confident in their employability.
I identified that these important topics would help begin conversations to find these supportive work environments:
● If/when students should disclose their neurodivergence/disability to an employer?
● What support are neurodivergent/disabled employees able to get?
● What do students do if they do not have a formal diagnosis?
● How to have productive and safe conversations about accommodations and reasonable adjustments
● What is the responsibility of my employer?
Ultimately understanding how to find work that worked for me, with an employer who is proactively inclusive and understanding of the neurodivergent and disabled experience, felt like the key to success. Easy right?
So far, I have done my fair share of events, training, resource creation, work placement, and internships during my MA, almost all centred around advocating for the neurodivergent and disabled student experience of employability. I have been actively looking for gaps in support to see what could be done. But I am limited as a student.
I have found that there are so many people (academic staff, professional service staff, and students) who want to develop support but often are limited because of funding, other commitments, and being too busy with their main role responsibilities. This has led me to question the role of the university in preparing neurodivergent and disabled students for the working world: What is the University currently doing? What else could it be doing? And what do students actually want?
Enter my dissertation project…
As an English Literature student, I am curious about the role of stories and narratives and am particularly interested in the effect that these stories have. So, my dissertation is going to explore how narratives about employability, identity and success are constructed and perceived by neurodivergent and disabled students at the university. Bringing in the student voice to understand what narratives exist and how they are impacting students whilst also exploring how students’ own narratives about their employability are created and influenced.
Approaching this research with a focus on narratives, affect, and student voice will hopefully provide a clear picture as to how the narratives from the outside world might be impacting the narratives within the university. This will mean that the research will produce tangible findings to help identify the role of the university in providing tailored employability support for neurodivergent and disabled students which may begin to support other students to answer the questions that felt so important for me to know about the workplace.
I acknowledge that I am being ambitious and bold in attempting this research but I am using my passion and lived experience to push me through this project. I am (perhaps naively) confident that this is an important approach to understanding the future of employability support for neurodivergent and disabled students. We are our stories, the ones we are told and the ones we tell ourselves. So why not explore these stories about employability?
Sharing my story has opened doors of opportunity, allowed me to begin existing more authentically, and helped me understand my own employability. I might not have all the answers about my future after I graduate but I will be able to tell the story of my MA and how it has added to the story of Lydia and help me understand exactly what work that works for me looks like.