The Neurodiversity Initiative
The Neurodiversity Initiative seeks first to serve our campus community and ultimately to be a model for other campuses.
The Neurodiversity Working Group, composed of administrators, alumni, community partners, faculty, staff, and students, organizes campus events and programs in support of the Neurodiversity Initiative.
But what is “neurodiversity?”
Neurodiversity is both a philosophy and an emerging civil rights movement. Neurodiversity Scholar in Residence John Elder Robison has written this defining neurodiversity.
Acknowledging and appreciating the wide range of human neurologies, including Autism and ADHD, for example, while also acknowledging and appreciating the challenges of brain difference, is key to neurodiversity.
“Neurodiversity may be every bit as crucial for the human race as biodiversity is for life in general. Who can say what form of [brain] wiring will prove best at any given moment?” Harvey Blume, “Neurodiversity: On the Neurological Underpinnings of Geekdom” The Atlantic
At William & Mary we are committed to educating our campus community about brain differences, and to supporting and cultivating an appreciation of the many kinds of diversity we can nurture at our historic institution.
