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Neurodiversity 101

taught by: Lē Silveus McNamara
co-presented by: Erica Braverman, Jen Goubeaud

Session Summary

As you work toward inclusion, you probably have many questions about cognitive accessibility and neurodiversity like: What the flip is neurodiversity?! Is it different than cognitive disability? How does all this jive with the WCAG? Is there more I can do? Join us for answers.

Description

Find Neurodiversity 101 on the Knowbility Learning Center

This presentation is for anyone who wants to learn more about cognitive disabilities, neurodiversity and their intersection with digital accessibility. We will begin by defining terms relevant to the discussion and fielding participant questions about the basics. Once our foundation is sound, we will move into empathy building. We'll share experiences of neurominorities through a variety of real-life testimonials and artistic representations and discuss struggles like stimulation sensitivity and barriers to communication. We'll also cover the flip side; skills that are often unique to neurominority populations and how important these skills are for society. To facilitate better communication between neurotypes, we will be sharing the 4 styles of empathy experience and expression and how they might intersect in our relationships with each other. We'll conclude the session by applying what we've learned to the digital accessibility industry and to the specific roles we all hold within it.

Practical Skills

  • Defining terms: Gain clarity on terms like neurotype, neurodivergent or neurominority, cognitive disability and cognitive accessibility.
  • Building empathy: Learn about the lived experiences of neurominorities, their struggles and their talents. Understand how different minds see and engage in the world differently and learn about the types of empathy across neurotype.
  • Apply Knowledge: Apply your new understanding of neurodiversity to your role in the digital accessibility space. Develop strategies to remove real-world blockers that have kept cognitive considerations limited in the WCAG and go beyond to ensure people with cognitive disabilities and neurominorities are included. to apply your new understanding of neurodiversity to your role in the digital accessibility space.