Education at the intersections

When considering neurodiversity and people's lived experiences, intersectionality – defined by Kimberle Crenshaw (1989) as '…a metaphor for understanding the ways that multiple forms of inequality or disadvantage sometimes compound themselves and create obstacles that often are not understood among conventional ways of thinking' – should always be part of the conversation. People's experiences of neurodiversity will undoubtedly differ depending on the contexts they are in and different aspects of their identity.

Transitions and expectations

Starting school is a significant event in children's lives that involves adapting to different environments and experiencing new things. Some thrive and enjoy starting school, some find it difficult to separate from their parents and adjust to new expectations. After this initial transition, primary school is typically where children can experience some level of consistency; they are usually in the same class with the same teacher and peers for an academic year. This consistency is often helpful for all children, particularly for neurodivergent children.

Secondary school often brings a new uniform, a new route, and many new people. This transition brings many challenges and opportunities. The number of relationships children have with adults drastically increases as they go from having one teacher to having a different teacher for every subject. There are likely to be differences in teachers' expectations; how your science teacher wants things to be may differ from your art teacher. Each classroom will be different too, in sensory terms; you might sit on stools in a lab, or be in a studio in drama, and there will be differences in how bright the classroom is, the temperature, the displays on the wall, and noise levels.

All these contextual factors may place additional demands on a neurodivergent learner. Managing these additional demands requires effort and energy from children. If they are focusing on managing and adapting to their environment, how might this impact how much energy they have left for tasks?

These varied environments also require the executive functioning skill of 'shift', between lessons and teachers, contexts and expectations. Due to the education system being structured to meet the needs of neurotypical children, neurodivergent children with differences in inhibitory control, self-monitoring, planning, organisation, and emotional regulation will often be making considerable effort to adapt to and engage with the learning environment. These efforts often go unnoticed by the adults and other learners, but the difficulties are often highlighted, impacting their self-esteem.

Bias, misunderstanding and exclusion

An intersectional lens helps us consider the additional challenges students from ethnic minority backgrounds often face. Consider two neurodivergent teenagers who have social communication differences. Pupil A is Black Caribbean, and pupil B is White British. Both are experiencing difficulties managing school expectations, particularly concerning their interactions with others, frequently getting into disagreements and becoming visibly frustrated. Will their lived experience of neurodivergence be the same? Will how they are perceived by others be the same?

In fact, research suggests that people are racially biased when making judgements about others' emotions, particularly in relation to anger (Elfenbein & Ambady, 2002; Halberstadt et al., 2018). Pupil A's behaviour is more likely to be interpreted as aggressive due to racial stereotyping (Smiley & Fakunle, 2016) rather than initially considering their neurodivergence. Although bias may still be experienced for pupil B, assumptions relating to the reasons behind the difficulties are likely to differ (Cooke & Halberstadt, 2021).

When thinking about the different experiences these pupils may have, it is important to consider issues relating to adultification bias. Davis and Marsh (2020) define adultification as powerful people and institutions not affording children the 'notion of innocence and vulnerability', due to discrimination and bias. They argued that this leads to 'children's rights being either diminished or not upheld'. It is important to consider how the intersection of race and neurodivergence might worsen the impact of adultification. Those interacting with Pupil A may perceive them as older due to their race. Due to adultification, communication expectations are even higher on Pupil A, which adds to any existing differences in communication due to neurodivergence. The expectations of the child's communication skills may not align with their current abilities. In these instances, communication can break down, and disagreements and sometimes conflict can follow.

Along with this, consideration should be given to social expectations around emotional responses to different situations. For example, if a child gets in trouble or thinks they are being 'told off', they may become upset, apologise, and their body language can make them appear withdrawn. When this happens, others around them can view these verbal and non-verbal responses as the child 'showing' that they are sorry rather than just saying it.

Neurodivergent children might show their emotions differently, so how does the above example apply to them? Will those around them be as satisfied with their apology if it comes without the socially expected emotional expression and body language? Considering issues relating to adultification are of great importance here; how might the response of a black neurodivergent child be interpreted? From experience, common statements under these circumstances are: 'They aren't sorry for what they've done', 'They knew what they were doing', 'They are showing no remorse', or 'They don't look worried about the consequences/sanctions/punishments'.

In some cases, these statements can lead to those around the child feeling a harsher punishment is warranted, which links to the key issue of disproportionality. It has long been documented that black Caribbean children and mixed white and black Caribbean children are over-represented in exclusion data and the criminal justice system (Majors et al., 2005; Walker, 2020).

Final thoughts

Considering intersectionality is crucial when thinking about people's lived experiences of neurodivergence. Although there is relevant legislation in place to ensure people do not experience discrimination related to their protected characteristics (Equality Act, 2010) and legislation to support people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND Code of Practice, 2014), Shahin (2020) writes about the lack of an intersectional approach in legislation leading to a blind spot in the law's protection against discrimination.

From experience, examples of good practice involve a holistic and person-centred approach where children are supported in relation to all aspects of their identity. Another example of good practice is the Youth Justice Board refraining from referring to children as 'young people' in its guidance in line with their 'Child First' guiding principles. Consistently using 'children' rather than 'young people' can encourage professionals to reflect on their language and practice, particularly in relation to the impact of adultification.

Neurodivergent people have many strengths and bring unique perspectives to society, and ensuring we support everyone to meaningfully access education should remain our priority. An intersectional approach must be taken when planning and offering support. There is much richness within the neurodivergent community, and we must prioritise getting to know and understanding the whole person and the unique experiences their different identities bring, beyond the assumptions and stereotypes.

Dr Hannah Lichwa (she/her) is an Educational and Child Psychologist with a specialist role in Youth Justice and Alternative Provision. Dr Lichwa works in an inner London borough and is a Professional and Academic Tutor on the Doctorate in Child, community and educational psychology at the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust.

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Mark Lockton

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acrylic on paper

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Key sources

Cooke, A.N. & Halberstadt, A.G. (2021). Adultification, anger bias, and adults' different perceptions of Black and White children. Cognition and Emotion, 35(7), 1416-1422.
Crenshaw, K.W. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine (pp. 139–168). In University of Chicago legal forum.
Davis, J. & Marsh, N. (2020). 'Boys to men: the cost of 'adultification' in safeguarding responses to Black boys',Critical and Radical Social Work, 8(2), 255-259.
Elfenbein, H.A. & Ambady, N. (2002). On the universality and cultural specificity of emotion recognition: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 128(2), 203.
Majors, R., Gillborn, D. & Sewell, T. (2005). The exclusion of Black children: Implications for a racialised perspective. In Educating our Black children (pp. 119-123). Routledge.
Shahin, R. (2020). 'Intersectionality': A Blind-Spot Missed in the British Equality Framework?. LSE LR, 6, 32.
Halberstadt, A.G., Castro, V.L., Chu, Q., et al. (2018). Preservice teachers' racialized emotion recognition, anger bias, and hostility attributions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 54, 125-138. 
Smiley, C. & Fakunle, D. (2016). From "brute" to "thug:" The demonization and criminalization of unarmed Black male victims in America. Journal of human behavior in the social environment, 26(3-4), 350-366.
Walker, S. (2020). Systemic racism: Big, Black, mad and dangerous in the criminal justice system. In The international handbook of black community mental health (pp. 41-60). Emerald Publishing Limited.