From The Point: Neurodivergent educators are a resource, not a burden

One in five people are neurodivergent – they have a brain that works differently from the average or “neurotypical” person – and at long last, society and schools are beginning to adapt for their needs.

But while the focus on neurodivergent students is commendable, what about staff? Our colleagues? How many of them are neurodivergent? Are we aware of the challenges they face? What they find difficult? Do we know how their ways of looking at things are unique and useful?

Teacher and IEU member Natanya Thrift says in too many schools we are more compassionate and enlightened about neurodivergent students than staff whose brains are also wired differently.

“Often the things that most people find easy I find hard,” Natanya says. “Yet, if you were to need me to create, analyse or edit a great deal of data, I find that easier and more satisfying than many people.”

She cites the example of organising a sports event involving 80 students, 13 staff and many different events in many categories.

“I’ll do that. I’ll make it visual; it will work,” she says.

She’s probably better at it, and much happier to take on the challenge, than the vast majority of her colleagues.

But for Natanya and other neurodivergent educators, the “simplest” things are often the hardest.

Natanya was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in 2014 and with level 2 autism in late January this year. And she’s bravely speaking to The Point because she doesn’t want other educators to go through what she did to get this diagnosis.

Natanya suffered burnout in her previous teaching role; left the profession; struggled in a new job; and eventually chose to take three months off work. Only then did disability services help her get the professional evaluation she needed.

Being diagnosed autistic as an adult is a “double-edged sword,” Natanya says.

There are positives: “It’s validating, it empowers you, it’s revealing and helpful in giving me a language to find specific strategies to be more productive.”

Neuropsychological tests uncovered vital information about how Natanya’s brain works – she now recognises, for example, that once she’s on a track she’s laid out it is very hard for her to deviate from it.

“I am only beginning the process of understanding how to reduce my cognitive load. While I’ve tried different strategies for a morning routine many times, I now know that a detailed, step-by-step routine from waking to stepping out the door on a school day is the most effective way to keep stress levels down before the work day even begins.”

Without such structure there is a “direct impact on her productivity”.

Another important recent learning for Natanya occurred after she attended a ‘self-advocacy’ presentation at the Victorian ADHD Conference in 2023.

Natanya now knows to ask for all her classes to be held in the same room rather than being spread across three locations. Little things like that make a big difference to her brain, and hence her output as an educator.

Learning such “practical strategies” for coping and thriving mean the diagnosis was a blessing.

Less welcome was the emotional impact of having her condition confirmed. Natanya was distressed by seeing a fellow teacher snigger and whisper about another staff member who “clearly thinks in a different way”, and she believes may also be neurodivergent.

“I think ‘that’s how they’ll react to things I say or do’…”

It uses up a lot of energy to constantly tell yourself not to care about such nastiness, to ‘not worry about what other people think’.

“Friends and family have to hold me up when I go through that. It takes a toll on them as well.”

Having gone through such a difficult journey, Natanya is extremely thankful for the support and understanding she’s receiving from leadership at her new school and she is keen to help others who may not realise they are neurodivergent. Being excluded for being “quirky” or thinking in a different way is workplace bullying, pure and simple. There’s too much of it, and she feels a lot of it could be avoided with a little education.

It’s why she put her name to this article despite concerns about being singled out for being different, and the exclusion it might bring.

“It’s taken me years to get the support I needed. If there’s any way I can help someone else avoid that, it’s worthwhile. I don’t recommend my pathway!

“My job is to focus on students, I don’t have a position of leadership, I don’t have a responsibility for this entire area – the school does. But I do feel I have a role to play…”

That’s why Natanya says if you feel you may be neurodivergent, talk to the experts. Go to your GP and get a referral to a psychiatrist. Make sure you have open conversations with people you love and trust about your potential condition. And in the meantime, consider joining the Neurodivergent Educators Australia Facebook group for people who work in the education sector in Australia “who are neurodivergent or suspect they may be”.

It has 2900 members.

Natanya finds that number revealing, a stunning reminder that these conditions apply to so many of our educators.

She says the NEA group offers “solutions, suggestions, and peer support”, helps normalise her condition and reminds her that she isn’t alone.

The problem is that to join the group you have to have an inkling that you may be neurodivergent. That’s another reason Natanya wanted to contribute to this article – to help raise awareness of neurodivergence and push for it to be part of the education and professional development of teachers.

“There is so much focus put on the mental wellbeing of students but if your teachers don’t have good wellbeing and emotional intelligence… If the teacher is dysregulated emotionally, students won’t get the best outcome.”

Natanya is sympathetic towards people who struggle with her. She knows her “rigidity” on some matters “pisses people off”. She accepts it when she’s told she can be “hard to read”.

But she feels lucky with her current leadership, and knows it isn’t necessarily the norm.

How many employees feel they can go to their leadership and tell them about neurodivergent diagnoses? Natanya says she feared she’d lose her job if she told a previous employer that she had ADHD.

But when she finally discussed her condition with her school the response was, “I wish you could have told us sooner”. They may have known how to approach things differently.

She believes adding mention of neurodivergent educators in professional development would help all staff. “Throw a line in there about the percentage of colleagues likely to be neurodivergent. We’re in education, after all; it’s all about things being brought to your awareness. We could start by encouraging teachers to embrace difference.”

She bases this in part on her experience with a neurodivergent student. “Ordinarily his behaviour would have irked me. But the day I understood and accepted his quirks I realised I had accepted them in myself.”

Natanya is hopeful about the future for neurodivergent educators, in large part because of the attitude of students.

She remembers a Year 11 psychology class in 2019 where a student said, “Miss, there isn’t such a stigma around mental health any more. We just don’t think like that”.

Many educators now report the acceptance of younger people for different levels of mental capacity.

Natanya, a PE teacher, still struggles at work because of her neurodivergence. She has a high degree of noise sensitivity and wears noise dampening earbuds to decrease her anxiety.

“It can be a real challenge… I struggle a lot at different times.”

There are times when her nervous system “just says no” and she has no choice but to ride out the distress. Last year she had “complete meltdown, hyperventilating under her desk”.

It took her “time, therapy, and a lot of positive self-talk” to get through the feelings of humiliation around such tough times. Not to mention the thoughtful understanding of a couple of key staff members who were “so incredibly supportive”.

But she now knows how to process the emotion involved with such temporary challenges, and she knows she can get through them. So do her bosses. With the support of enlightened leadership, she knows she can carry on and make a strong contribution to her school and her students.

There might be easier jobs than teaching for Natanya, but she fights on because of one simple phrase: “I love what I do”.

Just like so many other teachers.

Your newspaper The Point is hitting letterboxes as we speak. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be publishing cherry-picked highlights from the publication online. You can also view the full publication at: https://www.ieuvictas.org.au/member-publications