It’s That Time of Semester: A Message for Neurodivergent Students

As we head towards the end of the semester, with exams looming and final assignments due, many neurodivergent students are struggling. Maybe your assignment grades haven’t turned out the way you’d hoped or maybe some assignments are still sitting there—half-started, quietly haunting the back of your mind.

You're not alone.

This time of year, I’ve seen so many students overwhelmed and exhausted, beating themselves up for not being “good enough,” for not meeting their own expectations. Again and again, they tell me they’ve failed.  But here’s what often gets missed— the university systems plays a huge role in those feelings of failure.

I’ve had students in tears because they haven’t finished their work. They’re stuck, overloaded, and blaming themselves. But the truth is, our universities weren’t built with neurodivergent students in mind.  I’ve worked with students with assignment questions which are over a page long and differences between questions and rubric’s which compound the issues.  In fact, many lecturers and professors still don’t fully understand—or believe in—the diversity of neurodivergence.

I’ll never forget a conversation I had with a lecturer about dyslexia. He was genuinely shocked it really existed.  He believed it was just an excuse students used when they couldn’t handle university like “normal” students. He had no idea about the creativity and unique perspectives of dyslexic thinkers. And this was someone in the arts—of all places where many neurodivergents go, he should have known better.

If there’s one thing I want you to know right now, it’s this: you are not alone in your frustrations.

Neurodivergent students often feel isolated, as if they’re the only ones struggling. We carry past experiences of shame for not measuring up, and that shame often follows us into higher education, silencing our voices as we are afraid, we won’t be good enough but hoping we will. The reality is, education systems are designed for particular types of learners.

As Manning (2022) argues, universities need to be challenged. Neurodiversity brings “new propositions for ways of learning, new questions about the relationality of facilitation,” yet institutions continue to hold onto rigid assignment structures and narrow expectations of what learning should look like.

For many neurodivergent students, this means pushing up against a conventional system that doesn’t recognise your strengths—and then being blamed for not fitting in.

So please hear this: You are not the problem.The system wasn’t built with you in mind.

This is the time to recognise that—and to find ways to value your own unique abilities. Your way of learning is valid. Your way of thinking is powerful. One day, universities will understand that and your voice will help shape what comes next.  So, understand you are not alone, that you have value because of your creative mind and take the time to:

1.       Know you are not alone

2.       Celebrate your wins

3.       Then Find ways to empower your ways of thinking