13:00
Imperial College
May 6
Neurodivergent people are already here: in your courses, labs, research groups, and faculty meetings. Most of us grew up—and many of us remain—unidentified, unaware that the daily barriers we struggle to overcome are not faced by the majority of the population, and those of us who are aware frequently have our needs dismissed or pathologized. In this talk I will reflect on my own experiences as an undiagnosed autistic person in academia and use them to introduce some of the simple adjustments that university faculty and staff can make to improve the environment for their autistic students and colleagues.
Heather Logan is a theoretical particle physicist and Professor at Carleton University on unsurrendered Algonquin Anishinabeg territory in Ottawa, Canada. She has published over 60 journal articles on Higgs physics, collider physics, and physics beyond the Standard Model and served as a theory convener for the Higgs Working Group at the Large Hadron Collider and for a U.S. particle physics long-range planning exercise. After experiencing burnout following a term as Chair of her department, she was formally diagnosed as autistic at the age of 47. Since then, she has begun advocating for neurodiversity and disability rights in academia, and recently released a guide on making research groups more inclusive for autistic people.
This event is part of the Faculty of Natural Sciences Neurodiversity Week, a 4-day series of events on w/c 5th May celebrating and exploring neurodiversity and neurodivergence. Organised within the Faculty of Natural Sciences (FoNS) but open to all staff and students across Imperial, this initiative aims to foster inclusivity, spark discussions, and provide resources for neurodivergent individuals and allies.