This past month of April, Sonoma State University’s Neurodiversity Student Panel has hosted a variety of Zoom meetings to talk with SSU students about neurodiversity and their experiences at SSU for Disability Awareness Month. The student panel has held eight different zoom meetings that consisted of different lectures and discussions from guest speakers, students, people of the community, and other faculty.

The first two meetings held on April 5 were titled, “Exploring Neurodiversity,” and “Disclosure and Accommodations: Disability in the Workplace.” The Neurodiversity movement regards people with differences in brain function and behavioral traits, like autism or ADHD, as another form of human variation like ethnicity, race, or gender. People with a neurodiverse profile can have significant challenges, as well as strengths or talents that can increase innovation and productivity of not only a college campus, but our society as a whole. This presentation discussed the concept of neurodiversity and how to motivate and educate your campus community to successfully support this ever-growing population through education about their unique needs and the implementation of universal design for learning principles and practical strategies to help foster a positive and inclusive campus environment. These ideas can not only help retain this student population and help them achieve their goals, but also help our campuses to learn from their unique perspectives. The second meeting presented information about how to navigate accommodations in the workplace and more.

The third meeting took place on April 6 and was titled, “Catch Up On Reading: Study Hacks with Online Study Tools.” This was a free Chrome extension and learning tool designed to help students make the most of their study and research time. This hands-on workshop for “study hacks’’ mainly helped students read documents posted on Canvas aloud. It also helped students to highlight and annotate documents to collect and transfer the highlighted text onto a Google Doc for tests and research papers, and more.

The fourth and fifth meetings on April 15 and April 20, introduced the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) and the creation of flyers to spread awareness for students and others with disabilities. DOR assists people with disabilities with finding a career and will work with you individually on your vocational goal. The program can support college students with disability-related needs and some financial aid support.

The sixth meeting on April 22 was titled “Disability and Graduate School,” and it included a presentation regarding students with disabilities applying for graduate school.

The seventh meeting was titled, “Understanding Our Experience: A Fireside Chat with Students with Disabilities,” which consisted of a gathering of six students for a fireside chat, focusing on their experiences as DSS students at SSU.

Lastly, the eighth and final meeting was titled, “Neurodiversity Student Panel – ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’. This event included students of SSU discussing their type of neurodiversity and their own personal experiences at SSU. “I just want to hammer the point in. The reason I agreed to come on this panel is to try and share my voice and give the face to show that Autism is not the stereotype. If you met me, you wouldn’t be able to tell that I have autism. There are so many other people out there that are like me. It’s exhausting to hide it. I want people to be more knowledgeable that autism is not one thing and that it has many aspects. It’s not a stereotype. Just be patient with us,” SSU student Molly Morgan said.

Overall, this year’s Disability Awareness Month was a huge success. “I didn’t attend all of the meetings, but the ones that I did attend I thought were very informational and informal to students, faculty, and the community. I learned a lot about neurodiversity. Not only about what it is, but how certain people have dealt with it and how they have overcome it. I thought the month of events was very interesting, and I am excited to see what DSS has to offer in the future,” SSU student Dylan Hellar said.

Disability Services for Students, or DSS, ensures equal access to students with disabilities by providing appropriate accommodations and specialized support services, and by providing guidance to faculty, staff, and the campus community. For more information regarding Disability Awareness Month, the Neurodiversity Student Panel, DSS, or other resources and services visit dss.sonoma.edu.