Reading experiences and neurodiversity workshop. An interactive event for PGR students.

Students and researchers with dyslexia, ADHD, autism and other types of neurodiversity may often feel that they must overcome extra obstacles before they can achieve the ‘ordinary’ understanding of the text expected of them. This may be necessary for examinations, or for their readings to become accepted by academic peers and lecturers. This workshop is a safe space for discovering, articulating or sharing some of the non-typical processes which readers who identify as neurodivergent may live through when first understanding a text.

New phenomenological approaches to reading, as proposed by workshop leader Alex Samely (Reading and Experience, Springer 2024) and others, embrace diversity in experiencing text meanings, both among neurodiverse readers and among neurotypical ones. This workshop invites participants to reflect on their text experiences in terms that may differ from the conventional academic vocabulary for talking about literature or scientific texts.

Any PhD student who identifies as neurodivergent in any way may register. Our session will involve two short presentations by neurodivergent PhD students about their experiences; a brief introduction to the theoretical background by Alex; and an exercise in which participants will be invited to read a short sample text and to use it as a starting point for exploring, and (if they wish) sharing, some of their own habits, experiences of reading or potential struggles, and how they might be tackled.

A participant of an earlier workshop wrote:

‘[This workshop] was a validating experience, as I often felt I don't interpret text similarly to the pre-set meaning of others, especially in academic contexts. It was also helpful to see there is significant difference even within neurodivergence understanding. […] It was a valuable experience to discuss those concepts with very intelligent individuals.’

Reading experiences and neurodiversity workshop for ND-identifying PGRs