Sarah E. Silverman

Cover image description: An illustration of a human brain with a purple background.

Note: This workshop occurred in the past. To see generic information about this workshop visit the workshops page. If you are interested in this workshop running again, please contact me.

Date: Friday January 19th | Time: 12pm-1:30pm Eastern US/ 11am Central/ 10am Mountain/ 9am Pacific

Registration Link

Neurodiversity is becoming a popular topic in higher education and other educational fields, but the word “Neurodiversity” is often used without consideration for its history and political importance. Have you ever wondered where the terms “Neurodiversity,” “Neurotypical,” and “Neurodivergent” come from? This workshop will introduce participants to the definitions and history of key terms related to Neurodiversity, as well as related concepts like Mad Pride and self-advocacy. The workshop concludes with an introduction to a neurodiversity-informed approach to Universal Design for Learning. Rather than a “teaching strategies” workshop, this offering is a unique learning and reflection opportunity for participants to consider how the politics and history of Neurodiversity can challenge and guide our teaching practices. This workshop will be useful for instructors, staff, and administrators in higher education as well as K-12 educators, informal and community educators, and anyone else who considers themselves an educator.

Access notes: This event is remote, and will be held on Zoom. All materials will be provided ahead of time in an accessible format. Chat will be enabled for the Zoom meeting, and cameras will not be required. We will also have live captioning. Breakout rooms may be used, but participation will not be required. There will be several scheduled breaks during the event. Please let me know about any access needs using my contact form.

Timing and recording: The session will last about 1 hour and 30 minutes, with about 1 hour of content and about 30 minutes of reflection and discussion. I am happy to make a recording for those interested.

Please register for the event on Zoom.

This event is free, but a $10 donation is appreciated to help cover the costs of live transcription and my time. Please send donations to @sarah-silverman-6 on Venmo or @silvermansarah on PayPal.

Facilitator Bio:

Sarah Silverman, PhD is an instructional designer and instructor of Disability Studies. As an autistic educator, she has a personal stake in Neurodiversity and also has extensive college teaching and faculty development experience. Her interests include accessible and feminist pedagogy, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and disability-informed critiques of educational technology. Her writings appear in To Improve the Academy, the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, the blog Feminist Pedagogy for Teaching Online, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, and on her personal website.