Neurodivergent academic support
As a EDI advocate and neurodivergent person with neurodivergent children, I have been working to improve conditions for ND people studying and working in education.
What I want for Neurodivergent people
Ready to use accommodations
Institutions could have subscriptions to accessibility software as well as pairing up compatible officemates and sensory friendly offices.
Normalize working to your strengths
Encourage people to understand their strengths and weaknesses and try to find individual ways of working that play to their strengths.
Effective Teams
Create teams where individual weaknesses are supported by others' strengths.
Sometimes you will still have to do work that is difficult, but by working in wall-matched teams, we can support each other's weaknesses.
Quiet rooms at conferences (and hybrid meetings)
Conferences can be incredibly overstimulating and large meetings can run all day, every day for more than a week. Many neurodivergent people are already overwhelmed by the second day of such a meeting and miss large parts of the conference just de-stressing. If conferences were fully hybrid and/or had quiet spaces, that would be hugely beneficial.
Real inclusion
My dream is for all neurotypes to be as commonly known and accepted as personality types or star signs.
My ND advocacy work
Autisme Digitaal
Since March 2025, I have taken a volunteer role as the Education Coordinator for Autisme Digitaal. This foundation is entirely run by autistic people and is a hub for blog posts, support groups, and webinars about the autistic experience. My role is creating educational webinars for our guest speakers, blog writers, and support group leaders.
European Astronomical Society (EAS) - Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advisory Group
From 2022-2025 I was a member of the EAS EDI advisory group/ Within this group I advocated for accessibility and accommodations for neurodivergent academics, as well as students who have an interest in science.
At EAS 2023 I gave a talk about this and participated in a panel about improving diversity in Astronomy. For EAS 2024, I am was of the organizing committee and will be chaired our special session "Diversity for the Advancement of Science"
International Astronomical Union (IAU) - Equity and Inclusion Working Group
This is one of the largest working groups in the IAU. Within the group, I am a co-chair of the disabilities and impairments sub-working group representing neurodiversity and mental health (since May 2023).
I gave a presentation about neurodiversity in academia at the 2024 IAU General Assembly.
University of Groningen Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE)
I collaborate with the DEI and PIE teams within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the Center for Learning and Teaching.
At the Education Festival in March 2024, I gave a short talk and participated in the panel - "The role of STEM education in a changing world". My talk can be found here.
In October 2024, I gave a workshop at the Diversity Days - Your personal background and using your strengths to support others.