The Hidden Architecture of Participation
A low-burden diary study mapping design decisions people make to sustain participation in neuro-mixed professional environments (especially higher education and the cultural/arts sector), often without disclosure and outside formal accommodation systems.
What the study is doing
The study focuses on decision-making as hidden design labour: the practical adjustments, workarounds, pacing choices, and norm-translation actions that make professional participation possible and sustainable in environments built around normative cognitive expectations.
What we are not asking for
We are not collecting diagnostic labels, therapy narratives, wellbeing updates, or “coping stories.” We are collecting design decisions and the conditions that make those decisions necessary.
Ethical and accessibility commitments
Participants can choose text, audio, or visual formats; can switch formats at any time; do not need to write narratives; and may skip weeks without explanation. Safety guardrails encourage metadata checking (blur/crop names, emails, platforms) and anonymising others.
Padlet structure (five shelves)
Each shelf captures a different class of design decision. One post per column per week is sufficient.
Externalizing (Memory & Recording)Offloading
Prompt: Describe one decision to use a workaround, recording system, or external aid.
Sequencing (Time, Pace & Deadlines)Buffering
Prompt: How did you adjust your schedule or task sequence to make participation sustainable?
Diary Entry Template
Focus on design decisions, not feelings. Record the "move" you made to sustain your participation.
Note: Skipping a week is valid data—it signals energy sovereignty. Please anonymise names and emails in all uploads.
The Hidden Architecture of Participation
Theoretical Framework: Interdependent Neurodiversity (IN). Diverging from deficit models that view cognition as an isolated trait, IN conceptualises cognition as an emergent property of relations between people, systems, and norms. Consequently, 'access' is treated not as an accommodation, but as a system-produced outcome. By mapping hidden design labour, this research exposes how cognitive costs are unevenly distributed across institutions. Participant testimony is analysed as evidence of structural conditions rather than metrics of individual coping.
Siloed Initiatives
When neurodiversity programmes are cordoned off ("Neurodiversity Lite"), cross-neurotype interaction is minimised, preventing cultural change.
Literature Evidence Press to expand or collapse
- "Neurodiversity lite" programmes justify hiring by highlighting "superpowers" while requiring only narrow organisational change. [cite_start]
- These initiatives often result in physical and social separation, limiting "cross-neurotype interaction". [cite_start]
- Isolation prevents the "mutual understanding" necessary for genuine cultural change. [cite_start]
Training Limits
Standardised training is insufficient. It fails to change behaviour because inclusion is a relational, not informational, problem.
Literature Evidence Press to expand or collapse
- Standardised neurodiversity training is "not the panacea" often implied; miscommunication persists even after training. [cite_start]
- Successful bi-directional communication can occur without formal training if leaders have personal exposure or flexibility. [cite_start]
- Awareness training can have unintended negative consequences, such as "greater stigmatisation". [cite_start]
Access Labour
Unrecognised demands to navigate opaque social dynamics and decode neurotypical norms without formal support.
Literature Evidence Press to expand or collapse
- Neurodivergent employees face "unrecognised demands" to navigate work and careers. [cite_start]
- This includes decoding opaque social/political dynamics and managing cognitively taxing "social demands". [cite_start]
Non-Disclosure
Fear of stigma or backlash leads to masking and avoiding requests for support, driving labour underground.
Literature Evidence Press to expand or collapse
- Fear of stigma and discrimination is a primary reason for non-disclosure. [cite_start]
- Anti-discrimination policies can ironically cause backlash against those claiming needs, inhibiting requests. [cite_start]
- Avoidance of disclosure engenders further masking to assimilate to neurotypical expectations. [cite_start]
Longitudinal Diaries
Capturing temporal, situated decision-making that interviews miss. Aligns with accessibility needs (flexible formats).
IN Alignment: Diary entries are analysed as indicators of system conditions rather than individual resilience.Literature Evidence Press to expand or collapse
- Diaries provide "unprecedented temporal insight" into dynamic relational phenomena. [cite_start]
- They align with accessibility needs (flexible formats, clear instructions). [cite_start]
- They reduce strain on "retrospective memory" by collecting contemporaneous data. [cite_start]
Reflexive Inquiry
Mapping study demands and treating participants as authoritative knowers of their own traits.
IN Alignment: Authority, credibility, and influence are treated as system-distributed properties.Literature Evidence Press to expand or collapse
- Focuses on "epistemic enablement"—conditions that foster epistemic agency. [cite_start]
- Reframes inclusion from adapting individuals to adapting the research process itself. [cite_start]
- Recognises neurodivergent people as "authoritative knowers" of their own experience. [cite_start]
Relational Leadership
Moving from "monologic" instruction to "dialogic" meaning-making that acknowledges follower voice.
Literature Evidence Press to expand or collapse
- Dialogic communication involves "shared, situated, meaning-making". [cite_start]
- This alleviates the "double-empathy problem" (disjuncture in reciprocity). [cite_start]
- Requires acknowledging "heteroglossia" (different ways of communicating). [cite_start]
Experiential Learning
Leaders learning through direct exposure and "open communication" rather than abstract rules.
Literature Evidence Press to expand or collapse
- Personal exposure to neurodiversity is critical for leader responsiveness. [cite_start]
- "Open communication" allows leaders to learn about variable, situated needs. [cite_start]
- Experiential learning can supplement or replace standardised training. [cite_start]
Infrastructural Resourcing
Providing the time, policy, and authority to enact adjustments.
Literature Evidence Press to expand or collapse
- Lack of organisational resources (time, policy) impedes leaders from enacting adjustments. [cite_start]
- Support services can bridge the double-empathy gap by supporting voice behaviours. [cite_start]