More info/FAQs

This project is being organised by Ruth Leiser (she/her), a second-year PhD student in the department of Psychological Sciences & Health, at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

Ruth has an MA in Psychology from the University of Glasgow, and an MSc in Clinical Health Psychology from the University of Strathclyde. Prior to her PhD, Ruth has looked at various different things in her research. One of her projects explored how people who are both physically disabled and identify as LGBTQ+ use Instagram and how it has been a positive tool for them. Another project looked at whether public health organisations could potentially work with social media influencers in order to spread public health awareness. As well as these projects that Ruth was the lead researcher on, she has also taken part in large-scale clinical trials. In these projects, she worked as a behaviour change researcher, trying to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in hospitals and care homes.

Within her PhD, Ruth is supervised by two very experienced academics at Strathclyde. Her main supervisor is based in Psychology, and her second supervisor is based in Journalism, Media & Communication.

Who is funding this research?

This PhD has been funded by the ESRC (Economic & Social Research Council). Every year they fund a number of PhDs via SGSSS (the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science). The UKRI reference number for this project is: 2889877.

How long will the project last?

The current format of the project (as a PhD) will run until the end of the ESRC/SGSSS funding, which is the end of 2026. There may be scope for the project to be continued at some time in the future, but this is not guaranteed.

Who can take part?

We are looking for neurodivergent people to participate in the research project. Full details about taking part can be found here. If you cannot find an answer to your question, please contact Ruth at ruth.leiser@strath.ac.uk

What is neurodivergence?

Neurodivergence is an umbrella term that refers to people whose brains develop and/or work differently, in a number of different ways. The group of experiences that make up the term neurodivergence is large, and includes: autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, Tourette’s, and a lot more. This project focuses specifically on autism and ADHD. This is because, increasingly, more and more people believe there is an overlap in the experiences of autism and ADHD, and identify with both.

There is a lot of confusion over the different terms associated with neurodivergence. Neurodivergence is a way of describing the experiences of one single person who has differences in development/functioning that come under the neurodivergence umbrella. You could say this person was neurodivergent. People who are not neurodivergent, can be described as being neurotypical. A group of people that contains some people who are neurodivergent, and some people who are neurotypical, can be described as neurodiverse. A person on their own can’t be neurodiverse, because diversity means things that are different.

Why do you use identity-first language?

Neurodivergent people should use whichever language they most feel comfortable with, and that they most identify with. As the lead researcher on this project, I use identity-first language (for example, ‘autistic person’) instead of person-first language (for example, ‘person with autism’) within my work, partly because that’s my own preference and also because recent research has shown that’s the preferred term within the wider neurodivergent community (see reference section below). The politics and feelings/opinions behind the different uses of language within this subject are complex and personal, and there will probably never be a way of speaking about neurodivergence that suits everyone.

References

Bottini et al., (2022) Moving from Disorder to Difference: A Systematic Review of Recent Language Use in Autism Research. Autism Adulthood 2024 Vol. 6 Issue 2 Pages 128-140

Gernsbacher, MA (2017) Editorial Perspective: The use of person-first language in scholarly writing may accentuate stigma. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 2017 Vol. 58 Issue 7 Pages 859-861

Kenny et al., (2016) Which terms should be used to describe autism? Perspectives from the UK autism community. Autism 2016 Vol. 20 Issue 4 Pages 442-62

Pellicano & den Houting (2022) Annual Research Review: Shifting from ‘normal science’ to neurodiversity in autism science. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 2022 Vol. 63 Issue 4 Pages 381-396