Abstract:

Neurodivergent students and students with hidden disabilities represent a significant and growing proportion of higher education populations, yet institutional responses in many higher education contexts remain fragmented, deficit-focused, and inadequately visible. Conditions such as ADHD, dyslexia, ASD, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, Tourette syndrome, and cognitive processing differences, alongside hidden disabilities including anxiety, depression, and panic attacks, are frequently underrepresented in institutional support frameworks in many institutions. In higher education, these students may face inflexible learning and assessment formats, stigma around disclosure, and a lack of faculty awareness and preparation. A particular gap exists around hidden disabilities, whose challenges are compounded by their invisibility: without visible markers, needs may go unrecognised until significant difficulties arise.

This poster introduces ENA: Empowering Neurodiversity in Academia (Erasmus+, No. 2025-1-LT01-KA220-HED-000364527), a 26-month transnational cooperation project involving 7 higher education institutions across Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Latvia, Portugal, Cyprus, and Spain. ENA adopts a strengths-based, neuro-affirming approach - shifting from deficit-oriented accommodation toward embedding inclusive practices institutionally: pedagogical strategies, assessment design, faculty development, and institutional culture.

ENA's core outputs include guidelines for neurodivergent-friendly teaching and assessment practices grounded in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, a Neurodiversity Self-Assessment Tool for students, faculty development modules and handbooks, and an Online Neurodiversity Resource Hub. A distinctive feature of the project is its deliberately broad scope: ENA addresses the full spectrum of neurodivergence, with explicit attention to hidden disabilities whose needs are most frequently overlooked.

Keywords:

Neurodiversity, hidden disabilities, higher education, inclusive pedagogy, neurodivergent-friendly assessment, Erasmus+.