Neuroqueering Physics Literacy

Abstract

Neurodivergent people experience the world, conceptualize scientific concepts, and engage with meaning-making differently than their neurotypical peers. When these differences are actualized in an institutional setting, such as higher education, conflict can arise which has a disabling effect on them. One such way this conflict can arise is through defining and subsequent assessment of scientific literacy, as we define scientific literacy through a neurotypical lens. There is much literature on how to better teach neurodivergent students to succeed in a neurotypical-normative scientific environment, however very little research exists which examines what neurodivergent differences in learning look like from these students' perspectives. I here present a case study of five neurodivergent physicists as a part of a broader study on neurodiversity in physics, explaining why it is imperative to redefine scientific literacy and reorient it to a neuroqueer standpoint.