One of the presentations that I attended at the MALAT Virtual Symposium was Mary Burgess’ session on “Neurodiversity and Inclusion in Digital Learning Communities” (2026). This topic felt very personal to me as someone who has recently been diagnosed with ADHD. The examples and questions throughout the presentation were points that I strongly identify with.
As a student, I often struggled to understand the purpose behind participation grading in the school system. As someone who tends to talk less, I was at a disadvantage compared to my neurotypical peers. To demonstrate my participation, I would stay after classes to chat one-on-one with an instructor or reach out with questions and thoughts by email. But those forms of participation typically didn’t result in a better participation grade, since the expectation was to speak up in class discussions in real time.
During the session, attendees described “good” participation as including eye contact, nodding during discussions, quick responses, and attentive body language (Burgess, 2026). But these behaviours aren’t common to every person. For some neurodivergent individuals, “good” participation can be only achieved through masking.
Masking can be described as “suppression of externally noticeable neurodivergent traits to appear as ‘neurotypical'” (Kritika, K. et al., 2025, p. 1). Individuals may be masking consciously or subconsciously to “fit in” with the social environments around them (Masking, n.d.). This article by Kritika, Williams, and Ringland (2025), focuses on experiences of masking for neurodivergent individuals and specifically discusses the high rates of masking when individuals are at school. Within an educational environment, where participation is often graded, neurotypical behaviours are rewarded, which can create pressures for neurodivergent students to mask to be perceived as part of the norm.
For myself, masking has been relevant in my life since I was very young; in school environments and most social settings. The pressure of having to participate in class according to the expected neurotypical norms was exhausting and, in many cases, took the joy out of learning.
Burgess (2026) invites us to rethink what “good” participation is and how learning environments can be redesigned to assess participation more equitably for learners outside of the norm. I appreciate this approach and believe that it would not only benefit neurodivergent learners, but neurotypical ones as well.
References
Burgess, M. (2026, April 6-10). Neurodiversity and Inclusion in Digital Learning Communities. [Conference Presentation]. MALAT Virtual Symposium, Victoria, Canada. https://royalroads.zoom.us/rec/play/QkznndHSYbnh_4bmwe2jf0OMR3Dy5cLtckcA-z6RnM5u2Arfvyj_apog5FY0t2w2jw8sqGpBcGxeg5xL.NmTFyZLL1-TIryvY?eagerLoadZvaPages=sidemenu.billing.plan_management&accessLevel=meeting&canPlayFromShare=true&from=my_recording&continueMode=true&oldStyle=true&componentName=rec-play&originRequestUrl=https://royalroads.zoom.us/rec/share/6WR3uQ06tgw0qLDunwXhJ0uodOyg0L4Nrwi2U4kLr9Z3p434C0oOXyhP-CP5jNI.P97Hzc1d6ORHAHGL
Kritika, K., Williams, R.M., & Ringland, K.E. (2025). “Ultimately, it’s a matter of safety, and resisting ostracization”: Understanding Neurodivergent Masking with Online Communities. Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 775, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3714094
Masking. (n.d.). National Autism Society. https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/behaviour/masking#:~:text=and%20article%20sources-,What%20is%20masking?,in%20films%2C%20books%2C%20etc.
