Neurodivergent Fields: A Study on Critical Disability Physics Identity Development of Neurodivergent Nonacademic Physicists

Recent data indicates that neurodivergent students make up approximately 20% of disabled students, and the rate at which neurodivergent students enter college is increasing. However, this number may be revealed to be much higher as neurodiversity gains more acceptance in a broader academic context. Despite the increasing rate of neurodivergent students entering college, the rate at which these students drop out of college or leave their field is dramatically higher than their non-disabled peers. This is especially concerning physics and other STEM disciplines, where neurodivergent students are represented at much higher rates when compared to other fields. Recent literature in disability education suggests that by encouraging disability identity development and engendering advocacy in students, we can mitigate this loss of students and cultivate the new perspectives towards physics that they bring. One way to do this is through understanding their Critical Disability Physics Identity (CDPI). I present a study which examines neurodivergent CDPI development, and present preliminary data on the identity development of neurodivergent physicists who have left the field.