How one UCalgary student navigated neurodiversity and masking across the globe

Faith Wegoye grew up in East Africa and instinctively hid the difficulties they experienced in school. While unaware of it at the time, Wegoye was masking their neurodivergence.

“Masking” in the neurodivergent community refers to altering one’s physical presentation, ways of communicating and social interaction that disguise the stigmatized traits of being neurodivergent. While the labour of masking is rarely recognized, the personal costs can be high. Wegoye compares masking to learning the culture of a new country and having to translate their thoughts into an unfamiliar language. This is especially true for those who experience different types of discrimination simultaneously, says Wegoye.

Masking around the world

Noisy environments, sitting still for extended periods of time, and relying on repetition and memory were challenging during Wegoye’s early education across Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. They often felt alienated from their peers as a result.

“It was like I’m driving stick shift while everyone else is driving an automatic and I’m wondering why I keep stalling out.”

Moving to Malaysia at age 17, Wegoye realized that different cultures had varied approaches to teaching and learning. Wegoye was finally granted the flexibility and self-guided learning that was compatible with their brain. This helped them to recognize that their difficulties in school were not them falling short but rather an incompatibility between themselves and previous approaches to learning.

Wegoye first encountered the words to describe these experiences when they moved to Canada three years ago. As a Neurodiversity Immersive Campus Experience (NICE) student mentor, Wegoye learned more about being neurodivergent and the supports that were available to them. Now as a third-year undergraduate student in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Wegoye uses accommodations for quiet testing areas, recorded lectures, and extended deadlines.

Respectability calculus

Wegoye explains that for many racialized people, neurodivergent traits are more likely to be seen as being difficult, confrontational, or lazy. They know that the pressure to mask is often greater for people of colour as a result.

While they feel their neurodivergence is more accepted in Canada, Wegoye explains that being a racialized minority in this country means needing to perform “respectability calculus.” Respectability calculus, for Wegoye, refers to a series of constant and simultaneous calculations of how one should mask in different environments based on the degree of racial discrimination experienced or expected in those environments. The cognitive tax of these calculations cannot be overstated.  

While Wegoye knows that navigating the world in this way is a necessity for many people of colour, they are also passionate about maintaining their identity as a whole person.  

“I am all the parts of myself all at once,” says Wegoye.

Where all the masks come off

To challenge some of these barriers, Wegoye recommends using several strategies like seeking out support from academic advisors and peer mentors like themselves. Other strategies include attending community gatherings such as the Neurodiversity Meetups at the Student Success Centre and using sensory tools such as ear plugs as well as tactile tools or fidgets.

Most importantly, Wegoye encourages those in the neurodivergent community to find places and people where "all the masks can come off."

We invite the UCalgary community to share their experiences and work towards neuro-inclusion together.

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