A PROPOSAL FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ANIMAL

Therapy At Northumbria

UNIVERSITY’S CITY CAMPUS

BY LINDSEY SMITH, SOCIOLOGY

Undergraduate

Myrationalefor the implementationof Therapy animalson campus:my own experiences

This research comes from the position of a neurodiverse student.

From 2007 onwards, I navigated the world with Chilli, my long Haired Chihuahua. While not trained as a therapy animal, Chilli was a motivating presence who greatly enhanced my well-being, enabling me to be more socially aware and responsible. Any positive experiences of being a sociology student at Northumbria University were equally met with challenges. However, Chilli was always there for me, as is my current pet chihuahua, Bruno.

What is neurodiversity?

The ‘Association for Physiological Sciences’ (2022) defines neurodiversity “as a nonpathological variation in the human brain that influences movement, sociability, learning, and/or attention, among other mental functions.”

Neurodiversity was first coined in 1998 by Judy Singer(Forbes, 2022). Autistic herself, Singer believed (Forbes, 2022) that the DSM’s definition of autism was “bleak” or, to put it in my own words, overly clinical. This assessment by Dr. Singer is something I agree with from my own experiences as someone with neurodiversity who is very nervous and risk-averse

A discussionof the“RiskSociety”andits Sociologicalimplications forneurodiversepeople

Within a Risk Society (Ekberg 2007), everything we do has major consequences for the “average” person. It is no wonder that the modern social sphere is tricky for neurodiverse people as the modern world becomes increasingly hard to navigate safely, even for neurotypicals.

According to research recorded by Gurbuz, Hanley and Riby (2018), their sample of 26 autistic students at Universities in the United Kingdom report a greater feeling of wanting to withdraw from their studies than neurotypical students. Something must change if neurodiversity is to be included in British academia.

Thechallengesof beinga Neurodiversestudentineducation

In no particular degree or order include….

Acoustics in classrooms

Executive dysfunction

Anxiety and Depression

Hyper-fixations

Underdeveloped social skills; hard to connect to peers

Can you relate to any of these traits?