Abstract
When it comes to accommodations and accessibility to equitable learning environments for neurodivergent law students, law schools tend to think our only tool is a hammer and approach everything as if it is a nail. As lawyers, we are experts in problem solving, we are trained to ask questions, to explore the how and why. Yet we fail to do this when it comes to addressing the needs of neurodivergent students. We know how legal education works, we know what students will encounter, what it takes to be successful, and the challenges and struggles students face. This is not to say we must become experts or even proficient, but we do need to think like the lawyers we are and broaden our viewpoint, recognize the multiple tools at our disposal, and give students access to those tools. This Article explains the foundational concepts of neurodiversity and the role of executive function, then examines the current disconnect between stakeholders and how it (unintentionally) builds environmental and institutional barriers that set neurodivergent students up to fail and perpetuate stigmas about neurodiversity. It then explores strategies for how we can better use tools to remove these barriers and construct scaffolding such that all students have access to the learning environment and can develop their own processes for skill development.
Recommended Citation
Katherine S. Kelly,
Building Scaffolding Instead of Barriers: Accessibility for Neurodivergent Law Students,
49
S. Ill. U. L.J.
149
(2025).
Available at:
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/siulj/vol49/iss2/5