My Academic World
Many aspects of learning has always been a struggle throughout my primary, secondary and undergraduate education. I struggle with note taking, reading and processing information, all of which are essential elements that make up my academic studies. As a recently diagnosed neurodivergent adult, it was no surprise when one of the conditions I have is Audio Processing Disorder (or rather, attribute). It means that I have difficulty understanding languages and processing words. This is how I refer to all the learning differences I was diagnosed with. Essentially, my learning and processing world, is a visual one.
Much of my research at Aberystwyth University requires a lot of reading and note taking, which I find incredibly challenging. If it wasn’t for the invaluable help of the university’s Accessibility and Inclusion services, I would have had difficulty studying for my masters. The team helped me find an Educational Psychologist to perform diagnostic tests and they assisted with my Disabled Student Allowance (DSA) application, which enabled me to receive adequate technical and study skills.
I am sure many other artists and creatives alike can attest to having some form of learning difference. Everyone learns and processes information differently and most have some varying degree of neurodivergent characteristic. During my diagnostic testing, I was interested to learn that in one of the tests, I performed high on a scale of 1 in 1000 people solving the problem correctly and quickly. The testing was an exhausting five hours in length, which was split into two sessions. As tiring as it was, the entire assessment was in depth and fastidious.
Because my degree was studied in the USA, it involved an insane amount of academic study, including core subjects; English, Science, Modern East Asia, American History, European History etc. Amongst these I had to take the core art subjects, such as Design, Sculpture, IT and so on. The educational system was dramatically different to what I’d experienced in my native UK. What was supposed to be a four-year course of study, turned into a six-year marathon. Educationally, it was the most intense test of endurance I went through.
When I have any written word in front of me, it becomes a mass of text which I often have to read over and over, until my eyes begin closing! Falling asleep while I’m reading is a common trait of mine, which can be debilitating at times. However, depending on my mood, I embrace this momentary lapse in the day! I have ADD, which means I am easily distracted. I need to do any academic study in either a quiet room, or have calming classical sounds on in the background while I’m working.
I love books, and have a great collection of science and nature based paperbacks and hardcovers. Some are vintage and first editions. As a collector of artist monologues, art history, with a specific interest in women’s art history, and books on art criticism, I Have ceased collecting because of my slow pace of reading, and my philosophy on global mass consumption. More on this subject in a future blog!
