Neurodiversity and Ancient Studies: From Accommodation to Inclusive Design

Abstract

This editorial introduces the special issue Neurodiversity and Ancient Studies: From Accommodation to Inclusive Design and argues for a shift from deficit-based approaches towards pedagogical environments in which inclusion is embedded by design. Rather than lowering academic standards, neurodiversity-aware teaching requires greater precision about the competences students are expected to demonstrate and greater flexibility in the routes through which those competences may be developed and assessed. Drawing together the contributions to the issue, the editorial highlights the value of predictability, transparent expectations, bounded choice, formative rehearsal, alternative modes of participation, and the lived experience of neurodivergent educators. It also emphasises the positive intellectual contributions associated with cognitive difference while resisting reductive or universalising accounts of neurodivergence. The discussion ultimately connects inclusive pedagogy with critical artificial-intelligence literacy: both require educators to distinguish disciplinary knowledge and reasoning from the conventions through which they have traditionally been displayed. The issue therefore advocates a model of “same standards, different pathways”, in which academic rigour is preserved while unnecessary cognitive, sensory, and social barriers are reduced.