Please submit all applications for VP and President positions by August 1st. The application forms have been sent out via the DNA email listserv. If you have any questions please email me!

As you all know, I just graduated! AND Oh wow what a ride we have had! I will miss you all so so much. I will miss your text/email suggestions for future meetings, I will miss spending every Tuesday and Thursday night connecting with you all and debating reaI issues that matter to us, I will miss our quiet hour study sessions, I will miss most of all the emails you guys send me at the end of every semester thanking me for the community and belonging DNA has given you. I mean

Like every Finals Week DNA will be providing quiet co-working hours on Tuesday and Thursday from 7-10PM in our usual room (Rueben Cook, Rm 207). If you have never attended a co-working hours before read below: Co-working hours provides a low-stimulus environment — soft lighting, minimal background noise, and built-in timed breaks — to help you stay productive. Bring anything you’re working on: papers, readings, problem sets, or planning your study schedule. DNA leadership wil

Happy Last Week of Classes! Like every semester DNA will be providing quiet co-working hours on Tuesday and Thursday from 7-10PM in our usual room (Rueben Cook, Rm 207). If you have never attended a co-working hours before read below: Co-working hours provides a low-stimulus environment — soft lighting, minimal background noise, and built-in timed breaks — to help you stay productive. Bring anything you’re working on: papers, readings, problem sets, or planning your study sch

Two years ago DNA sat in this room and argued that Duke's attendance policy was harming neurodivergent and chronically ill students. We made the case with research, with lived experience, and with persistence. This January, the policy changed. That didn't happen because we complained. It happened because we built an argument. This year DNA spent two semesters reading the science: circadian biology, immune function, interoception, emotional dysregulation, executive function, m

This week DNA is doing something harder: looking back at everything we've discussed since September and asking what it adds up to. Since our first meeting we've covered what neurodiversity actually means, executive function, accessibility policy, chronic illness, medical gaslighting, ADHD diagnosis, memory, philosophy of disability, universal design, sleep, neuroimmune conditions, emotional dysregulation, interoception, polyvagal theory, masking, late diagnosis, medication me

For decades, the dominant explanation for why autistic people struggle socially has pointed in one direction: something is wrong with the autistic person. Impaired theory of mind. Deficits in empathy. Poor social communication. In 2012, Damian Milton, an autistic academic and father of an autistic child, published a five-page paper in Disability & Society that challenged the entire framing. His argument was simple and quietly radical: the social difficulties autistic people e

Most neurodivergent people know the experience before they know the word for it. Laughing at the right moment. Making eye contact on purpose. Suppressing the stim in public. Scripting a conversation in your head before you have it. Performing a version of yourself that takes significantly more energy than just existing. This week we're reading the research on what that actually costs, where it comes from, and why the mental health consequences may be less about autism itself

If you've spent any time in neurodivergent, trauma, or therapy spaces, you've probably encountered polyvagal theory: the idea that your nervous system moves through three hierarchical states. It's one of the most influential frameworks in trauma therapy, autism research, and neurodivergent community spaces. It gave a lot of people language for experiences that previously had no name. In February 2026, 39 researchers published a paper in Clinical Neuropsychiatry calling it u

One of the most striking things about Mahler's curriculum and Garfinkel et al.'s three-dimensional model is that interoception is different for everyone. The same exercise produces completely different sensations in different bodies. There's no right answer, which is exactly what makes this worth trying together. How the session works Part 1: Try established exercises from Mahler's curriculum We'll work through a set of Interoceptive Awareness Builders from Mahler's occupatio

Last year, DNA introduced interoception: our ability to sense and interpret signals coming from inside the body. But after a semester spent discussing sleep, chronic illness, fatigue, and neuroimmune health, we want to come back to it with fresh context. What happens when the body is speaking but the brain interprets the signal differently? Interoception shapes far more than hunger and thirst. It's involved in emotion, fatigue, stress, attention, pain, temperature, and knowin

Last week we briefly talked about why neurodivergent and chronically ill nervous systems are more easily dysregulated. This week, we’re diving into how those same biological differences affect the way our bodies process medications. Join the Duke Neurodiversity Advocates (DNA) for an in-depth discussion on how connective-tissue, autonomic, and neurological differences can change drug absorption, metabolism, and sensitivity — and why these variations often lead to disbelief or

Enjoy your Spring Break! We will meet again on 3/17 in Reuben Cooke at 7PM like usual. Upcoming Topics for After Spring Break: Sensory processing/overload, Neuro-inclusive spaces/architecture, Internalized Ableism in Neurodivergent populations, Philosophy of Disability, Social Cognition, Burnout patterns in ADHD/Autism, Book-bagging with upperclassman and MORE!

Emotional dysregulation is often dismissed as being “too sensitive,” “overreacting,” or “dramatic.” But research shows that for many individuals with ADHD and autism, differences in emotion regulation are neurologically grounded. This week, DNA will explore the science behind emotional dysregulation in neurodivergent populations, focusing specifically on ADHD and autism. We’ll discuss: What emotional regulation actually means in neuroscience Why ADHD is increasingly understoo

Executive function — the brain’s management system for planning, working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility — is something everyone struggles with sometimes. But in neurodivergent populations (like ADHD, autism, OCD, and Tourette’s), executive dysfunction isn’t a quirk — it’s a biological pattern that affects daily life, learning, and self-regulation. This Tuesday, DNA will explore executive dysfunction as a transdiagnostic feature — meaning it spans multiple neu

What happens when you receive a diagnosis years — or decades — after you first struggled? For many neurodivergent students, ADHD or autism is recognized late: in high school, in college, in graduate school, or even adulthood. A late diagnosis can bring relief, validation, anger, grief, clarity — sometimes all at once. This week, DNA will explore the psychology of late diagnosis and identity reconstruction , grounded in research that explicitly examines adult ADHD and autism r

Day 2 of our Discussion: why brain fog, sensory overload, and emotional volatility often travel with fatigue, and how this framework changes what support should look like in academics, health care, and daily routines. We’ll discuss: Brain fog as physiology - processing speed, working memory, word-finding, and “executive shutdown” when demand exceeds capacity Sensory overload and immune stress - why light, sound, touch, and multitasking can become painful when the system is al

Our paper for Tuesday!: Quadt, L., Csecs, J., Bond, R., Harrison, N. A., Critchley, H. D., Davies, K. A., & Eccles, J. (2024). Childhood neurodivergent traits, inflammation and chronic disabling fatigue in adolescence: A longitudinal case-control study. BMJ Open, 14(7), e084203. Most explanations for fatigue in neurodivergent people point to masking, cognitive overload, or poor sleep. But a 2024 longitudinal study out of Brighton and Sussex Medical School asks a different que

Today, we will be exploring the neuroimmune link between inflammation and fatigue in neurodivergent populations. We will be discussing these two papers: Quadt, L., Csecs, J. L. L., Bond, R., Harrison, N. A., Critchley, H. D., Davies, K. A., & Eccles, J. (2024). Childhood neurodivergent traits, inflammation and chronic disabling fatigue in adolescence: A longitudinal case–control study. BMJ Open, 14 (7), e084203. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-084203 Ferencova, N., et al

Join Duke Neurodiversity Advocates (DNA) for a discussion-based meeting that uses two papers to unpack a core question: why autism is recognized earlier for some groups and later, differently, or not at all for others . We will focus on what the research says about racial, ethnic, and sociodemographic disparities in autism diagnosis, and what those patterns mean for students, families, and communities. Readings for the meeting (2 papers) Aylward, B. S., Gal-Szabo, D. E., &

Join the Duke Neurodiversity Advocates (DNA) for a discussion that starts with a hard truth: neurodivergence is one of the most misunderstood and misdiagnosed categories out there. And if you are a woman or a person of color , the odds of being dismissed, doubted, or labeled “dramatic” instead of supported get even worse. Neurodivergence does not always look like the stereotypes people expect. It can show up as attention differences, sensory overload, shutdowns, tics, or lea

In this two part series we will be hearing from two representatives from Duke's Sleep Clinic. Join the Duke Neurodiversity Advocates (DNA) for an open conversation about one of the most universal yet misunderstood struggles among neurodivergent people — sleep. If you’ve ever stayed up scrolling, overthinking, or simply unable to “shut off” even when exhausted, this meeting is for you. We’ll unpack why neurodivergent sleep works differently and share real strategies to make

In this two part series we will be having two representatives from Duke's sleep clinic to talk to us. Join the Duke Neurodiversity Advocates (DNA) for an open conversation about one of the most universal yet misunderstood struggles among neurodivergent people — sleep. If you’ve ever stayed up scrolling, overthinking, or simply unable to “shut off” even when exhausted, this meeting is for you. We’ll unpack why neurodivergent sleep works differently and share real strategies

As we talked about last meeting, this Thursday we’re hosting Dr. Bridget M. Hard from Duke’s Psychology Department — arguably the best Psych 101 professor ever — for a session on how memory actually works and how to use that knowledge to study smarter, not harder. Dr. Hard’s lecture on memorization completely changed the way I learn, and it’s especially relevant for those of us who are neurodivergent or have learning differences .Many of us process and retain information