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

Hi all! Devon is in the hospital with a medical emergency so I will be leading our next meeting! As the semester wraps up, DNA  is hosting a relaxed, strategy-focused session on how to plan, pace, and survive finals week  when your brain doesn’t always cooperate with traditional study methods. Whether you deal with executive-function overload, time-blindness, chronic fatigue, or just plain burnout, this session is about finding systems that actually work for you. We’ll cover

Join DNA  for an eye-opening conversation about real legal and civil complaints filed by students with disabilities  at Duke and other universities. We’ll explore how individual students - not lawyers or organizations - have fought for their rights when campus processes didn’t protect them. We’ll discuss: Real cases where universities faced complaints for denying accommodations or accessibility. The difference between formal grievances  (inside the school) and civil complai

This meeting builds directly off our conversation about the SDAO — moving from frustration to action. We’ll talk about how to advocate within Duke’s system , how to mobilize as a community This week, DNA  is breaking down what few students ever get told: what you can actually  do when Duke fails to meet your accessibility needs. We’ll unpack how the Student Disability Access Office (SDAO)  fits into the system, where its authority stops, and how to navigate the university’s c

At Duke, the Student Disability Access Office (SDAO)  determines which accommodations students are eligible for. however not all classrooms will implement them and every accommodation has a loop hole: Absences and attendance: The SDAO does not grant excused absences. Even with overwhelming medical documentation, professors can deny absence requests, refuse make-ups, or mark absences as unexcused. Symptom flare-ups: Students with chronic or unpredictable illnesses can typical

This week, we’re opening the floor for an honest, judgment-free discussion about the times when Duke didn’t meet our accessibility needs  — in the classroom, in housing, in health services, or anywhere in between. Whether you’ve struggled to get accommodations approved, felt dismissed by a professor, or faced systems that didn’t account for chronic illness or neurodivergence, this meeting is your chance to speak, listen, and be heard. We’ll share: Moments when you felt unsee

With registration starting this week we’ll have seniors speak about which fall professors and classes are the most accommodating to learning differences like ADHD, dyslexia, visual processing disorders, slower processing speeds, and more. Some professors are more understanding and flexible than others — offering different assessment styles (like choosing between an exam or an essay for the final), recorded lectures, or e-book versions of required readings. Come hear firsthand

Join DNA  and the Duke Academic Resource Center (ARC)  for a hands-on demo and giveaway of adaptive tools and neurodivergent-friendly gadgets  - designed to make learning, writing, and organizing feel more natural and less exhausting. What we’ll be giving out: Accessible tech:  ergonomic and split keyboards, vertical mice, noise-dampening headsets, and one-handed input devices Speech & text tools:  voice-to-text recorders, smart pens (like Livescribe), text-to-speech readers,

Tomorrow, we’re partnering with Duke CAPS  for an open, skill-building discussion on emotional dysregulation  - what it actually is, why it happens, and how to manage it compassionately. We’ll talk about: The neuroscience of emotional intensity - how ADHD, trauma, and neurodivergence affect the amygdala and prefrontal cortex Why “calm down” advice doesn’t work when your nervous system is overloaded Identifying emotional triggers vs. physiological overstimulation (fatigue, hu

Hi all! We’re excited to welcome back Laura Juel, MS, OTR/L, CDRS, ATP , a board-certified Occupational Therapist at Duke Health  specializing in vision and neurological rehabilitation. Laura works with patients to develop strategies - like adaptive reading methods, visual-support tools, and pacing techniques - that support learning when processing speed, eye tracking, or visual fatigue  make academics challenging. She’ll be joining us to share accessible, evidence-based tips

Join DNA  Peer Resource Swap: swapping our best strategies, apps, accommodations hacks, sensory tools, and life-saving routines - all designed by and for neurodivergent and chronically ill students. This isn’t a lecture - it’s a collective brainstorm. Whether you’ve mastered note-taking with executive dysfunction, found the perfect grounding playlist, or figured out how to email professors without spiraling - we want your wisdom on the table. Well Discuss: Focus and time-mana

See you all when you get back!

We’re thrilled to welcome Rick Green  — writer, comedian, and creator of the award-winning documentary ADD & Loving It?!  — for an evening on what it really  means to focus with an ADHD brain. Rick brings years of lived experience and humor to the science of distraction, motivation, and executive function. He’ll share practical tools to help re-train attention systems, manage overwhelm, and work with  your brain’s energy instead of against it. Topics include: Why “just try ha

Based on:  Eccles et al. (2023) The neuroimmune link: Inflammation and fatigue in neurodivergent populations  — Frontiers in Neuroscience Fatigue, brain-fog, and burnout are not just psychological—they’re physiological. Eccles et al. connect neurodivergence to immune dysregulation, showing that inflammation may play a central role in cognitive and emotional exhaustion. We’ll discuss: The emerging evidence for a neuro-immune model  of fatigue. Cytokines, microglia, and neuroin

Based on:  Earp et al. (2024) Neurodiversity beyond autism: Mapping research gaps and future directions  — Trends in Cognitive Sciences The neurodiversity movement changed how we think about brains—but, as Earp et al. argue, it’s still too narrow. Most research stops at ADHD and autism, leaving out a huge range of neurological and systemic conditions. We’ll discuss: Why current research often ignores conditions like epilepsy, POTS, Ehlers–Danlos Syndrome, chronic migraine, ME

What does it mean to live with a neurodivergent brain or chronic illness in spaces that demand constant perfection — like med school or law school? Join the Duke Neurodiversity Advocates (DNA)  for a candid panel featuring Duke Medical and Law students  who are navigating these intense, high-stakes environments while managing conditions like ADHD, dysautonomia, migraine, POTS, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, anxiety, and more. Our speakers will discuss: Balancing demanding workloads

It’s that time again! We’re thrilled to welcome back Dr. Bridget M. Hard  — one of Duke’s most beloved Psychology professors — for her annual session on the science of memory and learning. Dr. Hard’s teaching on memorization has helped countless students rethink how they study, recall, and actually retain  information — especially those whose brains don’t follow traditional learning rules. We’ll explore: How attention, emotion, and context shape memory formation Why spaced re

Neurodivergent people (including those with ADHD, autism, dysautonomia, PTSD, migraine, and chronic illness) experience sleep disruption at much higher rates  than the general population. But it’s not just bad habits — it’s neurobiology. This week, DNA  is revisiting one of our most requested topics: how the neurodivergent brain experiences sleep differently — and what science says about why. We’ll discuss: The neurobiology of sleep and arousal  — how the hypothalamus, brains

Neurodivergent people (including those with ADHD, autism, dysautonomia, PTSD, migraine, and chronic illness) experience sleep disruption at much higher rates  than the general population. But it’s not just bad habits — it’s neurobiology. This week, DNA  is revisiting one of our most requested topics: how the neurodivergent brain experiences sleep differently — and what science says about why. Like last year we will split this talk across two days. We’ll discuss: The neurobiol

Last week we 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 misman

Tomorrow we’ll talk about interoception — the brain’s ability to perceive internal bodily states (hunger, thirst, pain, temperature, emotion). For many neurodivergent and chronically ill people, interoception is atypical: signals are muted, delayed, or misinterpreted. This affects self-regulation, fatigue management, and emotional awareness. Key topics: What interoception is and why it matters How altered interoception shows up (ignoring hunger until you crash, not sensing pa

After our last discussion on the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)  and why neurodivergent brains burn out faster, this week the Duke Neurodiversity Advocates (DNA)  are focusing on what we can do  about it . Many of us live with nervous systems that are chronically overstimulated — juggling sensory input, academic pressure, social energy, and chronic illness. This meeting will explore practical, science-backed ways to calm and regulate the body, from mindfulness and grounding t

We’ll explore how the autonomic nervous system (ANS) — the part of your nervous system that regulates involuntary body functions (heart rate, digestion, breathing) — is often overtaxed in neurodivergent or chronically ill students. We’ll examine how dysregulation (constantly being in “fight or flight” or unable to switch into “rest and digest”) contributes to chronic fatigue, emotional dysregulation, and cognitive overload. Key topics: Basics of ANS: sympathetic vs parasympat