In this blog, Ruby Handley-Stone, Professional Advisor for Education at the Royal College of Midwives, spotlights the Royal College of Midwives’ groundbreaking Neurodivergence Acceptance Toolkit, a resource designed to transform healthcare education through proactive, inclusive, and neuro-affirming practices. Rooted in collaboration with neurodivergent students and professionals, the blog calls for structural change across all healthcare disciplines to ensure every student can thrive.

As we reflect on Equity Month and the important conversations it generates across healthcare professions, I’m proud to share and revisit the Royal College of Midwives’ (RCM) work to advance inclusion for neurodivergent students in healthcare education.

In May 2023, we launched the Neurodivergence Acceptance Toolkit – a resource co-produced with neurodivergent students, midwives, educators, and inclusion experts. While rooted in midwifery, the toolkit offers practical insights and actions relevant across nursing and the allied health professions. Since its launch, it has been widely shared in the UK and internationally, prompting HEIs to review recruitment and assessment practices and implement long-overdue changes to promote true equity and belonging.

At its heart, the toolkit recognises that current systems often place the burden of adaptation on neurodivergent individuals. Instead, we advocate for an embedded, proactive approach to inclusive education, where neurodivergence is seen not as a deficit to be managed, but as a valuable perspective to be embraced.

The toolkit’s recommendations include:

• Shifting to a neurodiversity-affirming approach, moving away from deficit-focused models, and taking strength-based approaches one step further in recognising challenges faced by neurodivergent students and providing concrete solutions, whilst ensuring accessibility.
• Embedding inclusion into curriculum design, rather than relying solely on reactive individual adjustments.
• Offering flexibility in learning and assessment, such as varied formats and alternative clinical placement options.
• Creating psychologically safe environments to support disclosure and a sense of belonging.
• Upskilling educators and placement providers in neuro-affirming practice and inclusive pedagogy.

These recommendations are timely and transferable. Across all healthcare professions, we must ensure our education systems are equipped to support the diversity of students entering our programmes. Inclusion should not be dependent on who delivers the curriculum or where a student is placed, it must be a consistent, structural commitment.

As part of the wider equity agenda, it’s also crucial to recognise intersectionality – many neurodivergent students also experience inequities related to race, class, gender, and disability. Inclusive approaches must be holistic and responsive to that complexity, ensuring that the diversity of our workforce is supported, better addressing the needs of the diverse families accessing healthcare service.

The toolkit is one step towards that goal. I encourage colleagues across healthcare education to continually explore its recommendations, reflect on current practice, and work with students to co-create learning environments where everyone can thrive.