Over the last few months, PLOS Mental Health has shared some more information about some of their sections as well as the…
Getting to know PLOS Mental Health: Neurodiversity & Mental Health
As we continue our ‘Getting to know PLOS Mental Health‘ series, we are pleased to take this opportunity to introduce our new Section Editor – Dr Luke Beardon – who will join Amanda Kirby and help to shape our ‘Neurodiversity & Mental Health’ Section. We spoke to Luke to learn a little more about him, his expertise and what his hopes are for the section and field in general…..
Please tell us a little about yourself
[LB] I genuinely have very little idea as to how folk respond to such questions, I’ll be honest. In relation to the autism field, I have several journal publications, edited books, book chapters, forewords – and have my seventh book coming out later this year and am supposed to be busy writing my eighth. For a full publication list please click here
I am a Senior Lecturer in Autism at Sheffield Hallam University’s Autism Centre and the Course Leader for the Post Graduate Certificate in Autism, run with The National Autistic Society. I also teach on the MA Autism and have the honour of supervising several Doctoral students. I started working in the autism world aged fourteen as a volunteer in a special school and have been obsessed with autism pretty much my whole adult life.
Outside of autism I do the odd triathlon and spend precious hours being with my amazing family, not least my sheep, cats, and our horse who came to us for retirement and who possibly has the best name ever – she is called ‘Hello Lovely’.
For a snapshot profile please click here
What are your main areas of interest?
[LB] Pretty much anything autism-related. More specifically I am currently fascinated about autism knowledge – the concept of autistic epistemology: where perceived autism knowledge comes from; what autism knowledge actually is; and why so many people seem to believe so much misinformation when it comes to autistic people? I want to change the academic world to make it more inclusive; in fact, I would rather like to change the whole world to make it more inclusive. Injustice tends to make me rage, and neurodivergent (ND) minority groups are far too frequently treated unjustly and inequitably.
I am very keen on understanding more about paradigmatic shifts in societal understanding, tolerance, acceptance and understanding – and how to kickstart such changes and maintain them, specifically within the world of autism. If anyone has any ideas, do get in touch.
Mainly, though, my interests lie in autistic well-being and how to achieve it. I am utterly convinced that autistic people can and should lead happy and healthy lives; I am equally convinced that far too many, currently, don’t; and this needs to change as a matter of urgency.
…I want to change the academic world to make it more inclusive; in fact, I would rather like to change the whole world to make it more inclusive. Injustice tends to make me rage, and neurodivergent (ND) minority groups are far too frequently treated unjustly and inequitably.
Why did you agree to join PLOS Mental Health as a Section Editor?
[LB] Far too many neurodivergent individuals are impacted negatively by poor mental health; I subscribe to my (self-professed) golden equation of autism + environment = outcome, and don’t believe that being autistic (or any other neurodivergence) equates automatically to mental ill-health. And yet there is a dominance of poor mental health amongst these populations, so it seems obvious that a section specific to ND and mental well-being is an essential component of the journal. Being asked to be a section editor was not just a huge surprise and honour, but a very welcome opportunity to be a part of a movement determined to address the mental health inequalities that are evident in the population.
My enthusiastic aim is to be relieved of my role as section editor one day – because the myriad issues have all been resolved and the neurodivergent population no longer face such health inequalities.
[LB] What kind of submissions would you like to see in the Neurodiversity & Mental Health section/what do you think are the most pressing questions of your field at the moment?
I like things in sets of three, so in no order of preference here are nine areas that I consider important to investigate:
- Identification and reduction of misinformation
- Promotion of well-being within the ND population
- How to reduce/eliminate mental ill-health in ND populations (including links to suicide)
- Understanding the nature of intersectionality within the ND field
- Promotion of equity over equality
- Understanding the real nature of ND inclusion
- How to link good research with actual practice to change lives for the better
- What society needs to do to support thriving ND communities
- Better understanding within society of how to position neurodivergence rather than assume it fits neatly into a medical model of disability
At PLOS Mental Health, we are really excited to have Dr Beardon on board. Check out some publications that we already have in our Neurodiversity Section….