Digital Agency and Professional Identity: Neurodivergent University Educators’ Experiences on Twitter.

Abstract

This thesis explores how neurodivergent educators in UK Higher Education negotiate professional identity and digital agency through Twitter. This engagement is traced from the onset of the first UK COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 to the platform’s acquisition by Elon Musk in October 2022. Drawing on a critical realist framework and grounded in my lived experience as an autistic, ADHD and dyslexic educator, the study investigates how digital third spaces can serve both sites of resistance and areas of precarity. Central to this research is the conceptualisation of Twitter as a hybridised third space where neurodivergent educators engage in identity performance, community-building and advocacy, often in response to structural exclusion and institutional ableism. Methodologically, the study adopts a triadic approach that integrates autoethnography, participatory and multi- methods. This layered design enables a holistic examination of structure, culture and agency, foregrounding shared and divergent digital academic life experiences. Data was analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis, revealing key themes including: the blending of personal and professional identity, strategic disclosure and identity curation; digital agency within third spaces; and the emergence of “survival professionalism” as a response to academic precarity. Findings indicate that while Twitter provides neurodivergent educators with an accessible platform for epistemic recognition, self-authorship, and collective solidarity, it also presents challenges related to hypervisibility, burnout, and platform instability, particularly following its acquisition by Elon Musk. This thesis contributes to scholarship on digital pedagogy, neurodiversity in Higher Education and professional identity and offers implications for inclusive policy and practice. It argues for a rethinking of institutional norms to better support neurodivergent staff. It recognises the critical role of digital third spaces in facilitating alternative forms of academic presence and participation.