Neurodiversity in Postgraduate Nurse Education, Invisible until Declared: Disability Disclosure in Global Nurse Education

This poster explores how disability disclosure operates within postgraduate nursing education, with particular attention tohidden disabilities and neurodiversity. Drawing on empirical data from UK nursing cohorts and international higher educationresearch, it demonstrates that while disclosure is framed as voluntary, it is often structurally necessary for students to accesssupport, progress academically, and meet professional requirements.The poster begins by examining patterns of disability prevalence and visibility in nursing education, highlighting disparities indisclosure and completion rates, especially among mature female postgraduate students. These trends raise critical questionsabout accessibility, equity, and the adequacy of existing support structures.The core argument reframes disability disclosure as a product of interacting policy, regulatory, and institutional systems ratherthan an individual choice. Using sociological perspectives on policy enactment, governance, stigma, and performativity, thesession shows how disclosure becomes embedded within quality assurance, fitness-to-practise processes, and professionalregulation without being explicitly mandated.International comparisons illustrate that disclosure based support systems are a global governance pattern, placingresponsibility for access and risk management on individual students. Research evidence demonstrates that disclosure isemotionally demanding, professionally risky, and unevenly supported, particularly in clinical practice settings.The session concludes by discussing the implications of disclosure dependent inclusion, arguing for a shift away fromindividualised adjustment models towards structural approaches that embed accessibility and equity into postgraduate nursingeducation by design. Attendees will gain insight into how disability disclosure in nursing education is shaped by institutional structures rather thanindividual choice. They will understand why disclosure is uneven, risky for students with hidden disabilities, and howdisclosure-dependent systems shift responsibility from institutions to learners. Neurodiversity PG Nurse Edn Pickering.pdf Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource.