Purposive sampling was used to ensure that the chosen participants were well-matched to the research question (Patton, 1990). This involved both asking conveniently situated people in my personal network for recommendations and advertising in social media groups designed for neurodivergent teachers. As the target population is narrow, non-random sampling was considered appropriate for the scope of this study (Robinson, 2014).
In line with Beck’s (2024) conceptualisation of neurodivergent identity, both individuals with a diagnosed neurodivergent neurotype (e.g. autism, ADHD) and those who were undiagnosed but self-identified as neurodivergent were included. Only individuals who held current teaching posts in UK schools or had held teaching posts in UK schools within the last two years were included.