The Tacit Dimension of Navigating Higher Education with Affective Disorders:What embodied and embedded strategies do students with “hidden” disabilities employ when navigating spaces and places in higher education?

What embodied and embedded strategies do students with mental disorders use when navigating higher education? What role does the body play, and what role does the physical environment play in inclusion of students with mental disorders? In this Ph.D. project, tacit knowledge is understood as the silent foundation of knowledge, embodied strategies as its bodily expression, and embedded strategies as the context in which tacit knowledge unfolds bodily and emotionally. The participants in this project are students with affective disorders - the most frequently occurring diagnostic groups amongst adults - but in the widest sense: bipolar, depression, and anxiety (WHO, 2024). Theoretically the project builds on the work of Thomas Fuchs (Fuchs, 2021, 2023) and Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology (Merleau-Ponty, 1994). Both Fuchs and Merleau-Ponty emphasize that our “being-in-the-world” is realized through the body’s presence and interaction with the world. The number of students with mental disorders are increasing, as well as the number of students who receive counseling and support, with 68% of them having psychological or neurological disorders (Rådgivnings- og støttecentret, 2022). It has been criticized that the environment and social setting in education is developed for students with “typical development” and potentially exclude students with mental disabilities (Friedman & Nash-Luckenbach, 2024; Horlin et al., 2024). Through ethnographic fieldwork and go-along interviews, I engage in students (who experience anxiety, depression and/or bipolar) daily activities on campus, to explore how educational spaces and environments shape and are shaped by students’ sensory, emotional, and spatial experiences. The project thereby aligns with and contributes to ongoing Nordic discussions on Universal Design for Learning (Cast, 2024) and inclusive educational practices. The Universal Design for Learning aims to change the design of the environment rather than attributing the issue to a perceived deficit in the student (Cast, 2024). This project seeks to identify students' tacit knowledge and experiences, to gain insights that inform proposals for modifying the design for learning and student support, along the lines of Universal Design for learning. At the conference, I will present my project in the poster session and share some methodological and ethical dilemmas related to doing fieldwork with participants with “hidden” disabilities. Keywords: Inclusion, higher education, disabilities, universal design for learning, bodily experience, affect, space and place, placemaking, embedded and embodied learning, mental health, tacit knowledge References Cast. (2024). Until learning has no limits. Cast. Retrieved 27.08 from https://www.cast.org/impact/universal-design-for-learning-udl Friedman, Z. L., & Nash-Luckenbach, D. (2024). Has the time come for Heutagogy? Supporting neurodivergent learners in higher education. Higher education, 87(6), 1905-1920. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01097-7 Fuchs, T. (2021). In defense of the human being : foundational questions of an embodied anthropology (First edition. ed.). Oxford University Press. Fuchs, T. (2023). Hjernens økologi (1. udgave. ed.). Klim. Horlin, C., Hronska, B., & Nordmann, E. (2024). I can be a "normal" student: the role of lecture capture in supporting disabled and neurodivergent students' participation in higher education. Higher education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01201-5 Merleau-Ponty, M. (1994). Kroppens fænomenologi. Det Lille Forlag. Rådgivnings- og støttecentret, A. U. (2022). Årsrapport. WHO. (2024). Mental disorders. World Health Organization.