Why Your 'Smart' Campus is Making Students Dumber

David Ruttenberg
Aug 1
4 min read

The Hidden Sensory Assault on Neurodivergent Learners

<5 minute read

A wonderful student holding books alongside the title of this blog post.

Universities across the globe are investing billions in "smart campus" initiatives, promising enhanced learning experiences through cutting-edge technology and innovative design. Yet research reveals a troubling paradox: these same campuses are systematically creating barriers for about 15% of students—the neurodivergent population (Ebooks IOS Press, 2024).

As a neuroscientist and father of a brilliant autistic daughter who recently completed her first year of college studying as a BS in Environmental Science and Policy, I've witnessed both the promise and peril of modern educational environments. While our daughter's university takes great pains to question, listen, and accommodate the large number of neurodivergent students on campus...the vast majority do little by comparison. What research has revealed through studies of sensory processing challenges fundamentally questions what we think we know about "optimal" learning spaces.

The Invisible Barriers of the Smart Campus

Modern campus design prioritizes aesthetics and efficiency over neurological diversity. Research identifies several problematic features:

Lighting Systems: LED and fluorescent lighting systems often produce flicker that triggers sensory overload in neurodivergent students. Studies show that "harsh lighting can often hurt the eyes of a person with autism" and "flickering, humming lights can be very distracting and sometimes painful" (Make Great Light, 2021).
Open Floor Plans: The trend toward collaborative learning spaces creates acoustic challenges. Research indicates that open office environments "can be a stressful nightmare of over-stimulation for many neurodivergent people" (Milliken Europe, 2024). Students with auditory processing differences find themselves in constant hypervigilance, unable to filter background noise from essential information.
Technology Integration: Constant notifications, interactive displays, and ambient computing create sensory bombardment that fragments rather than supports attention.

The Research Evidence

Studies consistently show that neurodivergent students face significant barriers in traditional educational environments:

Research with 150 disabled students identified noise, poor lighting, crowding, and lack of visual cues as major obstacles to learning (Sage Journals, 2022)
Studies confirm that sensory processing differences "can significantly impact the quality of interaction with the built environment" (International Journal of Occupational Health and Safety, 2022)
Environmental factors like lighting and acoustics have been shown to affect student comfort, focus, and academic performance (MDPI Sustainability, 2021)

Personal Stakes

This research isn't academic for me—it's personal. Watching my daughter Phoebe navigate her first year of college, I saw firsthand how environmental design can either support or sabotage neurodivergent success. When her learning environments considered sensory needs, she excelled. When students like her don't have similar accommodations, they struggle despite their often exceptional abilities.

The Solution: Universal Design for Learning Environments

The answer isn't more accommodations—it's better design from the start. This is something I learned early in my research career as a neurotypical PhD designing from my lens that didn't include neurodiverse consultations. Once I put away my presumptions and involved others' lived experience, the solutions were unearthed, and people began to thrive.

Research points toward several evidence-based interventions:

Sensory-Responsive Architecture: Buildings designed with attention to acoustics, lighting quality, and sensory comfort benefit all learners (Periodicos New Science, 2023; Ruttenberg, 2025).
Flexible Spaces: Learning environments that can be reconfigured to support different sensory preferences and learning styles show promise in research (EngrXiv, 2020).
Evidence-Based Lighting: Studies demonstrate that proper lighting design considering color temperature and flicker reduction improves learning outcomes for all students (PMC Research, 2024).

Beyond Compliance to Excellence

Universities that embrace neurodiversity don't just meet legal requirements—they unlock innovation. Research consistently shows that designing for sensory sensitivity creates environments that benefit everyone. My daughter's college success story demonstrates this approach works.

The question isn't whether we can afford to make these changes. Research clearly shows the academic and wellbeing benefits of inclusive design. Now we need institutions willing to implement evidence-based solutions.

Call to Action:

University administrators, architects, and educators must collaborate to create truly inclusive learning environments based on research evidence. The technology and knowledge exist. Now we need the commitment to act.

References:

Ebooks IOS Press. (2024). Addressing barriers in the university campus environment for neurodivergent students. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 315, 952-957.
EngrXiv. (2020). Exploring the design preferences of neurodivergent populations for quiet spaces. EngrXiv Preprints, 1424.
International Journal of Occupational Health and Safety. (2022). The experiencing sensory overload project (ESOP): Developing an immersive simulation experience for healthcare professionals. International Journal of Occupational Health and Safety, 6(2), 145-152.
Make Great Light. (2021, July 6). Lighting and autism: How fluorescent & LED affects sensory. Retrieved from https://www.makegreatlight.com/about-us/blog/fluorescent-led-lighting-autism-spectrum-disorder
MDPI Sustainability. (2021). Do attention and memory tasks require the same lighting? A study in university classrooms. Sustainability, 13(15), 8374.
Milliken Europe. (2024, September 19). Space planning for the neurodivergent workplace. Retrieved from https://europeblog.milliken.com/space-planning-for-the-neurodivergent-workplace
Periodicos New Science. (2023). The role of sensory design as a tool for school inclusion of children with ASD. Latin American Journal of Educational Vision, 5(1), 435-448.
PMC Research. (2024). Research on the health lighting scheme of university library reading room. PMC Articles, PMC11481651.
Ruttenberg, D. (2025). Towards technologically enhanced mitigation of autistic adults' sensory sensitivity experiences and attentional, and mental wellbeing disturbances. Thesis Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. University College London. 1-828. https://bit.ly/4lzyWFD
Sage Journals. (2022). Disabled students' perception of the sensory aspects of the learning and social environments within one higher education institution. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 85(12), 1126-1135.