AI and the Assessment of Neurodiversity and Intellectual Disability
A special issue of Disabilities (ISSN 2673-7272).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 136
Special Issue Editors
2. Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute, Maynooth University, W23 A3HY Maynooth, Ireland
Interests: assistive technology; disability; policy; systems; digital platforms; assessment
Interests: psychology; mental health; disability; technologies to promote inclusion; measurement
2. Department of Health and Wellness, Western Cape Government, Cape Town 8000, South Africa
Interests: psychosocial and/or intellectual disability; advocacy and self-advocacy
2. ALL Institute, Maynooth University, W23 F2K8 Maynooth, Ireland
Interests: educational measurement; technology integration; AI and digital platforms
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue of Disabilities explores the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in the assessment of neurodiversity and intellectual disability.
Educational systems and clinical services are facing growing waiting times and increasing demand for timely, individualized assessments for people with disabilities. To address this, AI technologies offer new pathways to enhance accuracy, accessibility, and responsiveness in disability assessment. From machine learning tools that detect developmental patterns to adaptive platforms that tailor assessment to each learner, AI is reshaping how needs are identified and supported. The use of AI in the assessment and identification of reasonable accommodations and self-advocacy also has the potential to lead to new and better opportunities for adults with disabilities to participate more effectively in society.
We welcome all approaches incorporating digital assessment of disabilities, including naturalistic methods, such as gaming environments, routine educational assessments, and recorded family activities, or routine work performance evaluation, as a means of providing sources of rich naturalistic data. Gamified learning platforms are emerging as powerful, non-invasive tools that engage children while capturing behavioural and cognitive markers relevant to neurodiversity. Similarly, embedding AI in everyday classroom assessments enables ongoing, context-sensitive evaluation, reducing the reliance on high-stakes, infrequent testing. Similarly, video recordings of family events can provide a more authentic representation of behaviour than clinic-based contrived tasks, and workplace performance may be more sensitive to identifying self-development needs than occasional psychometric testing.
Contributions to this Issue should critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of these digital technologies, with a focus on ethics, equity, governance, and lived experiences. Papers identifying the attributes of systems readiness and/or the absorbative potential of current systems to integrate AI, identifying and navigating facilitators and barriers, are also welcome.
As AI becomes increasingly integrated into educational and clinical practices related to a broad range of disabilities, this Special Issue will highlight the need for interdisciplinary, inclusive approaches to its development and implementation in the service of meaningful, personalised, and human-cantered assessment.
Prof. Dr. Malcolm MacLachlan
Dr. Zdenek Meier
Prof. Dr. Sharon Kleintjes
Dr. Kevin Marshall
Dr. Holly Wescott
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Disabilities is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- assessment
- learning
- AI
- artificial intelligence
- neurodiversity
- intellectual disability
- learning disability
- naturalistic
- gamification
- performance evaluation
- inclusion
- participation
- real-time
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
