Juho Honkasilta

I am an adult pedagogue currently working as a postdoctoral researcher and (special education) teacher trainer in the University of Helsinki, Finland. I have years of working experience with children, adolescents and young adults diagnosed with ADHD and their caretakers as a member of multiprofessional work groups. I locate my research in the intersection of disability studies in education, special education and inclusive education. The thread of my research is to study the burgeoning demand for psychiatric diagnoses, labels and related explanations from socio-cultural viewpoint. My current research focuses on the dynamic ways of mobilizing ADHD diagnosis and label to negotiate for means of recognition, and on discursive construction of social, educational and pedagogical shortcomings as individual traits in education policies and practices.  As a pedagogue for in-service and future educators, I have taken up the challenge to harness the not so commonly paired skills of deconstruction and compassionate interaction in order to move beyond the labels and categories of difference and deviance, and to promote social inclusion.