{"id":12212,"date":"2025-10-22T17:51:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/?p=12212"},"modified":"2025-10-22T17:51:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:51:28","slug":"recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent College of Education graduate advocates for students with disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_blurb image=”https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/files\/2025\/10\/Johanna_chomp_SandD_2023.jpg” alt=”At an indoor College of Education event, two participants perform the Gator Chomp by extending their arms forward, right arm over left, and mimicking an alligator\u2019s mouth opening and closing; the person in the foreground is in a green patterned top, the other participant is to the left, and a U.S. flag and event banner are in the background.” icon_placement=”left” image_icon_width=”400px” content_max_width=”100%” _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″ title_text=”Johanna_chomp_SandD_2023″]<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

\u201c…ask about research and what you can learn, and just be proactive, search and make the opportunities.\u201d \u2014<\/em> J\u00f3hanna Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir (BA ’25)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

[\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

J\u00f3hanna Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir (BA ’25) recently graduated from her education sciences program<\/a> determined to make a change for students with disabilities. As an Icelandic student who is autistic, has ADHD and dyslexia, she has faced unique challenges that inspire her to improve education opportunities by sharing her story and working towards her goal of being a program developer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A recent summa cum laude graduate<\/span>, <\/b>Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir wrote an autoethnographic high honors thesis laying out the challenges neurodivergent students face in the education system and the tools she has used to overcome them.<\/span> With support from her faculty supervisor, <\/span>Nigel Newbutt, Ph.D.<\/span><\/a>, Bjartmasd\u00f3ttir used herself as a case study, evaluating her own experience while advocating for more alternate models that could be used in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir\u2019s experience with the College of Education has been foundational in her career aspirations of becoming an instructional designing and curriculum developer, by utilizing UF student resources and excelling in fields she found challenging in Iceland. One key resource was the <\/span>Education Library<\/span><\/a>, where she met education librarian <\/span>Brittany Kester (Ph.D. \u201824)<\/span><\/a>. As a mentor, Kester played a pivotal role in cultivating Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir\u2019s research skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir\u2019s most significant academic accomplishments was serving as the lead author of a paper as an undergraduate. Together with her co-authors, she is examining the state of research on school-based mental health literacy and educational interventions. The goal of this scoping review is to help inform future research and the creation of a future standardized, universal curriculum that promotes mental health in schools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the scoping review, Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir worked in an interdisciplinary team with three other professionals. One of those was Kester. Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir found Kester\u2019s guidance, knowledge and experience invaluable, sharing that \u201cshe has been an amazing mentor and taught me so much about research, and helped me develop skills that will serve me throughout my career.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Alongside her studies, Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir is the founder and CEO of HARTS. HARTS is an Icelandic-based education technology company that works with institutions to create accessible environments and promote inclusive education spaces for all. Their services help educators make \u201cengaging content and effective materials to help every learner succeed.\u201d Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir also advocates for raising awareness and destigmatizing students with learning disabilities by speaking publicly about her experiences. She is also working with the University of Iceland to enhance the accessibility of their courses and is working on publishing her high honors project.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir encourages others to \u201ctake advantage and reach out to teachers because they are really receptive when they have an interested student.\u201d This fall, she started her master’s degree at the University of Florida. When sharing about the many skills she has learned during her time at UF, Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir offered this advice to current students, \u201cask about research and what you can learn, and just be proactive, search and make the opportunities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

J\u00f3hanna Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir (BA \u201925), an Icelandic student with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, has turned her challenges into a mission to improve education for students with disabilities. She is reshaping how schools support neurodivergent learners and advocating for more inclusive, accessible learning environments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":12236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni"],"yoast_head":"\nRecent College of Education graduate advocates for students with disabilities - Alumni<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"J\u00f3hanna Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir (BA \u201925), an Icelandic student with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, has turned her challenges into a mission to improve education for students with disabilities. She is reshaping how schools support neurodivergent learners and advocating for more inclusive, accessible learning environments.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Recent College of Education graduate advocates for students with disabilities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"J\u00f3hanna Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir (BA \u201925), an Icelandic student with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, has turned her challenges into a mission to improve education for students with disabilities. She is reshaping how schools support neurodivergent learners and advocating for more inclusive, accessible learning environments.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Alumni\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-22T17:51:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-22T17:51:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/files\/2025\/10\/Johanna_feature.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"633\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"siennacarnochan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"siennacarnochan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/\",\"name\":\"Recent College of Education graduate advocates for students with disabilities - Alumni\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-22T17:51:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-22T17:51:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/#\/schema\/person\/43b2cc597945b5719a61917e2b6de8d0\"},\"description\":\"J\u00f3hanna Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir (BA \u201925), an Icelandic student with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, has turned her challenges into a mission to improve education for students with disabilities. She is reshaping how schools support neurodivergent learners and advocating for more inclusive, accessible learning environments.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Recent College of Education graduate advocates for students with disabilities\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/\",\"name\":\"UF College of Education Alumni\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/#\/schema\/person\/43b2cc597945b5719a61917e2b6de8d0\",\"name\":\"siennacarnochan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f589b0a6dbdef79fe6e380bb5d9ab88a0c1663bd2e41fc5b8d3940d889c5986e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f589b0a6dbdef79fe6e380bb5d9ab88a0c1663bd2e41fc5b8d3940d889c5986e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"siennacarnochan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/author\/siennacarnochan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Recent College of Education graduate advocates for students with disabilities - Alumni","description":"J\u00f3hanna Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir (BA \u201925), an Icelandic student with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, has turned her challenges into a mission to improve education for students with disabilities. She is reshaping how schools support neurodivergent learners and advocating for more inclusive, accessible learning environments.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Recent College of Education graduate advocates for students with disabilities","og_description":"J\u00f3hanna Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir (BA \u201925), an Icelandic student with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, has turned her challenges into a mission to improve education for students with disabilities. She is reshaping how schools support neurodivergent learners and advocating for more inclusive, accessible learning environments.","og_url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/","og_site_name":"Alumni","article_published_time":"2025-10-22T17:51:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-22T17:51:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":633,"url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/files\/2025\/10\/Johanna_feature.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"siennacarnochan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"siennacarnochan","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/","url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/","name":"Recent College of Education graduate advocates for students with disabilities - Alumni","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-10-22T17:51:25+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-22T17:51:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/#\/schema\/person\/43b2cc597945b5719a61917e2b6de8d0"},"description":"J\u00f3hanna Bjartmarsd\u00f3ttir (BA \u201925), an Icelandic student with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, has turned her challenges into a mission to improve education for students with disabilities. She is reshaping how schools support neurodivergent learners and advocating for more inclusive, accessible learning environments.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/2025\/10\/22\/recent-college-of-education-graduate-advocates-for-students-with-disabilities\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Recent College of Education graduate advocates for students with disabilities"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/#website","url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/","name":"UF College of Education Alumni","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/#\/schema\/person\/43b2cc597945b5719a61917e2b6de8d0","name":"siennacarnochan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f589b0a6dbdef79fe6e380bb5d9ab88a0c1663bd2e41fc5b8d3940d889c5986e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f589b0a6dbdef79fe6e380bb5d9ab88a0c1663bd2e41fc5b8d3940d889c5986e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"siennacarnochan"},"url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/author\/siennacarnochan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12212"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12237,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12212\/revisions\/12237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}