From “Bottom Set” to Social Entrepreneur: The Bournemouth University Story
Updated: Aug 20
From “Bottom Set” to Social Entrepreneur: The Bournemouth University Story
Long before Nat Hawley became the founder of Divergent Thinking, a TEDx speaker and a well-known neurodiversity advocate, he was a student being underestimated.
His Bournemouth University alumni profile captures something important about that journey: not just the resilience it took to get there, but the role that the right environment, the right support and the right opportunities played in changing what seemed possible.
You can read the full profile here: Nathaniel Hawley – Director of the Dyslexia Employment Academy | Bournemouth University
When the system mistakes difference for lack of ability
Nat’s school years were shaped by low expectations. Like many neurodivergent young people, he was placed in the “bottom set” and repeatedly underestimated by teachers who doubted what he would be capable of. That experience is familiar to far too many people with dyslexia, dyspraxia and other forms of neurodivergence.
What makes this story so significant is not just that he was underestimated. It is that those judgements were wrong.
The problem was never a lack of intelligence. The problem was that the education system was measuring him against a narrow model of learning and achievement. Once he reached an environment that better matched how he thought and learned, a different picture emerged.
That is one of the central ideas behind Divergent Thinking: many people are not failing because they lack potential. They are being assessed, taught or managed in ways that were never designed for their minds.
Persistence mattered before support even began
Another striking part of Nat’s Bournemouth University story is that his route into higher education was not straightforward.
His first application was unsuccessful. That could easily have been the end of the story. Instead, he spent a year building a professional portfolio through an art foundation course, strengthened his case and applied again. That persistence changed everything.
This matters because success stories are often retold as if the path suddenly opened once the “right opportunity” arrived. In reality, many neurodivergent people have to keep pushing through rejection, misunderstanding and detours before anyone sees their potential properly.
Nat’s journey reminds us that resilience is often built long before recognition arrives.
Finding the right way to learn
A key turning point came when Nat entered Bournemouth University’s Television Production course. It was there that he began to recognise something that many dyslexic and dyspraxic people discover only much later: he was bright, but he needed a different way to learn.
That shift is more profound than it first sounds.
It is the difference between asking:
“Why am I not keeping up?”
and asking:
“What conditions help me learn well?”
That second question changes everything. It replaces shame with strategy. It turns failure into feedback. It makes space for practical support instead of internalised blame.
This is one reason the language of neurodiversity matters so much. It helps people move beyond seeing themselves as broken and towards understanding themselves as differently wired in ways that may need support, but also carry real strengths.
The importance of a “two-toned” support system
One of the most useful parts of the BU profile is Nat’s description of the support he received there.
He talks about a dual system that helped him succeed academically:
regular support from the Additional Learning Support team, which helped with spelling, grammar and organisation
subject-specific support within the Faculty of Media & Communication
practical tools and equipment secured through disability funding
That layered support model matters because it reflects a truth many institutions still miss: neurodivergent students and employees often need both general support and context-specific support.
It is not enough to understand the diagnosis in the abstract. The support has to be connected to the actual work, the actual subject or the actual environment.
The same principle applies in adult working life too. That is exactly why workplace needs assessments can be so valuable. They do not only identify a broad need for support. They focus on how communication, workflow, technology and environment are affecting the person in the role they actually do.
Why practical support is not a bonus
There is a temptation in stories like this to focus only on Nat’s determination and overlook the role of support. That would miss the point.
His BU profile makes it clear that the support he received was not optional fluff. It was “completely invaluable”. It helped level the playing field. It made learning more accessible. It enabled him to work with his brain rather than constantly against it.
That is an important lesson for employers, educators and institutions alike.
Support should not be seen as generosity once someone has “proven themselves enough”. It is often part of what allows someone to demonstrate what they are capable of in the first place.
Without those structures, many talented people remain stuck being judged by barriers that never needed to be there.
The seeds of Divergent Thinking were planted early
The Bournemouth University profile is also fascinating because it shows where the roots of Nat’s later work began.
During his undergraduate years, he became involved as a Student Ambassador and in local school outreach. Through that work, he began to see that his own experience was not isolated. The “spiky profile” he was living with — strong ability in some areas, real difficulty in others — was shared by many other neurodivergent people.
That recognition mattered.
It turned personal frustration into collective purpose.
The origins of what would eventually become Divergent Thinking can be traced back to this period: the growing awareness that many neurodivergent people were being locked out not because they lacked talent, but because the systems around them were too rigid, too narrow and too poorly informed to recognise it.
You can see that mission carried through in the wider Divergent Thinking blog, which continues to explore how neurodivergent people can be better supported in work, education and society.
From student support to social entrepreneurship
What makes Nat’s BU story especially compelling is that it does not stop at personal success. It becomes social entrepreneurship.
The student who once needed tailored support to get through university went on to build work designed to change the system for others. That is a very different kind of outcome from the narrow “overcame adversity” narrative.
He did not simply escape the problem. He turned towards it and started trying to solve it.
That is an important distinction. It is one thing to succeed despite barriers. It is another to build something that helps remove those barriers for other people.
This is why Nat’s story resonates beyond his own biography. It is about what happens when lived experience becomes insight, and insight becomes action.
The business case grows out of the personal story
The BU profile also helps explain why Nat’s later message to employers carries so much weight.
His view that neurodiversity should not be treated as charity, tokenism or a box-ticking exercise does not come from theory alone. It comes from lived experience of being underestimated, then succeeding when the environment was designed better.
That is why his message to businesses is so clear:
do not hire neurodivergent people out of pity,
do not exclude them because of rigid assumptions,
and do not mistake standard presentation for talent.
Instead, understand where different minds add value.
That is one of the ideas that runs throughout Divergent Thinking’s work: neuroinclusion is not about charity hires. It is about recognising real ability and creating conditions where it can show up.
What this story really tells us
At first glance, this looks like a story about one person moving from “bottom set” to a Master’s degree and a successful career. But the deeper lesson is bigger than that.
It is a story about:
how early labels can be wildly misleading
why access and support matter
what happens when education meets someone where they are
how neurodivergent strengths can emerge when barriers are reduced
why personal resilience and structural support both matter
Most of all, it is a story about redefinition.
Nat was not transformed into someone intelligent by success. He was always intelligent. Success simply gave the world fewer ways to miss it.
Final thought
The Bournemouth University alumni profile matters because it captures the point where possibility widened.
It shows what can happen when someone who has been underestimated finds an environment that offers both challenge and support. It shows that persistence matters, but that persistence alone is not the whole story. And it shows how a personal journey can become the foundation for something much bigger.
For Nat Hawley, founder of Divergent Thinking, Bournemouth University was not just a place of study. It was part of the turning point that helped transform an underestimated student into a social entrepreneur, advocate and leader in the neurodiversity space.
That is not just a success story. It is a reminder of how much talent is waiting to emerge when people are finally given the right tools to work with their brains, not against them.
To explore more of Nat Hawley’s work, visit Divergent Thinking, read the blog, or learn more about [workplace needs assessments](https://www.divergentthinking.uk
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