Senior lecturer Dr Luke Beardon said the alternative ceremony gave students a choice about how they celebrated their achievements.
“It’s all about inclusion, accessibility, participation for students who might not feel comfortable going to the ordinary graduation,” he said.
“It’s offering that courtesy to those individuals so they feel engaged and can contribute to the university in the same way as any other student.”
He said that in the past some students had avoided their graduation event because it was “too anxiety-inducing, too stimulatory, too potentially worrying for them”.
Sheffield Hallam University is not the only site to have offered relaxed ceremonies for neurodivergent students.
Nottingham Trent University ran a pilot event in July 2023.
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