University of Brighton fine Art (Painting) submission

Free learning!

Apologies I’ve not published in a couple weeks. My ADHD brain has run out of dopamine, making ability to start/continue a task a big fat wall of impossibility. 😦

But anyways, this week is Neurodiversity Celebration Week. There’s an actual organisation called Neurodiversity Celebration Week and every year they host a fairly sizeable range of free learning sessions throughout the week.

This year’s themes tell you a bit about where the conversation around neurodiversity has got to in 2024:

• Lots of neurodiversity at work: Since Covid, people seeking diagnoses have skyrocketed. Being exposed to a completely different way of living and working highlighted to many that the pre-covid days were very bad for their health. Clearly enough working adults have been asking questions about how to make the work experience more neuroinclusive to warrant both daily Q&As and 3-4 sessions about neurodiversity at work.

• Children and education: As per the first point, schools closing during Covid times resulted in a lot of parents seeking diagnoses for their children (and subsequently themselves, as it’s really, really hereditary. I’ve so far not met a single AuDHD person who hasn’t had at least one similarly wired parent). The sessions on caregiving and education suggest that parents are interested in fostering a healthy neurodiverse family dynamic and, along with education professionals, want to ensure neurodiverse children are getting a fair chance at a decent education.

• Intersectionality: There are two interrelated side effects of the late diagnosis trend. First is that the myth that only middle class cis white boys could be autistic, let alone other neurodiversities, has been eliminated. Second is that many of those who identify as neurodiverse already experience another system of oppression, such as identifying as a cis woman, LGBTQ+, POC/from another culture, or from a lower socioeconomic background. Therefore it makes sense that sessions on the intersectional experience takes up a lot of this week (although it’s noted that race isn’t specifically called out).

As a child-free straight white cis professional woman in her 40s, you can guess the sessions aimed at me. However, I’m going to attempt to attend a range of sessions, and for next week I’ll be writing up my notes and sharing insights and practical ideas that could be useful for you all.

Enjoy Neurodiversity Celebration Week!