Work mentioned by Prof Amanda Kirby.
Neurodiversity is the way we all think, move, communicate, and process information differently. When we work together we can create new ideas and better ways of seeing and understanding the world.
This weekend at this sad time for many in the UK I felt I wanted to share a couple of really uplifting outputs from very talented people to show how working together we can see more and be better.
In the past, I have described the concept of neurodiversity in different ways including describing spiky profiles as a way of showing strengths and challenges in the different cognitive areas.
Two wonderful people have shared with me the wonderful and creative work they have undertaken in considering different ways to conceptualize the complexity of neurodiversity.
Hayley Williams -Hindle recently had an exhibition ‘Portrait of a Brain’ .
“Portrait of a Brain is a sculptural representation of a ‘spikey’ Neurodiverse cognitive human profile. Its colour and light describe the glory of an individual, intersecting strengths and challenges in the brain workings of a (particular) autistic woman.”
Camilla Bertolini also recently created an activity as part of her course based on the ‘the balls in the bucket’ concept, designed as primary research for her MA Applied Imagination course, to test how well the people at Central Saint Martins knew about neurodiversity. To complete the activity, the participants read eight coloured cards representing: Neurotypicality, Neurodivergent strengths, and challenges associated with ASC, Developmental Language Disorder, Dyspraxia (DCD), Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, and ADHD. Each colored card had some bullet points. For every affirmative, one scoop of water beads from the respective colors was poured into the jar. The greater the number of color beads of one color represented how much the person considered their traits in one or more areas. See the picture above of some of the different people’s responses.
What I have learned is that working with people who see things, communicate, act and process information differently results in different ways to see the world in some really wonderful ways.
I think we can say we ALL need that in our lives.
Let us embrace neurodiversity and see how we can really work together.
About Professor Amanda:
Professor Amanda Kirby, is CEO of Do-IT Solutions a tech-for-good company that delivers web-based screening tools and training that help 1000s of people deliver person-centered solutions relating to neurodiversity and wellbeing.
She has mixed bag of experiences and skills and has 25+ years of working in the field of neurodiversity. She is a medical doctor, Professor, and has a Ph.D. in the field of neurodiversity; parent and grandparent to neurodivergent wonderful kids and am neurodivergent herself.
Together with Theo Smith, she wrote the award-winning book Neurodiversity at Work Drive Innovation, Performance and Productivity with a Neurodiverse Workforce. She has her 10th book coming out called Neurodiversity in Education coming early in 2023. She was also voted one of the top 20 Thinkers by HR magazine for 2022!
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6976794148175523840/