Pellicano, E., & den Houting, J. (2022). Annual Research Review: Shifting from ‘normal science’to neurodiversity in autism science. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 63(4), 381-396. Both Fitzgerald and Brown describe ‘an affinity with animals’ as a characteristic of autistic writers (Fitzgerald, 2005, p72; Brown, 2010). This is evident in Dara McAnulty’s work: Emerson had these reflections on how the response to the book has affected her personally and creatively: “Love the pleasing thoughts that happen to me now that this great great moment is becoming my bond with the possibility that people think of me in treeing ways yes yes. Love making notes that become the roots that is the beauty that is trying to become the notes that needs to help us to connect the beauty that is the very beauty that is the very hard growing that needs to happen for us to heal yes yes.” Hen Night, a short film by award-winning theatre and screen writer/director Vici Wreford-Sinnott, inspired by the writing of award-winning journalist Frances Ryan. Jessica has just had her hen night - a last night of freedom but not in the ways she, or any of us, might have imagined.

Relaxing or scrapping school uniform policies supports pupils with sensory issues who cannot tolerate wearing the uniform. Gilly Campbell, Head of Community Arts and Education, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, comments: “The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is proud to partner with BBC Arts and The Space to offer three artists from Northern Ireland the opportunity to create new work as part of BBC Arts’ Culture In Quarantine initiative. Alice McCullough, Shannon Yee and Joel Simon are hugely talented voices in the arts sector here in Northern Ireland and we’re delighted that their work will be championed on a UK-wide platform, offering a significant increase in profile for these artists.” The film and audio works commissioned include performance dramas, dance, comedy, spoken word poetry and animation, with the majority of artists highlighting aspects of the disabled experience of living through the pandemic. Fox also describes heightened sensory abilities, in ‘What could be called communication’, the people in the poem are described as being sensitive to light: ‘They think everyone can see/the fluorescent lights humming’ (2021, p50). For you, what is the relationship between being autistic (or neurodivergent) and your creative practice?Think of a child in school experiencing sensory overload – maybe bright strip lighting, or the school bell, or a scratchy school jumper. It’s like a shake of the coke bottle. Then the timetable changes unexpectedly, and the child feels anxious and all at sea – another shake of the bottle. The child wants to be alone but they get paired up in an activity and they have to mask how they are feeling – the bottle shakes again. By the time the child gets home, the bottle erupts and the lid flies off. Hall, A., Meyer, A. and Rose, D. (2012). Universal Design for Learning in the Classroom NY. The Guildford Press. References

I think you would like the chestnut tree I met in my walk. It hit my notice suddenly, and I thought the skies were in blossom. Then there’s a noiseless noise in the orchard that I let persons hear’ (2011, p172).

Since my diagnosis in 2017, I’ve reflected that my performance and movement practice had perhaps always been a way of stimming, although I wouldn’t have known to call it stimming at the time. Stims are often described as techniques for sensory regulation, particularly to ameliorate sensory overload for autistic people. For example, in my experience, swaying from side-to-side helps me to process what’s incoming, if it’s too much. Ford, T., John, A., & Gunnell, D. (2021). Mental health of children and young people during pandemic. British Medical Journal, 372.

Fox also shows an affinity with animals in the poem ‘Cetaceous’ (2021, p.54): ’but you make me fluid/as you navigate through the murk/with senses I didn’t know existed/weaving sky into sea/sound into sight’. This beautiful phrase combines the wonder of this encounter and its impact on the narrator, and suggests the writer has the ability to understand some of the diversity of communication in the natural world. There is also a kind of synaesthesia of the senses in which they communicate with each other, e.g. sound is woven into sight. Joanne Limburg: Uncovering neurotypical ‘rules’A neurodiversity literate school can create an environment that affirms both the existence of neurodiversity and the tenets of the neurodiversity paradigm, to the benefit of pupils and staff. School staff who confidently understand neurodiversity can be empowered to respect their own expertise as educators in recognising the support needs of pupils in their class. Neurodiversity-affirmative classrooms will be characterised by universal design features and flexibility, with teachers adopting and iterating small changes with the potential to benefit everyone. Those same teachers will find ways to focus on the complementary contributions made by the range of people in the class, and shift away from a constant focus on individual achievement, measured against narrow standards. Pupils in such schools will become accomplished self-advocates, who understand their needs, and feel no shame in asking for help. These benefits will radiate out to family networks, as the constant battle for support for their child dissipates. Engagement with the neurodiversity paradigm thus provides a pathway to realise the long-held ambitions of inclusive education, fostering an environment where each pupil can thrive on their own terms. As for the ‘Alice’ of the Alice books, she could be seen (as some have) as an autistic child with a logical approach to life and a tenacious insistence on what is right and appropriate, who must navigate an unpredictable and capricious neurotypical world. Wolfond's mother Estée Klar got her Ph.D. in Critical Disability Studies at York University in Toronto. She says educational restrictions and absolutes can hinder creativity. For neurodiverse poets who communicate through, say, movement, this can further perpetuate their exclusion from classrooms and communities. "When we have an educational system that says, 'No, this is the way you're supposed to write, this is how a sentence is, this is how an essay is supposed to be written' that can be really challenging," she says. Chris Martin, a neurodivergent poet and editor-at-large for Multiverse, developed the idea for the series in his role as a teacher-writer with Unrestricted Interest (UI), an organization he cofounded seven years ago to help neurodivergent learners, particularly autistic students, express themselves through writing. Martin, whose book about his pioneering educational work, May Tomorrow Be Awake: On Poetry, Autism, and Our Neurodiverse Future (HarperOne), comes out in August, says UI expanded his capabilities as a listener and better illuminated “the reciprocity between poetry and neurodivergence.”

Read the rest and other stories here: https://debjcooper.wordpress.com/2018/01/26/mr-samuels-gift/. But I also knew that most people weren’t trying to work out how different people processed the world. They were categorising people by whether they were introverts or extroverts, happy or sad, anxious or easy-going simply by whether they liked or felt comfortable with them or not. Most people, I think it’s fair to say, expect that other folk experience the day to day world in pretty much the same way as they do. For you, what is the relationship between being autistic (or neurodiverse) and your creative practice?

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Michael Fitzgerald (2005). The Genesis of Artistic Creativity: Asperger’s Syndrome and the Arts. Jessica Kingsley Publisher. In my nature writing, in particular, I really feel like my experience of the world is shaped by sensitivity to noise and light. Leaning into this lets me write about my relationship with nature in a unique way that has fostered and deepened my love for it. Minister, Deirdre Hargey MLA, Department for Communities, NI Executive, says: “This is a very important project and a great opportunity to support our D/deaf disabled artists to develop professionally and create new work that can be showcased locally, nationally and internationally.” In general, poetry is a way to explore an obsession or a fascination with something I’m fixated on and discover more about it – and, inevitably, myself as part of the process. The Face It comedy drama monologues reveal how two women feel about their faces in the modern swipe-right world, and the unexpected impact of wearing Covid-19 face masks. Meet straight-talking Leonie who has an acquired facial difference and ambitious Abbey, who’s no longer prepared to be overlooked.