Opal Whiteley (1976). The Story of Opal: The Journal of an Understanding Heart. Adapted by Jane Boulton. Tioga Publishing Company. Recommended reading and listening from other neurodivergent writers and artists Writing through pop culture accompanied by the relative brevity of poetry has granted me ways into writing about painful experiences that feel manageable and cathartic. With this suggestion in mind, a poetry anthology seemed an ideal way of bridging the gap in understanding of neurodivergent people’s experiences in a way that complements more conventional presentation of information. Rhiannon Oliver, the Co-production Coordinator of the Review, believes it can “offer insight into the social, emotional and sensory experiences of neurodivergent people through the universal language of poetry, whilst simultaneously celebrating the creativity that so often goes hand in hand with neurodivergence.” One of the first nonspeaking poets I worked with, Meghana Junnuru, has grown from one word to one poem to one chapbook to co-founding her own advocacy and co-housing non-profit, the Autism Sibs Universe (ASU). Along the way she enlisted her brother Chetan Junnuru, who is also nonspeaking, as her collaborator and co-editor in all things. In writing together, they wield an astounding balance of simplicity and surprise, always expanding my understanding of autistic experience. Meghana and Chetan smell water the way I smell coffee. They revel in the idea of “zero point,” a state where “humans can merge with their infinite presence and live a creatively authentic life.” They harness the alapa–the underlying rhythmic structure of an Indian raga–to reinvent the autistic body as the “alapa body,” a porous mode of “enriched musical patterns suffused with nurturing connections.” In May, Meghana and I will be in San Francisco to be interviewed for The Neurodiversity Project. To Martin, collaboration is at the heart of the Multiverse series. A community is growing around the books, not just between the authors—who, by engaging with one another’s work, are becoming friends—but among the editorial team supporting them as well. “I knew the series would need far more than my limited viewpoint, and I also genuinely wanted company and a diffuse ecosystem of curious, accountable decision-making,” says Martin. “It’s more work, but it’s the kind of work that’s endlessly generative. And healing. As scholar and author Ashon T. Crawley writes, by way of Foucault, we endeavor to practice ‘friendship as a way of life.’”

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. 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.” In my more joyful poetry, this has allowed me the chance to rewrite much of what happens to young neurodivergent people, and give myself and the characters in my poems things that in reality might only be dreamed of. An inspiring story of a Deaf man’s life journey in a hearing world, as he learns to get by while gaining a deeper understanding of his own identity. An adaptation of the Mr & Mrs Clarks' celebrated stage show Louder Is Not Always Clearer, where performance art and physical theatre is used to recreate moments from Jonny’s life. The show created by Gareth Clark, Catherine Bennett, Marega Palser and Jonny Cotsen was described as a "brilliant exercise in empathy” by Lyn Gardner and shortlisted for a Total Theatre Award for Innovation, Experimentation and Playing With Form.When neurodiversity is used to include everyone, and to drive a radical agenda of acceptance, the benefits can be substantial. One problem in our current model of classroom support, which all too often relies on a diagnosis before support is offered, is that children may sit on clinical waiting lists for months before receiving a diagnosis. If their needs are not being met in this time, serious outcomes can ensue, including exclusion and mental ill-health. Neurodiversity reminds us of the variability that exists in every school, in every classroom. A neurodiversity-affirmative school provides a platform for teachers to analyse and act upon the apparent needs of the children in their class without waiting for external (often clinical) validation to do so. Such practice is truly child-centred, and permits a rapid response to the changing needs of pupils, while waiting for the insights that can come from a clinical evaluation. Dog violets push through first, just as the sparrows dig the moss from the guttering and the air is as puffed out as the robin’s chest. Dandelions and buttercups emerge like sunbeams, signalling to bees that it’s safe to come out now, finally’ (p14). Kate Fox in her collection The Oscillations says that many of her poems in the collection ‘touch on neurodiversity – the idea that, as in biodiversity, there is a strength in the differences of people with conditions such as autism and ADHD who think and experience the world differently’. (2020, p69). In this post, I write with a similar emphasis on some of the perceived strengths and differences of neurodivergent writers. ‘Diagnosing’ autistic writers? About: Victoria Gray is an artist and practice-led researcher, based in York, UK.Her work includes actions, interventions, time-based sculpture and video, being presented in museums, galleries and festivals in performance art, fine art and choreographic contexts.

Creative work: Earlier this year, Penny Kiley was longlisted for the Spread the Word life writing prize. The piece, ‘How To Watch Your Mother Die’, is in the anthology here. It’s a story about grief viewed through the lens of autism. Here’s an extract: Only after working with neurodivergent learners for several years did I fully realize the special reciprocity between poetry and autism. I had been conditioned to expect a connection between autism and STEM subjects, but being a poet I was eager to experiment. Five years ago I co-founded Unrestricted Interest, an organization dedicated to helping neurodivergent learners transform their lives through writing. The results have been staggering. Not only do autistic writers have a unique penchant for poetic language, but many of them, especially the minimally speaking and nonspeaking among them, possess their own intrinsic idiolects and choose poetry as their central means of expression. Michael Fitzgerald (2005). The Genesis of Artistic Creativity: Asperger’s Syndrome and the Arts. Jessica Kingsley Publisher. 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.

It is also worth noting that neurodiversity does mean different things to different people – not all readers will agree with the formulations we have adopted here. For example, attempts have been made to position learning disability outside the concept of neurodiversity. The question, we think, to ask yourself is ‘Does my idea of neurodiversity operate to combat stigma and enable flourishing for everyone?’ – if it doesn’t, maybe the simplest solution is to expand and update your idea of neurodiversity. A neurodiversity-affirmative framework