What does it mean to be neurodivergent? And how does it affect creativity? 15 writers have spent five months exploring this through 62-word poems or ‘sestudes’, as one of 26’s creative projects.
The project came about because two of the winners of the 26 Awards in 2023 were neurodivergent. And it turns out, many more of our members are too. So we wondered, what could be the link between neurodivergence* (eg autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other conditions) and creativity? What does it feel like, how does it affect our everyday lives, what do we want people to know about this?
We assembled a project team of Anita Holford, Ann Storr, and Lloyd Harry-Davis, put a call out for writers, and the ball started rolling. Five months later, and we have 15 beautiful, insightful and sometimes raw, poems – some accompanied with a narrative and/or an image. You’ll find them here, or in the file below.
* the term ‘neurodiverse’ applies to us all. All human brains are necessarily different. But ‘neurodivergent’ applies to a specific set of people: who tend to be discriminated against because they diverge from the majority and the processes and characteristics of our society aren’t set up to include them. Just one of the interesting themes that emerged as part of the project.