Thread by @JGreen_CDF

Happy #NeurodiversityCelebrationWeek 🎉

To celebrate, I thought I’d put together some information on neurodiversity and a few thoughts from a personal perspective. Here we go 👇

First, what is neurodiversity? 🤔

Neurodiversity describes the natural variations in human brains & how people experience the world more uniquely than others. It includes a range of conditions like Attention Deficit Disorders, Autism, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia, and Dyscalculia.

We often hear a lot about different conditions, but rarely neurodiversity as a broader umbrella term.

1-in-7 people in the UK are neurodivergent – not an insignificant number. People with neurodiversity often face significant challenges in their daily lives.

In fact, according to a 2021 report by @Autism, only 16% of autistic adults in the UK are in full-time employment. A study by the Dyslexia Association found that 1 in 10 people in the UK has dyslexia, but only 4% of those feel that they have adequate workplace support.

Other challenges include social interaction, communication, executive functioning difficulties, sensory sensitivities, and other physical symptoms, such as chronic pain or sleep disorders.

Discrimination against people with neurodiversity is also rife across society.

However, neurodiversity can – and should be more considered – as a strength.

It brings strengths like creativity, unique problem-solving skills, attention to detail, & deep focus to name a few. Our society benefits from all of these, yet neurodiversity is grossly unsupported.

Creating a greater understanding & support for people with neurodiversity is critical to creating a fairer society. By recognising and celebrating neurodiversity as a valuable part of human diversity, we can ensure that everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Personally, I was diagnosed with dyspraxia at 22. This has led to feelings of anger at the education system for missing it and frustration at the challenges my condition has posed.

However, with time I’ve been able to see it more as a strength and find new coping mechanisms

I’ll be using my position as a Councillor to campaign to make Cardiff more neurodiversity friendly. Bringing together the neurodiversity community and experts, I believe can become more accessible to those with neurodiversity.

Get in touch if you’d like to get involved!

So let's all do our part to support neurodiversity. Whether through advocating for greater reasonable adjustments, raising awareness, or simply being an accepting presence in the lives of people with neurodiversity. It all helps in building a more inclusive and accepting society.

(To save you scrolling, here's all the above tweets in one place)
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