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2/25- Neurodiversity, Neurocosmopolitanism, & Creativity

Magnolia's picture

The material that drew my interest the most in this past week's reading was the idea of how much we miss out on when we as a society often fail to give individuals who identify as neurodivergent a chance to tap into their creative potential in a healthy and accessible way, and to share that creativity with the world. The term Neurocosmipolitanism is the most interesting to me because of the beauty it ecompasses. A quote from Nick Walker's webpage on Neurocosmipolitanism reads, "The neuro cosmopolitan seeks to actively explore, engage with, and cultivate human neurodiversity and its creative potentials..." Creativity seems to be a common theme in discussions relating to neurodiversity in any form. For example, the youtube video about the individual speaking in their own language stated how when they attempt to conform to the neurotypical ways of the world and speak in the neurotypical language of society, they react to a "much more limited set of surrounding", and how, to them, true language is about "being in constant conversation with [their] environment." This type of deep communication with our environments is something that I've heard similar ideas about in regards to meditative practices, which is something the majority of the neurotypical and neurodiverse community embraces with open arms as an incredibly healthy and smart daily practice. However, one would not know these kinds of practices are often employed on a daily basis from some neurodivergent individuals if they do not take the time to learn said individual's language, (something people of all kinds tend not to do). Additionally, just from the work we've done already with the CCW artists, (many of whom most likely identify with being neurodivergent), I have seen the incredible amount of creative potential that they hold that they are often not given ways to express outside of the walls of CCW. I wonder what kind of steps could be taken to not only allow for more creative expression from neurodivergent individuals, but also how we could push for society to see the beauty and originality this creativity has, and what that could mean for the continuation of an openly-expressive society for individuals with identities of all kinds?