On 2 July 2022, 31 Disabled artists disrupted 30 locations with surreal interventions, in recognition of the 102nd anniversary of the first DaDa International Exhibition.
Alongside the interventions Disability Arts Online were commissioned by DASH to produce a Zine, distributed at venues on the day, as well as the WAIWAV website.
Our member Sarah started Inclusivity Films in order to tell stories that raise awareness to social issues, stories that advocate for others, and stories that represent the disabled, neurodivergent & d/Deaf communities both on and off the screen.
A podcast investigating neurodiversity, employment and the creative industries. In this series producers Lorna Allan and Jhinuk Sarkar bring together a variety of creative experts to discuss neurodiversity and creativity.
Chloe Farahar uses her own experience as an Autistic academic to explain how neurotypicals in HE can be less ableist. Chloe is the co-founder of So, You’re Autistic? and Aucademy, and the creator of Stigmaphrenia. Recommended by our member Brighid.
General guidance compiled by Chloe Farahar about reasonable adjustments that neurodivergent students, and examiners of neurodivergent students, might take into account when approaching a PhD Viva exam. Recommended by our member Brighid.
Facilitated by Abby Nocon and hosted by Neuroqueer Creative. This course will be held in June 2026, and is an introduction to a variety of astrological practices that anyone, but particularly artists and writers, can use to reflect on their creative practice and find their way out of ruts and into flow.
Our member Ashok Mistry wrote this piece in 2020 for Unlimited.
“All of the artists [at the Reimagining Arts Commissioning event – hosted by Unlimited and Bagri Foundation] were first or second generation immigrants and this led me to consider my own experience of being a second generation child of migrants, effectively making me neither a native of the country of my birth or the country of my heritage. In effect, I am a ‘never-native’ and as deaf/disabled/neurodivergent artists we are all never natives to the systems, processes, and practices of the arts sector that encompass current ideas around commissioning. The ‘way things are done’ in commissions and the broader art scene has always felt foreign and informs much of my activism and writing.”
A socially engaged art project and DIY archive by Newcastle based artist Sarah Li who collaborated with a group of LGBTQ+ individuals based in the North-East of England to explore the layered meaning of “pleasure” within a Queer context. Together, they delved into how Queer pleasure could be documented, examining its ties to activism, the ways it was experienced, and the barriers that stood in the way.
The project worked towards building an archive that addressed gaps left by historical oppression, creating space for positive Queer experiences to be shared and accessed by researchers and the wider LGBTQIA+ community alike.
The resulting exhibition can be viewed and explored on the Helix Arts website linked below.
“Sometimes, personal growth involves updating and removing words from your vocabulary. […] When you know better, you do better. That’s growth.
Neuro-affirming language is a way of communicating that respects and validates the experiences and identities of NeuroDivergent People, who are members of the NeuroMinority (a neurological and brain-based minority). Neuro-affirming language is vital because it promotes inclusivity, reduces stigma, and supports the mental well-being of NeuroDivergent (and all) people.”
By Lyric Rivera, Neurodivergent Rebel
Outside In provides a platform for artists who encounter significant barriers to the art world due to health, disability, social circumstance, or isolation.
Outside In provides a digital platform for artists to show their work and three programmes of activity: artist development, exhibitions, and training. Outside In aims to create a fairer art world by supporting artists, creating opportunities, and influencing arts organisations.
Suggested by our member Eva.
A newsletter about disability and deviance by Jesse Meadows.
“Sluggish is about embracing the slow, the weird, and the squished underfoot.
I write about the politics of mental illness, the narratives that shape our dis-order, and the culture that makes our brains. I also love to go off on tangents about nature, history, and sense-making through art. (It’s all connected, though, I promise.)”
Lyric Rivera aka Neurodivergent Rebel wrote this post about the history of the controversial puzzle piece analogy, and why it cannot be reclaimed. “One can easily see that the non-autistics who created this logo thought Autism was a “bad thing” and Autistic kids were “sad” or unhappy because of their Autism (when we’re often unhappy because of how non-autistics TREAT us due to our Autistic brains and presentation). Over time, this logo has come to represent to many a view that is probably even more problematic (especially in ABA circles) that Autistic People are “missing a piece” of themselves and that IF our Autism could be “taken away” from us, we could be “whole” and no-longer Autistic.”
DYSPLA makes art and conducts research into the Neurodivergent Aesthetic with a focus on short form narrative in the following mediums: Digital, Print, Photography, Poetry, Performance, XR (VR, 360º Film, AR, MR), Moving Image, Theatre and Installation.
“This letter discusses the origins of the concept and theory of neurodiversity. It is important to correctly attribute concept and theories to the people who developed them. For some time, the concept of neurodiversity has primarily been attributed to one person, Judy Singer. We consider the available evidence and show that the concept and theory in fact has multiple origins. We draw particular attention to recent archival findings that show the concept of ‘neurological diversity’ was being used years earlier than previously thought. ‘Neurodiversity’ means the same thing as ‘neurological diversity’ and does not change the theory in any way. We conclude that both the concept of neurological diversity or neurodiversity, and the body of theory surrounding it, should be understood as having been collectively developed by neurodivergent people.”
By Monique Botha, Robert Chapman, Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, Steven K Kapp, Abs Stannard Ashley, Nick Walker.
The home of resources to help adults understand and manage their ADHD symptoms, made by St Helens and Lancashire ADHD services, suggested by our member Emma.
Sister Shack is a Black and Queer-led Activist and intersectional Feminist CIC whose work centres around social justice and community inclusion for marginalised people, based in Newcastle upon Tyne.
They focus on working with and promoting women and non-binary entrepreneurs, LGBTQIA+ communities, Global Majority communities, creatives, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs and DJs. They highlight and discuss issues and experiences faced by those most marginalised and aim to provide safer spaces, information, support, guidance, and more.
A 2024 study into the benefits of Body Doubling by Tessa Eagle, Leya Breanna Baltaxe-Admony and Kathryn E. Ringland.
“Body doubling has emerged as a community-driven phenomenon primarily employed by neurodivergent individuals. In this work, we survey 220 people to investigate how, when, and why they engage in body doubling and their own definitions for it.”
A 2023 article by Devon Price unpacking body doubling, “executive dysfunction,” and the pathology model of ADHD.
“Many of the challenges of having ADHD could easily be addressed with interventions that are social rather than medical — but such an approach is nearly impossible for our current mental healthcare system to make sense of, or profit from. And so, for now, ADHDers and those of us who love them are stuck inventing our own solutions, and providing one another with the best support that we can.”
“Our needs and strengths interlocked perfectly, as is so often the case in ADHer-Autistic friendships. When psychology and psychiatry had little to offer us but stigma and self-blame, we took care of one another. We each needed other people. And that was the exact opposite of being disordered.”
Written by Sins Invalid, these principles guide us towards collective access and liberation, through intersectional, anti-capitalist, cross-disability, sustainable interdependence.
“Sins Invalid recognizes that we will be liberated as whole beings—as disabled, as queer, as Black, as Brown, as trans/nonbinary, as exactly who and how we are. We know we are far greater whole than divided. We recognize that our allies emerge from many communities and that demographic identity alone does not determine one’s commitment to liberation.”
Neuk (/njuːk/): noun, Scots.
A community of and for neurodivergent artists. Their work focuses on advocating for neurodivergent people in the arts. Although based in Scotland, many of their events take place online.
A DIY organisation that facilitates remote events that centre crip, sick and disabled people. They also run a newsletter that publishes work by crip, sick and/or disabled people. They are guided by the principles of Disability Justice, as described by Sins Invalid.
A safe and generative space that accommodates the diverse, individual needs of scholars working in the humanities, while offering a shared sense of community and support.
They believe that centering neurodivergent perspectives in academia and beyond will pave new avenues for collaboration, research, and methodological development. They explore new modes of thinking, being, and doing research in ways that better support our needs within and beyond institutional structures and practices.
An organisation creating space and solidarity for neurodivergent-identifying artists who work in (or with) performance, across discipline, career level, and location across Scotland. As a neurodivergent-led organisation, it is driven to support and facilitate neurodivergent community and culture within the Scottish performance sector, whilst nurturing and promoting the creative practices of neurodivergent artists in its network.
First started by Kai Syng Tan, the Network is a creative and inclusive space to explore the messy and magical entanglements between ‘neurodiversity’, ‘creativity’ and ‘research’, and the rich spectra of possibilities and intersections in between, and importantly, through not just an anti-ableist but decolonised, internationalised, anti-racist, anti-misogynistic perspective, while also being critical of the traps of essentialism and exceptionalism.
The alliance is a hub/co-creative platform to share, discuss, debate, motivate, interrogate and support one another’s practice and research as critical friends. Collectively seek to make neurodiversity in research and the contributions of neurodivergent researchers more visible, and make research culture more inclusive.
Dr Dyi Huijg has been running a series of ND and disability reading groups with an intersectional focus, including one dedicated to cripping pedagogy, ADHD, and many other topics. You can find more info about the current reading group schedule as well as reading lists and archived materials from past reading groups on their website.
The substack of our member Liza Liebling. In their own words:
“My name is Liza Liebling (LIE-za LEEB-ling), and I am ready to be Known.
I am a Visionary and a Voice.
I connect people, skills and ideas.
I connect to the Revolutionary Universe through disciplines of pleasure – art, perversion, joy.
I build webs of resilient care in fractal symphony.
I model compelling possibility.
I invoke change.
I am the sum of my ancestries of Resistance.
I am a vessel for our Reckoning.
I am built for this storm.”
“These words would love a chance to stretch their legs.” And they will.
This doctoral research project by our member Aby Watson, critically interrogates solo choreography and performance through a lens of the neurodiversity paradigm, and a lived experience of neurodivergence, specifically dyspraxia; a neurotype which affects memory, coordination, cognitive processing, and the execution of movements. Yet, through the process of a paradigm shift, this study widens its focus to consider neurodivergence more broadly. Deliberations of choreography itself also become expanded, to explore increasingly interdisciplinary modes of dance alongside alternate social relations and modes of spectatorship within the performance space.