Watford Neurodiversity Exhibition Shows We Are All In The Rain But We Have Different Umbrellas

Everyone is slightly different, however there are often basic similarities that we can rely on when getting to know each other. Sometimes these basics are a bit muddled up, which can be confusing for us when dealing with others. Perfectly natural and very human differences can be amplified when the world is mostly designed by people with one or another thinking style. Unlike education, the brain function is different on a more fundamental level, meaning that it doesn’t matter what we have been taught, the way we use the information and what it means for us as people can be different. If the brain is a chef, and the world has ingredients, some chefs are bakers and other chefs are grillers. You give the same ingredients to different chefs, and you will get different foods to enjoy at the end.  
 
Neurodiversity can be used to describe many official diagnoses. What they have in common are a manner of mental processing on the biological level that can be described as unusual. If only 10% of the world are left-handed, it can be described as an unusual hand. The same goes for neurodiversity. If 10% of us think differently for reasons we cannot control, we will each benefit from making the world available to them all. The umbrella terms for neurodiversity include Autism, Dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, Aspergers, Gender Dysphoria, Bi-Polarism, and many others. None of these neurodiverse conditions are the same as bad or criminal or sick and cannot be used as an excuse for behaviour that goes against the grain. Like all of us, most neurodiverse people just want to get on with their lives and be taken seriously. Accepting these conditions as part of the human equation can mean helping us out with art and exploration.  
 
With an art installation to help bring awareness and acceptance to neurodiversity, Queens Road in Watford, Hertfordshire, is hosting dozens of multicoloured umbrellas. Suspended in the air, the multiple tones offer respite from the elements and a backdrop to the thoughts with their various hues. Shelter from the sun and the rain, the umbrellas may represent our higher thought functions that keep us safe and on the straight and narrow path. Some colours are similar, and some are vibrant opposites. They all do the same thing, and we can share each all of them. Open until the 27th of September, the Neurodiversity Umbrella Project aims to inspire and educate by showing how diversity in thought is an opportunity and not a challenge.   

​Via BBC

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