Understanding Neurodiversity: Beyond Difference
It’s interesting to consider the fact that 1 in 5 people are neurodivergent. That’s 20% of the world’s population. That’s about 1.6 billion people. That’s a lot. It brings into mind the question of “difference” - because when we talk about neurodiversity, we automatically link it to “different”. But if so many people think ‘differently’, then what exactly does “difference” mean? And whose responsibility is it to help shape a world where “difference” is celebrated and not stigmatised?
Cooking up young advocates
Oozey Gooey Brownies is a service group set up by one of our neurodivergent students, Astrid. Astrid loves chocolate brownies. That’s why the brownies that Astrid bakes are the ooziest and the gooiest in town! (Don’t just take our word for it, ask around; everyone will tell you the same thing. And if you haven’t tried one yet, you probably should…). It’s fair to say that Astrid is a brownie expert. And she loves dogs! Astrid is also neurodivergent. Therefore, OG Brownies exists not only to provide our community with the best brownies in Bangkok but also as a platform for neurodivergent thinkers to share their lived experiences of their neurodivergence. It’s a space for listening and understanding - and the group uses those experiences to create innovative and engaging advocacy campaigns. We believe society has a collective responsibility to better accommodate neurodiversity. To achieve this, we need more advocates.
Neurodiversity Celebration Week: Student Workshops
That’s why, during Neurodiversity Celebration Week, OG Brownies was super excited to be able to engage our community in some fun and engaging advocacy building! To start with, we were invited to run a full-day workshop as part of the Year 6 Community Partnerships Week. Astrid led a baking class in the morning where a group of lucky Year 6 students were able to learn the fabled (and top secret!) OG Brownie recipe:
And in the afternoon, our students had a go at creating their own neurodiversity advocacy tools! Here are just a few of them:
It was so cool to see our Elementary community engage with neurodiversity and we were blown away by the enthusiasm of our young advocates!
The 'Masking' Campaign: Raising Awareness
Advocacy work is a big focus for OG Brownies. One of our group members had created a powerful poster campaign which we used to raise awareness about a key issue related to neurodiversity: masking. Masking refers to the act of suppressing or concealing neurodivergent traits in order to appear neurotypical. It’s really damaging and can lead to long-term mental health impacts. You can see the poster campaign below:
During Neurodiversity Celebration Week, we asked our Secondary student community to send in their interpretations of our poster campaign (an entire tray of OG Brownies to the winner may have helped…). We received some astonishing replies, with people sending in poems, artwork and many other creative submissions. Here are a couple of them:
Community Response and Reflection
Seeing our community respond with this level of engagement was humbling. It made us reflect on the rich creativity, empathy and compassion we are lucky enough to have at NIST. And, furthermore, it made us think more deeply about “difference”. We may think, feel and experience things differently, but it is exactly that diversity of experience that makes us stronger as a community. Ultimately, it is not an individual’s responsibility to change or mask their authentic self. It is up to all of us as a collective society to listen, understand and learn from each other. Just as ecosystems benefit from biological diversity, diverse communities are stronger, more resilient and better equipped to solve global challenges. We are proud to be advocates for neurodiversity and we are excited to be baking more brownies and advocating more over the coming weeks, months and years. Watch this space!
For more information, please contact Team OG Brownies at ogbrownies@nist.ac.th.
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