I have a dream. An accepting and tolerant neurodiverse society 💭 .
Ok, that might not be possible when we are only 1% of the population 😰 and the remaining 99% are not that keen on sharing the planet with us. Well, at least not unless we beg like proper downtrodden underdogs 🐕.
Wait, hang on, that sounded negative. Did I really say that? 😲
What I meant is that I dream of a self-sufficient ND community. Our own ND society within the rest of the world. 😮💨
All minorities have their own communities. 👪 They support each other. They speak each other’s language. They provide goods and services that their community find so important and that are not available through mainstream providers. 🏬
So, why not us? Why can we not have a community designed by us, for us. ♾️
Why not have a neurodivergent person helping out another? 👩👩👧👦 Why not keep the flow of money, information, and support circulating within our section of society? 🏆
According to the Huffington Post there are 5 benefits to communities. ☢️ I chose to refer to this article because I see NDs a lot as enterprising and ground breaking, like entrepreneurs, but also a lot of us do like to go it alone. So, this article is rather relevant. 🔖
Considering that autistic people in my case and NDs in general (sure, with some exceptions, everyone is different! 🤓) tend to be rather good at collaborating, this has potential. I already see the benefits that a sense of community brings online. What we need to do is build on that, and think bigger 🌐.
So, a community gives:
- Knowledge: I see it on ND led forums and discussion boards. As more and more people share their knowledge and experiences, more and more people learn. 👩🎓 This knowledge helps and empowers other NDs, but also educates NTs.
- Connections: Again this is quite visible on forums and online groups. I do it myself. You see the same people posting and commenting. You grow fond of some and might be more inclined to react or comment. These are connections. 🫂 We don’t need to be “friends” to have a connection! (unless it’s just me).
- Inspiration: Unlike entrepreneurs I don’t think NDs lose inspiration. However, other people’s input can inspire to change or improve our interests. It can inspire to grow and develop 🧭.
- Resources: From a business perspective there is potential to have a specialised provision of services that suit a specific community. Certainly it could generate jobs and provide a market base for businesses with a strong neurodivergent component 🧜. From a member perspective, knowing that a service provide is largely neurodivergent gives a degree of confidence. It can certainly reduce the anxiety of dealing with these services. 😮💨
- Support: see below. ⬇️
Entrepreneurship is said to be a lonely journey, and it often can be. It can feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders when you have no one in your life to share your experiences with. It can feel isolating and, more often than not, most entrepreneurs give up because they just don’t have the motivation to keep going
Huffington Post
We can replace the word entrepreneur with the word neurodivergent and you can see the parallel I’m sure 👩🏾💼.
At the moment, while I have a slightly blurred vision of this ND society, I do not yet know how to achieve it 🌏. Certainly everything I do is intended to help achieve this goal. I would very much welcome and value any ideas, and certainly participation. Whether you need help or you can give help, get in touch! 📨|
I will be using the tag “ND Society” ️⃣ to add information on my view of what this community should look like. I would greatly appreciate comments and suggestions, so that I can develop the idea further.
