This week, from the 17th to the 23rd of March, it’s Neurodiversity Celebration Week.
A worldwide initiative that is all about challenging many of the stereotypes and stigmas that may surround neurological differences, whilst also spending time to celebrate the many talents and achievements of neurodivergent people.
Neurodiversity is a word used to describe people who may think, take in information and interact with the world around them in different ways. It can also often be used as the umbrella term to describe alternative thinking styles such as ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, DCD, and Dyscalculia.
Neurodiversity Celebration Week have said that approximately 15-20% of the population has a neurological difference.
If you’d like to read more about Neurodiversity, we’d definitely recommend taking a look at their website, where you can find more information (www.neurodiversityweek.com/neurodiversity).
At Burton & District Mind, something we pride ourselves on is that we are here for everyone. And as such, it is so important that we build our projects and services with different people’s needs in mind. Whilst experiences may have similarities, no two mental health journeys will be exactly the same, and what might work for one person may not for another.
For example.
Our Mind Makeover project is all about giving people the opportunity to learn about mental health and giving them the knowledge to better understand many of the different experiences around that. This can mean it’s a delivery of a fair amount of information throughout each week.
And each time we deliver this project, we try to do so by keeping other learning and thinking styles in Mind so that neurodiverse people can benefit from these sessions too.
It’s not about seeing other people’s thinking and learning styles as a challenge, but instead trying to take a person-centred approach where each person’s needs are kept in mind. That way, everyone is included.
