Two and a half years ago parents in Sandymount decided to make their area a place in which differences are celebrated and a place where all children could feel safe and secure. This was and still is particularly important to this group as their children are neurodiverse.
For those of us who are not familiar with terms like neurodiverse and neurodivergent they refer to natural variations in how our brains work and how we experience, interact and understand the world. This also means that there are natural differences in the way people learn and communicate. According to Neurodiversity Ireland “these differences are to be embraced and encouraged, they are not deficits!”
The term ‘neurodiversity’ itself was brought about to help fight stigma against autistic people, people with ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, as well as other learning and developmental differences. Many of which were traditionally perceived to be behavioural problems but now are more appropriately observed to be problems with people’s environments.
I spoke with one of the four founding members of the Sandymount group, Julienne Fox, primarily about the impact of neurodiverse-friendly car parking spaces in the local area, of which there are five in total, and how this initiative not only facilitates the school run or trips to the supermarket, but also trips to the main street, fostering a strong sense of community for everybody.
Julienne, who is also the director and Co-founder of Neurodiversity Ireland, explained how life changing it has been for both parents and neurodivergent children who may, for example, be a ‘flight risk’.
Initially Julienne noted that the car parking spaces took some getting used to. But, through hard work and awareness this has changed considerably. It is part of an overall campaign being pursued by people like Julienne who work with business, schools and community organisations to bring about awareness and this has included the effective lobbying for a designated shopping hour at Tesco where lights are dimmed and noise is reduced. Whereas, restaurants such as Crudo have agreed to introduce special rooms to cater to people of diverse needs.
This is a most welcome enterprise but Julienne tells me that there is a long way to go. What is needed is change in society that allows children to thrive, which creates a welcome opportunity to make us pause and question some aspects of conventional life that might need changing.
For more information : info@neurodiversityireland.com
