ryk groetchen

The site is the public face of the community. It helps people see what’s possible, helps get the language out there, helps people meet their needs and answer their questions, and it give people an opportunity to see what they [candu]. It doesn’t have to be perfect–keep working from the bones out and it’s a starting place.

Building a community around the needs of a neurodiverse population means re-thinking pretty much everything. It also means that, in some ways, we get to do things in ways that intuitively make sense. We have new language to learn, and sometimes it seems hard to work within the structures we find ourselves in: school, work environments, dense schedules. It can be a high cognitive load sometimes, and we’ll have to take breaks. But sometimes, in the middle of the night… [yes][wow]

A community is a team. A neurodiverse team is made up of people with unique skills and sensory experiences. Sometimes something we thought was just a diversion or a hobby turns out to be just what is needed to bring things into focus.

The heart of a responsive community is listening. I’m having conversations with people in many parts of the community: parents, educators, administrators, therapists, creatives. In what ways are our sensory needs not being met? What are some novel solutions? As we keep talking, we create the community we want to live in–a neuroaware and neurodiverse community.