What do an artisan papermaker, outdoor activities instructor, poet, change agent, workspace designer and social researcher have in common? We all run our own businesses. We are all motivated by social justice. We are all members of NeuDICE CIC. And we are all gloriously neurodivergent.
Neurodiversity is the natural human condition: no two people make sense of the world the same way. Humanity is diverse. But, somehow, some ways of experiencing and making sense of the world became seen as normal and healthy while others are seen as divergent or more usually weird or broken. (If neurodiversity/neurodivergence is a new concept to you, NeuDICE Plymouth can be found at The Plot most days and you can book a half hour slot to learn more – or book our half-day training for your business).
NeuDICE is working for a world that values and relishes human neurodiversity. We have to work for this because the world needs all of our skills and talents, all of our ways of making sense of the world, all of our ways of understanding the social issues of the day that social enterprises exist to address. The world does not just need neurodivergent people. Equally, the world cannot survive with only neurotypical people, the people for whom society and business are currently organised.
In the meantime, while we work towards a wonderful neuroinclusive world, we are creating a community for the business outsiders. Our community is a safe space for those who have believed they are broken because society tells them they are. We are community open to people who are often called weirdos behind their backs and treated as outsiders. [as an aside, when friends of our co-founder Anne have watched the Barbie Movie, they have all laughed when they saw Weird Barbie (who is called that to her face and behind her back) and thought “That’s so Anne”. And Anne is happy with that. Like Weird Barbie, she and we can feel isolated and excluded but can also be the heroes a society needs precisely because we can see and be and do what others cannot]. We are the innovators, the visionaries, the changemakers. We are these simply by existing in public life and within the business world.
And yet, we are outsiders. We can find it hard to get established. It takes longer. We need to find new ways because we cannot access the established ways into the business and social business worlds. As outsiders, we needed the support and allyship of insiders to get started. We’d like to thank PSEN, POP, Nudge and UnLtd for their support and for opening doors for us to grow and thrive in Plymouth.
Here’s to being stronger together in all our glorious human diversity.
Here’s to a neuroinclusive future!