Neurodiversity Week: Creative Superpowers

The ISL series of "Learning Without Walls" recently took MYP students from Grades 6 to 10 on an enriching trip to the V&A Museum, organised by Ms. Hannah Dennie, Deputy SENCO, and the Student Support Department. With the growing recognition of neurodivergent individuals, it's imperative that we educate ourselves, students, colleagues and parents on creating effective and inclusive environments and societies. The question we are often faced with is ‘how can we transform what we might perceive as disadvantages into superpowers’? 

In line with the theme of the week, our group of curious learners attended a lecture titled "Dyslexia: A Superpower for Creativity" with renowned artist and designer Kristjana S. Williams. She shared her insights and experiences of navigating dyslexia, a diagnosis she received in her early twenties. Kristjana described her challenges, such as difficulty understanding texts, memorising information, being disorganised in certain ways, staying on topic, having multiple thoughts in her head and punctuality issues.

Her inspiring story explained how she experienced her dyslexia as a force for creativity and innovation, and used her lateral way of processing information in her work which made her a successful and award-winning artist. The story of Alice and Wonderland inspired the artist’s biggest exhibition at the V&A years ago, and demonstrated how much she related to the author, Lewis Caroll ("I’m not strange, weird, off, nor crazy, my reality is just different from yours”.) She kindly shared with our students the steps that really helped her: spending more time in nature, trying to understand how her brain functions and finding time to be creative even if she does not get things right.  

By sharing personal stories and insights like Williams', we humanise the topic and make it relatable to the audience. Feel free to reach out to our Student Support Department if you wish to share your story with us.

Timea Virag

MYP Counsellor