Once again this year, the Senior School observed Neurodiversity Celebration Week (17th – 21st March). It began with the now annual whole school assembly in which some of our neurodivergent students spoke about how they felt after receiving their diagnosis, and about things they would like their teachers and classmates to know about being a student with autism or ADHD. This year, the student speakers were really pleased to have a neurodivergent member of staff join them at the lectern!
The assembly was informative and moving. Luca spoke about diagnosis leading to self-discovery and acceptance; Maia spoke about how diagnosis led to her feeling less of a need to mask in school.
Ms Gebka told us about some of the executive functioning challenges that are part of having ADHD, and Matilde reminded teachers that students with autism usually find it difficult to initiate conversations with teachers, and so if they manage to tell you that they are finding it really difficult to cope with the flickering projector, then you’ll know that they are really struggling!
The week continued with Question and Answer sessions in Year 7 and Year 8 assemblies. Our expert panel of neurodivergent students fielded questions that ranged from ‘are there medicines for autism’ to ‘how can I help my younger sibling when he has meltdowns’ and from ‘how to stop procrastinating’ to ‘what is stimming’.
The Year 8’s were treated to a thought-provoking talk from one of our Y11 students, who wished to raise awareness about current memes circulating on social media that perpetuate stereotypes of girls and women with autism. It was pointed out that these stereotypes can be demeaning to both males with lower support needs and females with higher support needs.
A poster campaign happened throughout the week – due to student requests, posters focused not only on celebrating a range of well-known people with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, Tourette’s and other neurodivergent conditions, but also on providing more information about these conditions.
While this is a week in which we definitely celebrate, and appreciate the value of, neurodiversity in our school and in our wider society, it is also a week in which hearing the voices of our neurodivergent students leads us all to greater understanding and insight.
With huge thanks to Luca (Y13), Maia (Y13), Africa (Y13), Jane (Y11), Matilde (Y8), and Ms Gebka (NASH) for so generously sharing their lived experience and their acquired wisdom with the students and staff of the Senior School.