In May 2019, I was lucky enough to speak alongside some other Neurodivergent Creatives at Hay Festival. Billed as 'Neurodiversity and Autism (Autistic): Acceptance and inclusion': 'An exploration of the concept of neurodiversity and what it means to society and the public sphere to be genuinely accepting and inclusive of all people.' The evening before, I spent down by the river, which was very peaceful and calming, walking and taking photographs. The next day we were very well looked after by the festival team, both before and after our talk. Here's my provocation from that day:
Hello my name is Jon Adams I’m an artist whatever that may mean. I never formally trained, so you could say I’m an ‘outsider’. In fact, I’ve been an outsider most of my life, often feeling or being made to feel that I just didn’t belong - I said I’d be an artist aged 6 but all hope of this was extinguished at school aged 10, by a dinosaur who tore my picture up in front of the class as I had spelt my name wrong - much later as an adult, it transpired I was dyslexic so it was ironic I went on to study geology - I had an affinity for geologic time & fossils which later evolved into a niche career as an archeological and historical book illustrator - some of us seem good at detail and also where it fits into the bigger picture. I work cross media drawing on both art, science and my differences using photography, digital illustration, sound, performance and the written or spoken- word - I’ve made music from MRI machines with Cambridge University and from supernovae with the institute for cosmology and gravitation - contrary to a common stereotype I’ve created social engagement projects for example with London 2012 - ‘field of flags’ where dare I say we took redundant books apart and was commissioned by the speaker of the HOP for the Magna Carta 2015 commemoration to lead their public arts project ‘Democracy Street’ - I started writing as soon as I was dx’d dyslexic at 39 and was also part of Sir Peter Brooks research for ‘the valley of Astonishment as I’m a synaesthete too - he encouraged me to write and perform my own work - our creative pathways shouldn't be accidental though - I also wrote down 2 million minutes of my life in geological metaphor to make a map which got me my autism DX - I wonder why? So I’m multiply Neurodivergent - dyslexic, autistic and a synaesthete and to be frank I wouldn’t have it any other way - but I don’t live with autism - I live with my wife and 2 cats - nor do I live on the spectrum - I live in a house and I certainly have never been touched by autism - I’m sorry I should have warned you I may use metaphor sarcasm irony or humour at any point and confound a few myths about autistic people because I’m simply human and experiencing the world in a noticeably differently way to me confirms my place within humanity. Now there’s some confusion about language around neurodiversity - I’m not neurodiverse - in the same way a cat is not biodiverse but rather part of biodiversity - I’m Neurodivergent.
Neurodivergent people aren’t broken or unnatural or a mistake - they’re part of human neurodiversity - if you look upon a tree as a ‘failed to evolve’ cat you will never see the beauty in both the cat or the tree - nature loves diversity but of course we here are a neurodiverse group of people.
Often language is imposed on us and we’re often last in a long list of autism experts researchers parents and then practically any other other people before us when it comes to describing our culture - but things are changing - it’s our lived experience that’s now becoming key however we choose to illustrate or tell our story - telling our collective stories is important as it our narrative, it’s our choice and it’s our culture we’re not only reclaiming but actively reframing and creating our narrative in the wider cultural and social context Often autistic people when they speak out are accused of speaking for all autistic people but when an artist makes an cultural observation (or a writer for that matter) are they told to be quiet as their speaking for all artists? No but autism seems fair game to anyone - would the appropriation of our narrative language or culture be acceptable if applied to any other minority? No it wouldn’t. I also work in autism research which is rather like the arts world where people often just ‘do things to autistic people rather than with them’ - did you know most autism researchers have never met an autistic person - it’s not rocket science - but this is changing and autistic people are starting to have a say in the research we wish to see - if you wish to know how an autistic person feels or what they need you ask not guess - guesswork harms us - we wish to see research that supports us to live fulfilled lives rather than that which seeks to cure or prevent us - we’re often damaged by attitudes stereotypes and myths and end in isolation with mental health issues inc PTSD - I live with PTSD mainly because others have assumed I live with autism - autistic people are 8x more likely to take their own lives - this has to change Autistic people just wish to be a part of society not apart from society Neurodivergent people simply wish for neurodiversity not neuro-adversity. But to achieve this we need to be listened too and valued on our terms and enabled to shine creatively in a world that on the surface says it values difference but in practice shuns it - we need the landscape to change from awareness to acceptance if not for us certainly the next generations of autistic young people. If you want to see creative work that’s different then you need to Commission people who see and experience the world differently but you have to think differently about the way you work with them. So what would I like you to remember about ‘Autism’: I’m not the word or the letters and the spaces in between or the person in your imagination you think I should have been - I am human.