Why was Kongress needed?

What we found

• For Kongress, we have read and listened to many emotive anguished and challenging stories. Neurodivergent creatives have said they've felt constrained and limited, not in terms of their creativity but rather where and how they may ‘fit in’ within an arts landscape that repeatedly fails to recognise and engage with their narrative on Neurodivergent terms. Almost all respondents, 94% said they found their communication needs were often misunderstood and not supported properly. Whilst Creative people have always faced barriers, these may be exacerbated within each of the different Neurodivergent cultures. As well as this, Neurodivergent creatives also face additional unique barriers.
  
  

• Neurodivergent people are not broken or unnatural, or a mistake, they are simply part of human neurodiversity. Nature loves diversity, and yet we impose a hierarchy. Of our respondents, 94% felt the representation of any Neurodivergent culture's narrative by non-neurodivergent people was problematic and 55% felt members of Neurodivergent cultures other than their did not own understand their ways of working.
  
  

• Neurodivergence is more than just an ‘Arts movement’, it is about a section of society where the majority has traditionally been misunderstood, their work appropriated and personally dismissed as either too difficult or mentally unwell to work with. There is mental health and well-being consequences from this exclusion and oppression. Nearly 90% felt a lack of support for low self-confidence, anxiety, or depression had stopped them from engaging in the arts and 53% felt that a traumatic experience had prevented them from engaging in the arts. This needs to change urgently.
  
  

1. Neurodivergence Is Key To Creativity: While we focused on barriers, we must also note that many neurodivergent people we spoke to were very clear that their neurodivergence is key to their creativity. It gives them the ability to become interested in something and follow the threads that lead to creating work. It gives them the ability to focus on becoming really good at something, learning new skills as they go. So we must recognise: neurodivergence itself is not a barrier to the arts or to being an artist. The barriers are external.
   
   

2. Barriers Before Attending: While many efforts have been made to create ‘autistic friendly’ performances and gallery openings, which may typically include reducing noise levels, increasing lighting levels, and accepting autistic behaviours, our survey identified that for many neurodivergent people, the greater challenges may be about getting there in the first place. We found people faced barriers to booking tickets for events, workshops and conferences including unfriendly box office practices, and unclear online booking systems. People were concerned about travelling to venues, particularly those in London or other large cities. Neurodivergent people often worry about what to expect, so unfamiliar venues create barriers. There is anxiety on arrival about finding entrances, and about knowing procedures (the three-minute bell in a theatre, for example, is a very coded procedure). Many venues provide limited access advice, which is often more geared towards physical disabilities. Neurodivergent artists, as well as audiences, need this support. Crowds outside and in the foyer before the show or event can create anxiety for neurodivergent people. Generally, not knowing what to expect, including but not limited to running times and intervals, creates a formidable barrier to neurodivergent people. Giving good advice and support before the event can, if not remove, at least reduce the barrier for neurodivergent people.
   
   

3. Physical Environment: It is not surprising that many neurodivergent people mentioned the ways that the physical environment creates barriers to accessing the arts - many of these are well known, but still persist. What is clear is that different people have different needs, and the one-size-fits-all ‘autistic friendly performance’ is not the right solution for everyone. Lighting was frequently raised. While the solution by many venues has been to increase lighting levels - for example, at accessible theatre performances where the house lights stay up - this is not always the solution. As well as lighting, many neurodivergent people have issues around sound. This includes ambient noise - loud furniture on concrete floors, noisy hand-dryers in toilets, and so on. It may include over-amplified music or special effects during a performance. A lack of access to safe and quiet spaces was also raised as a barrier. 
   
   

4. Funding: Many neurodivergent people find it hard to access funding to support their practice. Often, this is because funding is not tailored to neurodivergent ways of working. It is either designed to fund working towards a set outcome, which doesn’t allow for the way neurodivergent people ‘wander’ as they explore new ideas. Or it is too focused on delivering outcomes such as workshops, which some neurodivergent people find hard to deliver. Neurodivergence does not seem to be widely recognised as a disadvantaged category in its own right when it comes to funding avenues, which further reduces access to funding opportunities.
   
   

5. Networking: Many people in the arts will say that networking is difficult: but for neurodivergent people, the barriers already identified before attending, and those around the physical environment, increase the difficulty. In addition, to be effective, networking is a regular commitment - and for neurodivergent people who may find some days harder than others, this is an additional barrier
   
   

6. Engaging WIth Organisations: Organisations are funded to create a supportive infrastructure for artists and the production of work. Neurodivergent artists can bring benefits to arts organisations. However, many neurodivergent artists felt ignored, misunderstood, and overlooked, and identified a number of barriers which exist between them and organisations. 
   
   

7. Recovery Times: To overcome the additional barriers they face, neurodivergent people put huge amounts of additional effort into commonplace activities like networking, attending private views, or going to a performance. There will be even more effort taken to actually speak at an event, take part in an exhibition, or perform a show. This effort can impact mental health, but also create physical exhaustion. Therefore, neurodivergent people need extra time to recover. This recovery time is not factored into project plans and falls outside of daily rates of pay