Opinion: Neurodiversity could be a powerful tool to help re-shape the world

IN 2018, I was diagnosed with a learning disability, having severely struggled for decades with my relationship to language, words and printed text.

The diagnosis came as a relief in some ways, as learning I had double deficit dyslexia allowed me to describe and articulate my experience. I found that people had a clearer understanding of how I see the world when I was able to put a name on my difficulties.

I’m a visual artist, and so you’d imagine that I spend most of my time creating art. But in fact I spend about 90% of my time on administration; writing proposals, managing project budgets, compiling reports and answering strings of daily emails.

So my neurodivergence makes these aspects of my career extremely energy-draining and time-consuming for me.

But there are benefits to my neurodivergence too – it’s also the reason that I’m a good project manager with strengths for collaborating with people, connecting with audiences and understanding how to create emotive, multidisciplinary sensory events.

All of these strands have come together with my latest work, after I received funding from Arts and Disability Ireland Connect scheme, which is managed by Arts & Disability Ireland.

I put this funding towards a project I called Augmented Body, Altered Mind, which helped me delve into my interest in the connections between environmental degradation – climate change – and neurodivergence.

You see, climate change affects everyone, but it doesn’t affect everyone equally.

Climate change and equality

It disproportionately affects people with disabilities, such as from the lack of accessible information, and increased vulnerability during extreme weather events.

Many communities such as indigenous and young people rightly play a vital role in climate action discussions. However, people with disabilities have, until recently, been largely excluded from this greater discussion.

In 2019, for the first time, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on climate change and the rights of people with disabilities. This was a crucial step towards acknowledging the specific needs of people with disabilities in regard to climate change.

I wanted to explore this with my new work. Augmented Body, Altered Mind throws open the diversity of perception by presenting cognitive divergence as a powerful tool to re-shape the world. It’s underpinned by ‘complementary cognition’ theories of cognitive evolution.

Human brains have evolved to process information in ways that are specialised and divergent from each other. This encourages collective and creative problem-solving which can be useful in the face of the environmental crisis.

And neurodivergence provides the ability ‘to compete on the basis of innovation’ and engage with new ideas ‘from the edges’, as Robert Austin and Gary Pisano wrote in Harvard Business Review in 2017.

The huge variety of neurodivergent communities can lend a richness to the climate conversation, and set a tone of empathy and respect for difference, researchers have found.

Look at Greta Thunberg – she is the perfect example of how neurodivergence can enable people to challenge the status quo and lead to momentous progress in areas such as climate activism.

Building on this, Augmented Body, Altered Mind, which I’ve created in collaboration with writer Dylan Coburn Grey, composer Michael Riordan and digital artist collective Ibragim, is an interactive artwork.

It’s not your typical project: it weaves a brain-computer interface (BCI) with projected audiovisual environments.

I’ve brought all of my interests together with this work – exploring behaviour, neurodivergence and individual agency within global systems, focusing on climate change conversations and technological growth.

#Open journalism No news is bad news Support The Journal

Your contributions will help us continue to deliver the stories that are important to you

Support us now

Augmented Body, Altered Mind positions cognitive divergence as a societal advantage and a force for positive environmental change.

When you visit Augmented Body, Altered Mind, you wear a special headset called a brain-computer interface (BCI) headset. This headset helps the audience become immersed in evocative imagery and soundscapes as your brainwave patterns guide a set of undulating audiovisuals to shift and merge.

You’re effectively co-creating and controlling the artwork in real time.

As the artwork is affected by audiences’ brainwave patterns, this means it implicitly values and equalises all people, whether neurodivergent or neurotypical, to change and shape the audiovisuals.

The resulting effect will be as individual as the people who experience it.

And I want to make sure my work is accessible to as wide an audience as possible, so I’ve been incorporating image descriptions, open captions, ASD-friendly invigilation and mobility considerations. 

I want the work to question repetitive and singular narratives about disability and climate change – to remind people that there is a diversity of perception out there, and that having a disability, being neurodivergent or thinking in a different way can help us reevaluate ongoing shared problems to co-create a diverse and sustainable future.

I’m hoping that people who engage with Augmented Body, Altered Mind this weekend, and who in doing so become co-creators of their own unique experience, find it a thought-provoking way to think about how embracing difference through collaboration might hold solutions for tackling the climate crisis.

Written by AlanJames Burns with writing support by Marie Farrington. Augmented Body, Altered Mind was commissioned by Carlow Arts Festival and supported by the Arts Council of Ireland Arts and Disability Connect Scheme managed by Arts & Disability Ireland. Augmented Body, Altered Mind is being exhibited at Carlow Arts Festival 10-12 June, 2022. 


Football news:

<!DOCTYPE html>
Kane on Tuchel: A wonderful man, full of ideas. Thomas in person says what he thinks
Zarema about Kuziaev's 350,000 euros a year in Le Havre: Translate it into rubles - it's not that little. It is commendable that he left
Aleksandr Mostovoy on Wendel: Two months of walking around in the middle of nowhere and then coming back and dragging the team - that's top level
Sheffield United have bought Euro U21 champion Archer from Aston Villa for £18.5million
Alexander Medvedev on SKA: Without Gazprom, there would be no Zenit titles. There is a winning wave in the city. The next victory in the Gagarin Cup will be in the spring
Smolnikov ended his career at the age of 35. He became the Russian champion three times with Zenit

3:00 Legislation to boost Land Development Agency capital is easy - but where exactly will the money come from?
1:05 Health authorities warn of serious risks from fake medicines
0:00 Patients relying on out-of-hours GP services at risk of treatment not being safely monitored
23:10 Over half of Ireland's waste water discharges still aren't meeting EU standards
23:05 Tense talks expected as Varadkar travels to EU Council meeting and EPP summit
23:05 Lack of child deaths data a 'critical challenge'
23:05 EPA: Irish Water is processing less than half of wastewater in Ireland to EU standards
22:55 Too many large urban areas in Ireland not meeting EU wastewater standards, EPA report finds
21:48 Govt to lease private jet to get Taoiseach to European Council meeting as alternatives grounded
21:34 Ireland will miss renewable energy goals unless wind and solar projects get timely planning permission, conference told
21:31 Fisheries watchdog may appear before Oireachtas to explain weighing system
21:01 Irish citizens strongly advised to leave Lebanon 'while commercial options are available'
21:01 Irish citizens in Lebanon urged to leave immediately while commercial flights are available
20:58 Irish citizens 'strongly advised' to leave Lebanon due to volatility 
20:56 Irish citizens urged to leave Lebanon immediately as Middle East situation deteriorates
20:54 Autumn Mega Sale for three days only at Rossview Interiors
20:54 UL governing authority member resigns in bid to break impasse over election of new chancellor
20:40 Conservative MP Peter Bone suspended over bullying and sexual misconduct
20:36 Kilfinane Tidy Towns crowned overall winners of Limerick Going for Gold 2023
20:04 Close to €1 million worth of cocaine seized at Rosslare Europort
19:49 Who was Tim O’Sullivan? Private man whose body lay for two decades in derelict Mallow house had ‘a broken heart’
19:42 Masked men in Belfast court ‘retriggering’ for victims’ families
19:42 Gardaí concerned for welfare of young brothers missing from their home 
19:34 Varadkar says Ireland needs to slow down number of refugees arriving here
19:23 Trump fined for making fresh personal attack on court staff during fraud trial
19:07 People with ‘tax payment difficulties’ due to Storm Babet urged to ‘engage early’ with Revenue
19:03 Stardust inquests: Woman recalls holding friend’s shoulders to keep from falling and being trampled
19:00 Excerpt: Born in a Dublin tenement, Michael Healy set the bar for excellence in stained glass
19:00 Protesters deny claims they 'intimidated' Castletown Estate workers, as OPW makes plea
19:00 Letterkenny man pleads guilty to vicious assault
19:00 In Pictures: Elderly Limerick woman and Tik-Tok star launches story of her life
18:59 National Archives building to close until next week after water damage
18:51 ‘Fangtastic’ Letterkenny Halloween Fest coming to Main Street!
18:45 Discover your dream wedding venue at An Chúirt Hotel’s Autumn Wedding Showcase
18:45 Over 180,000 passengers arrived into Cork on cruise ships in 2023
18:42 Trump-backed candidate is elected House speaker ending US political chaos
18:42 Watch: Donegal GAA Championship podcast wraps up the season
18:37 France to 'support' Gaza hospitals as top Palestinian diplomat meets International Court officials
18:32 'Old style reporting is gone': MEPs call for Oireachtas TV-style channel for EU Parliament
18:30 Opinion: Time for new thinking on how to close the funding gap for women tech founders
18:30 Union’s ‘first priority is retention of jobs' at Wyeth plant in Limerick
18:13 Study finds ‘deepfakes’ from Ukraine war undermining trust in conflict footage
18:02 Man accused of killing Ashling Murphy told garda ‘I am the murderer’, trial hears
18:00 Stardust patron tells inquest what she saw on night of fatal blaze was like 'looking into hell'
18:00 Vacancy: Alcohol Forum Ireland seeks Executive Administration Lead
18:00 Midleton flood relief scheme must be rolled out with wider land use plans, says Varadkar
18:00 Over 50 children with special educational needs still have no school place 
17:55 Ashling Murphy trial: Murder accused told garda he had cut neck of girl he had never seen before
17:51 'The town is at a standstill': Drogheda locals call on Government to axe M1 toll charges
17:44 FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried intends to testify at cryptocurrency fraud trial, says lawyer
17:38 Politicians who grilled former RTÉ board chair invited to her lecture on public service broadcasting
17:32 Poor population forecasts making housing crisis worse, academic warns
17:29 Former solicitor on trial accused of theft of over €27 million from banks and building societies
17:27 Ulster GAA considering findings of review prompted by allegations against former Derry manager Rory Gallagher
17:27 Ulster GAA considering findings of review into allegations against former Derry manager Rory Gallagher
17:15 National Archives building closed to the public until next week due to damage caused by a leak
17:09 Cork community's outpouring of support as Tina Satchwell finally laid to rest
17:05 Man accused of murdering Ashling Murphy said 'I am the murderer', court told
17:02 Former RTÉ 2FM DJ Nikki Hayes was ‘preyed upon’ by operators of money laundering scam, court told
17:01 Michael Lynn accused of stealing more than €21 million during boom years
17:00 Monsters, Misfits and Mayhem to take over Bunratty Castle
17:00 Consumer Corner: What you need to know about your payslip
16:54 864 young people in Galway register for Gaisce awards
16:51 Number of GoSafe speed detection vans should be increased by 100%, committee hears
16:46 Man's body lay undiscovered for over 20 years inside house in Mallow, Co Cork
16:40 Tánaiste says failure to achieve reconciliation is the ‘great miss’ of peace process
16:36 Law professor accused of fatal shooting wants to be able to return to 170-acre farm for ‘welfare’ of livestock
16:31 Dozens of scrambler bikes seized in Limerick during major clampdown
16:31 Much of the last 25 years has been ‘squandered’ since Good Friday Agreement, warns Tánaiste Micheál Martin
16:26 Donegal Specsavers issue Halloween advice for contact lens wearers
16:22 Road deaths so far this year just one short of 2022’s total
16:11 UN warns of dwindling supplies in Gaza with France to send navy ship to 'support' to hospitals
16:10 Inquest hears man lay dead inside boarded up derelict house in Mallow for 22 years
16:00 Wyeth closure is ‘hammer blow’ for Limerick
15:58 Israel accuses UN Secretary General of justifying terrorism with Hamas attack comment
15:52 Family calls for review of derelict properties law after man lay undiscovered in Co Cork house for over 20 years
15:52 Health of child in row over medical records should be at ‘forefront’ - judge
15:51 Woman claims she ‘looked like leopard’ after suffering multiple burns from laser hair removal
15:48 Mother and Baby Home redress scheme won't open until next year, missing 2023 deadline
15:47 Moville Tidy Towns receive Bronze award for third year running
15:44 UK Labour leader Keir Starmer meets Muslim MPs amid anger over his position on Gaza
15:43 Former 2FM DJ was 'genuinely vulnerable', garda tells money-laundering trial
15:38 Hamas says at least 80 killed in overnight Gaza strikes as UN agency warns of dwindling supplies
15:01 Talented young jockey caught with €11,000 drugs stash avoids jail
15:00 Marks & Spencer’s prosecution over reinstatement of statue at The Bailey bar in Dublin adjourned
14:44 Jozef Puska told gardaí 'I am the murderer', Ashling Murphy trial hears
14:42 Number of famous Dark Hedges trees may need to be felled for safety
14:41 Man pleads guilty to dangerous driving causing death of woman in Clare last year
14:34 Dramatic increase in seizures of ‘falsified’ weight loss and diabetes drug
14:33 Visa rules stopped Derry ambulance crews responding to Creeslough gas explosion
14:17 EU delegation due in Donegal next week over defective concrete crisis
14:10 Accused admitted murdering Ashling Murphy, garda tells court
14:09 “Drink Guinness and don’t marry!” - 104-year-old’s secret to a long life
14:03 Failure to achieve reconciliation the ‘great miss’ of peace process – Tánaiste
14:02 Varadkar: 'No limit on the compassion of the Irish people ... there is a limit to our capacity'
14:00 Almost 18,000 people without beds in University Hospital Limerick so far this year
14:00 Government 'out of step' with public's wish to see coastlines protected
13:54 Reports of low flying German military plane over west Donegal
13:30 Health watchdog issues warning as fake weight-loss drugs seized in Ireland
13:24 A thousand new homes built in Galway since January