‘The idea of neurodivergence is recognising there are distinct experiences that do not need to assimilate into neurotypical culture, and that we have our own ways of being and have always been a part of various pioneering forms of creative arts,’ says Patrick Gunasekera, a queercrip, Sinhala artist, whose practice spans the disciplines of writing, visual arts and theatre.
His deeply collaborative practice centres on creating safe spaces of empathy where ‘working together with other neurodivergent artists, we create culture in a self-determined way’. Gunasekera is currently developing a play about the history of neurodivergent Western classical music composers, as well as an autobiographical component about his own music school traumas and the internalised ableism experienced. For this work, he is working with a team of neurodivergent artists.
Gunasekera says: ‘There have been a lot of barriers that we faced in figuring out how to create a collaborative process that works for all of us because we all have such different experiences. What we realised was that every time something comes up, we can talk about it and we can figure it out. We have the cultural awareness to not take it personally when we’ve perceived something in a certain way. We all readjust and it feels like we are breaking down barriers to find a middle ground for our works.’
This lesson is one from which neurotypical collaborators can also learn.
Increasingly, collaboration has become a celebrated mode of engagement in the arts, especially when it comes to historically marginalised communities. But there is also this romanticised view that collaboration inherently places the relationship on an equal footing.
Explaining how neurodivergence highlights the communities’ exclusion from the ‘norm’, Gunasekera explains: ‘I use the term neurodivergence to describe my experiences because it reminds me that my body and mind diverges from a status quo that I’m not privileged within.’
For neurodiverse collaborations (that is, involving both neurotypical and neurodivergent practitioners), it takes a process of self-reflection in order to recognise inherent biases that favour one voice over the other. Dismantling these power imbalances can lead to fruitful collaborations for everyone, and avoid falling into the trap of being tokenistic or presenting ‘inspirational porn’.
Neurodiverse collaborations and neurotypical collaborators
Tina Stefanou is a Greek Australian artist with a background as a vocalist. For the past eight years, she has been working with elderly rescue horses and neurodivergent girls who come for equine and speech therapy.
Late last year she presented Hym(e)nals, a powerful and enthralling video projection work involving both the girls and the horses.
Stefanou tells ArtsHub about how she perceives her role in this long-term collaboration. ‘Each person or each creature has a possibility of expression that you haven’t encountered before so it’s always collaborative. The artist becomes like a point in a bigger network – it’s not about being a savior or a hero, but someone who can pull out the potentialities that already exist somewhere. This film is exactly that, it’s re-enchanting an already enchanted space and the interactions that are taking place.’
She continues: ‘You need to be flexible and open to listening. And the wonderful thing is that for the neurotypical person or institution, you actually end up benefiting and learning in new ways. The benefits are completely mutual.’
The work is about forming bonds, both within and outside of the art. It’s also about thinking beyond normative sensibilities, something that is important when collaborating with neurodivergent artists and communities.
Gabrielle Mordy, CEO and Artistic Director of Studio A, a supported studio for artists with intellectual disability in Australia, shares: ‘Power imbalance is a thing I’m very aware of and there has been a long history of the romanticisation around “outsider art”.
‘We are very conscious of the vulnerability of the community that we work with, but there is also strength when we work with the artists to form a whole support network, including with their family and advocates,’ Mordy adds.
Supporting 18 artists with their practice, Studio A also plays a crucial role in fostering collaborations between neurodivergent and neurotypical artists, as well as representing their interests when working with institutions and businesses. Mordy mentions the importance of legal agreements that detail how Studio A supports and pays the artists – a seemingly dry but critical aspect of ensuring that the collaboration is done on an equal footing with terms agreed to by all parties.
Read: So you want my arts job: Disability Art Centre, CEO
Mordy adds: ‘Ensure you understand how neurodivergent people best communicate, so… they have an advocate. This may mean writing things down on paper, providing illustrated information or including audio descriptions.’
Studio A’s artists’ legal rights document is illustrated by one of its artists and graphic novelist Greg Sindel, while working together with Arts Law to develop the guide.
For Stefanou and Mordy, good neurodiverse collaborations are built upon the foundation of time. This means having the expectation of spending more time to build up the relationship and trying to organise as much of the collaboration as possible in advance.
For example, where Studio A’s artists are required to work on-site, they will share the accessibility needs that should be considered, but also crucial are things like introducing the artists to staff and their work environment beforehand.
Stefanou says: ‘For me, working with the same group of people over a long period of time, it’s not just about creative expression and presentation, but more about labour.
‘Whether a work or not comes out of this is just the cherry on the cake. The cake is the relationships with the community and the kind of expansiveness that has now come to these girls, and to witness what they are capable of doing,’ adds Stefanou.
It’s also a misconception that only certain types of people or organisations can collaborate with neurodiverse artists and communities. If you are a small to medium organisation, then agility and flexibility may be an advantage, whereas larger institutions can offer more exposure and resources.
Read: How to create a Disability and Inclusion Action Plan
Key considerations
‘The arts have a deeply rooted overlap with the medical narrative of disability and seeing disability as a kind of physical or mental difference that creates a deficit or problem within a person,’ continues Gunasekera.
‘What I’ve learned as an artist is that I need to be around other people who can see and empathise with that, but I also know many neurodivergent people choose to work with neurotypical people if they feel that their collaborators are the safest people to bring that voice out.’
Gunasekera has some tips and considerations for those looking to work with neurodivergent collaborators, and a vision of what equal collaboration should look like.
1. Assess your own identity
Gunasekera says: ‘It’s important for neurotypical people to assess their own identities in relation to neurodivergent people. Because neurotypical identity is not often something that is looked at, similar to whiteness, masculinity or heteronormativity – it’s seen as the norm.
‘When it’s given this kind of status, it gains power and that’s created a lot of difficulties around the boundaries of our stories. It’s power dynamics that are disempowering for neurodivergent people.’
How much does being able bodied and neurotypical feed into our own identity and can we separate it? That’s the question we need to consider when we stare into the well.
A neurodiverse collaboration on an equal footing could very well mean giving up certain privileges to prioritise the needs of others.
Gunasekera adds that people ‘need to see where the boundaries of equality are in the room’ in order to start balancing the scales.
2. Analyse your intentions
‘Analyse your intention and don’t project your intentions onto neurodivergent people. Sometimes this is easier said than done,’ continues Gunasekera.
‘One of the most insidious barriers to safe and equal collaborations with neurodivergent communities is bias, so I think that’s what needs to come first.’
Read: Centring access and inclusion at the fringes
3. Don’t be afraid to do things differently
‘Don’t be afraid to do things. Just because the institution has been created out of a framework of ableism, don’t be afraid to do things that are completely different to what you’ve seen before, because that is what’s actually going to dismantle those structures and systems,’ says Gunasekera.
He continues: ‘It can feel like a very scary thing and I have experienced it as an independent artist, but it’s always done far more good.
‘What makes neurodivergent collaborations really seamless is that we just listen to our bodies and we follow our hearts. We know something is right or if it feels right, and I guess just trust the voices of neurodivergent people. Often the bias can silence us, but we have that sense of where we need to be and how we need to do things. That’s really important, not just as people, but as artists.‘
4. Respect our offerings
‘Another thing that’s a really important part of the collaboration is respecting the offerings that neurodivergent artists make, and treating them as equal. This isn’t something that I see done very often because those biases are so strong.
‘The more those biases are broken down, the more equal and humanising relationships and representation of neurodivergent people are actually going to change the way that people work with us,’ says Gunasekera.
5. It’s OK to make mistakes
Last but not least, Gunasekera says: ‘One of the biggest parts is learning and accepting the fact that you will make mistakes. A lot of those mistakes will not be about accessibility, they will be about not seeing a neurodivergent person where we may want to be seen.’
While there will no doubt be a troubleshooting process, Gunasekera adds that ‘having a really rigorous accountability process’ takes the burden of responsibility off neurodivergent people to inform, correct or educate.
Furthermore, we need to dismantle the impression that it takes a lot of resources and energy to start dismantling this bias, when actually everyone can begin with self-reflection and individual accountability.
Gunasekera concludes: ‘The beginning of an artistic collaboration is the perfect scenario to start reflecting these power dynamics and the values that are important to us in society.
‘That’s going to be the dynamics reflected in the work and the cultural narrative that audiences take away.’
