Dr Chloe Farahar (they/she) | Aucademy CIC
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Neurodiversity Celebration Week is one of those things I have complicated feelings about. On one hand, I am deeply glad it exists. On the other, I watch it narrow, year on year, into a celebration of a few neurodivergences most people have heard of – whilst the rest watch from the edges.
Simply put: neurodiversity is not a synonym for autism. It is not even a synonym for neurodivergence. Neurodiversity is the natural variation of human brains and minds across all of humanity – a population-level concept, not a personal characteristic. Neurodivergence is about individuals who currently don’t (and might not ever) meet neuronormative expectations: Autistic people, Polyennic people (often called ADHD), Dyslexic and Dyspraxic people, people who experience Dyscalculia, Tourette’s, Synaesthesia, and those whose brains have been reshaped by stroke, trauma, chronic pain, or other acquired differences. All of them deserve this week.
So, I made something. The presentation below is free to use, share, and adapt (with credit). It covers what neurodiversity actually means, the full breadth of neurodivergent experience, key frameworks for understanding Autistic and Polyennic minds, your legal rights under the Equality Act 2010, what reasonable adjustments look like in practice, how to know your own neurological profile, and how to build genuinely neuroaffirming environments. It is grounded in the research and the lived experience of neurodivergent communities – not in deficit narratives or outdated stereotypes.
Use it in your school. Use it in your workplace. Use it at home. Pass it on.
[Download the presentation below – it is free, just remember to credit Dr Chloe Farahar, Aucademy.co.uk . There is a PDF version and then a PPT download version]
Downloadable files
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