Neurodiversity and Creativity
A short podcast about neurodiversity and creativity
In December 2024 I was delighted to be invited to share my knowledge on neurodiversity and creativty in this podcast with the team at Foundations Child and Family Therapy
It is free to listen and is only 15 minutes
Neuroscience is moving at lightning speed, and we are learning about the brain at an unprecedented rate. Neurodiversity is akin to biodiversity; it is natural and confers real advantages. The view of ADHD and other ND profiles as deficits is being challenged. Scientific American states: “ADHD may create difficulties for individuals in many contexts that require focused, sustained attention. On the other hand, the same distractibility and chaotic mind can give people with ADHD an edge when it comes to creative, original thinking.”
As a practising artist and researcher, I have spent the last two years investigating the intersection between neurodivergence and creativity. You may or may not think of yourself as creative, but it is widely recognised that ND brains are expansive and able to make unique connections.
Worldwide expert, Dr Edward Hallowell, says neurodiverse people:
“Think along unusual lines and feel a persistent drive to build, develop, or create something, anything, from a business to a boat to a book to a balustrade. It’s like an omnipresent itch to make something. If that itch goes unscratched, we tend to feel listless or depressed, unmotivated and at sea. If we pour our energies into something that is beneath our creative abilities, we tend to lose interest. Remember, boredom = kryptonite. If we find ourselves in a job that doesn’t draw on that creative strength but instead demands a skill set we just don’t have, we will falter—and we’ll feel the crush of that defeat harder than others do.”