Connecting neurodiverse communities during lockdown

Part of AbilityNet Live!

We're all adjusting to what the media calls the new normal.

For people with neurodiverse needs, communication at any time can be challenging and the ways we're adapting to videoconferencing doesn't work for everyone.

In this webinar, we heard from individuals and charities that are embracing creativity as a way of keeping in touch with those who are socially distanced and using technology in innovative ways. 

Made Possible: Essays on success by high-achieving people with learning disabilities

Saba Salman is a journalist, editor and a regular writer on current affairs for The Guardian. Her writing focuses on equality and disability issues and the UK's overlooked population of 1.5 million people with learning disabilities.

She is also the editor of Made Possible an inspiring collection of essays by high achieving people with learning disabilities.

One of those people is her sister Raana who inspired the book. Saba will talk about how she crowdsourced the project, which she has promoted via social media, and how she's created an online art gallery to stay connected with Raana during these challenging times. 

Saba is also a trustee of the charity Sibs, which supports the siblings of disabled children and adults.  

Matthew Hellett is an award-winning filmmaker, performer and drag artist 

Brighton-based Matthew is a contributor to Made Possible. He is the head programmer of the Oska Bright Film Festival in Brighton, a biennial festival and touring programme featuring short films and digital media that include people with a learning disability.

In 2017, Matthew introduced a groundbreaking queer strand to the festival.

He is one of the first two people with a learning disability to have been accepted on to the UK film industry mentoring programme Guiding Lights.

Matthew promotes quality in learning disability art and raises awareness for artists like himself to be part of the mainstream art world. Matthew has made five films that have been shown at film festivals, nationally and internationally. 

He'll tell us about how he's using WhatsApp to keep in touch with family and friends, and how he uses film to express himself.

Grace Eyre

Grace Eyre’s vision is for a society where people with learning disabilities and/or autism can fulfil their dreams and wishes, are respected as equal citizens, are part of, and contribute to, their communities.

The organisation has created an online friendship group to enable people with learning disabilities to stay in touch.

We'll also hear about its online Art in Isolation project.

Creative Future

Creative Future is an arts organisation & a charity supporting some of the UK's most talented under-represented artists. Its mission is to make the arts more diverse and representative of the world we live in.

It has filled a gap in diversity arts & culture since 2007, supporting 6000 artists/writers who are under-represented in mainstream culture & face barriers due to health, mental health, identity or social circumstance.

The organisation brings talented under-represented writers from the margins to the mainstream by offering skills training, workshops, professional development and publishing opportunities.


How AbilityNet can help

Useful Links mentioned in the webinar

Attachments: 
Date of webinar: 
16 Jun 2020 - 13:00