Writing Neurodiversity: Processing Lived Experience through Poetry

This course will offer a safe and supportive space in which to explore your own neurodivergent experience through poetry.

There has been a huge rise in the number of adults seeking a diagnosis for autism, ADHD, dyslexia, or dyspraxia in their 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond, while many individuals remain unsure about whether a diagnosis will be helpful or even possible.

Although attitudes are beginning to change, there remains a certain amount of stigma in society, with unhelpful stereotypes and a lack of awareness about how these neurological differences can affect individuals in different ways.

This course will offer a safe and supportive space in which to explore, articulate, process and reflect on the neurodivergent experience, using poetry as a therapeutic tool.

We will respond to negative experiences and stereotypes, but we will also celebrate our neurodivergent strengths, playing with language and poetic techniques to express what it means to be neurodivergent in a neurotypical world.

This neurodivergent-led course is open to anyone who has (or who thinks they might have) lived experience of neurodivergence (diagnosed, self-diagnosed, or undiagnosed).

Most of the example texts will be poems, but you are welcome to respond to exercises in whatever form or genre you prefer. No previous writing experience is required, but experienced writers are welcome to attend.

Learning and teaching

The course will be delivered through two-hour online meetings once a week (20 contact hours). These will include mini-lectures, peer discussions, and a variety of written and reflective exercises.

Learners will be encouraged to share their writing experience with peers, although direct reading out of work is not a requirement.

The emphasis on this course is on engagement and participation in exercises.

There will be options to engage both through verbal discussion and through written text, depending on preference. Opportunities for sharing work and receiving positive and constructive feedback will be available for those who do wish to share their writing with the group.

Coursework and assessment

Portfolio: 75% - The basis of assessment will be a portfolio of creative writing consisting of each student’s best work produced on this module (c. 1500 words of poetry or prose).

This portfolio may consist of several separate creative pieces or one piece of extended writing, by prior agreement with the tutor.

Reflective Commentary: 25% - Students will write a 300-word reflective commentary, exploring the ways in which their portfolio has engaged with ideas discussed during the module.

Reading suggestions

We will examine several texts written by neurodivergent writers, including Kate Fox, Jane Burn, Esther Ottaway, and Oz Hardwick, with a focus on the following topics:

• The neurodivergent journey – diagnosis / self-diagnosis
• Reflecting on childhood memories
• Understanding our own unique neurodivergence
• Communicating lived experience to others
• Celebrating neurodivergent strengths
• Responding to stigma and stereotypes

Throughout the module, we will experiment with various writing tools (including humour, word-play, and poetic form) as a means of expressing and articulating neurodivergent lived experience, and we will use ekphrasis (responding to visual prompts) as a catalyst for reflection.

We will also explore the terminology around neurodiversity, and consider how this terminology relates to the social model of disability.

Library and computing facilities

As a student on this course you are entitled to join and use the University’s library and computing facilities. Find out more about using these facilities.

Accessibility

Our aim is access for all. We aim to provide a confidential advice and support service for any student with a long term medical condition, disability or specific learning difficulty. We are able to offer one-to-one advice about disability, pre-enrolment visits, liaison with tutors and co-ordinating lecturers, material in alternative formats, arrangements for accessible courses, assessment arrangements, loan equipment and dyslexia screening.