Neurodiversity Celebration Week: Shana Tufail on the peak and the pit of being neurodivergent
- Written byStudent Communications
- Published date 17 March 2023
As Neurodiversity Celebration Week comes to an end, we caught up with Shana Tufail, MBA student at Central Saint Martins and neurodivergent, climate and social justice activist.
Shana, how would you define neurodiversity?
Neurodiversity is everyone. However, those that are neurodivergent (ND) have brains that are wired differently, which means we process, sense, and perceive the world differently. Our cognitive abilities are varied with distinct peaks and pits, known as a spiky profile, compared to neurotypicals, who have a more consistent set of abilities.
You’re currently doing an MBA at Central Saint Martins/Birkbeck, can you tell us a bit about the MBA and what your research and work covers?
The MBA is an innovative iteration of the traditional MBA to reimagine business, leadership, and the future of work in the context of the climate emergency and pressing global challenges. It’s a space where art, science, and business collide. The practice of sense-making and probing, along with systems thinking, design thinking, and creativity, are applied to problem-solving the growing complexities of how we live and work.
Our economic models and “business as usual” are not fit for purpose as they focus on endless growth on a planet with finite sources. It is driving climate and social injustices and inequality. Our systems, processes, policies, and even how we relate and communicate in these digital times need an urgent redesign to ensure a safer and fairer world for more.
My research interests are varied and intertwine around exploring and applying neurodivergent thinking to creative enterprise and innovating systems for degrowth, resource efficiency, and regenerative and circular economies. The foundational elements are ensuring the science of climate change and accessibility and inclusion are placed at the heart of systems change. My practice is fuelled by live music and soundscapes and storytelling through the visual arts, because of being sensory sensitive. I enjoy soaking up diverse forms of creativity that are in various states of emergence and development across UAL to inform and interrogate my learning and practice.
Alongside the MBA, I am on a Circular Economy incubator at Impact Hub King Cross, and Birkbeck’s Pioneer programme for social impact entrepreneurship. All of these provide an opportunity to apply my learning and research to my studio, Model My City, to reimagine and create opportunities for accelerating sustainable living and working at the hyper-local level. I was recently selected as a semi-finalist in the Mayor’s Entrepreneurship Competition 2023 under the Creative Industries category.
Why is it important that businesses recognise the strength that neurodivergent people can bring to the workforce?
The top 10 skills of the future include sense making, complex problem-solving and critical thinking. These are skills that many neurodivergents have developed as we negotiate and make sense of a world not designed for us.
There is a growing recognition that diversity of thought, and abilities, offer teams and organisations a competitive edge. However, our processes, systems, policies, expectations, are designed for the very narrow band of neurotypical abilities. This often leads to neurodivergent talent being constricted in their roles or when studying. This restricted design can lead to misunderstandings, stigma and discrimination as it can be difficult to understand an ability, whether a strength or challenge, without personal experience.
Many neurodivergents feel compelled to mask their daily challenges out of a fear of being seen as less capable, and it often remains a conversation between course tutors and disability advisors or managers at work. This is because the focus is always on the “pits” of the ND experience and not the “peaks” of our abilities. Why do we still create jobs that require reasonable adjustments instead of crafting roles around ND strengths?
What is the “Peak + The Pit” installation at London College of Communication this week all about?
I’m hosting this installation during Neurodiversity Celebration Week to kickstart a meaningful dialogue and movement to embrace, celebrate and normalise ND across UAL.
The installation will showcase the often-hidden strengths and challenges of UAL’s neurodivergent community, raise awareness of how these present and challenge the stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences. UAL is likely to have a higher-than-average number of ND creatives, staff and students than other universities, and many are likely to be marginalised in the day-to-day.
UAL’s ND creatives are invited to share the peak and the pit of their personal brand of being neurodivergent as a poem, drawing, doodle, or text. Submissions will help inform the next steps towards building a community for ND creatives across UAL. Contributions will be for research purposes, anonymised, and a report on the submissions will follow.
The Peak + the Pit installation continues on Padlet where everyone is invited to connect and share ND-related news, resources, and research. I love that the library shared a playlist highlighting neurodiversity in films and documentaries and that the installation could signpost students to the disability service for assessment and support. Let’s continue crowdsourcing resources and best practices from across UAL as a toolkit for ND students and staff and build on this work year on year.
How can neurotypical people be more supportive allies to neurodivergent colleagues and students?
As leaders, managers, educators, colleagues, designers, policy makers etc, we all have a role to play in our day to day to help drive the culture and societal shift towards embracing and valuing difference and normalising the diverse spectrum of neurodivergent abilities.
As Neurodiversity Celebration Week draws to a close, I encourage everyone to read articles, listen to a podcast, watch a video, follow neurodivergent minds on social media and get to know and understand this rich world, hidden from sight in our day-to-day.
I invite UAL’s neurodivergent creatives to connect if interested in joining a community of practice and exploring next steps for reframing and normalising being neurodivergent to ensure ND students thrive rather than survive the university experience and fulfil their potential in whatever capacity they desire beyond UAL.