Recently I had the opportunity to lead multiple two-day workshops in Australia. Though we’re based in the United States many folks using Bridges curricula reside in the land down under. As the neurodivergent founder of Bridges Learning System and the facilitator of the Neurodiversity Revolution 2-day workshop I wanted to share my version of this life-changing experience and why I believe our path to ableist redemption could very well come from the beautiful land of Oz.
When we launched our flagship curriculum, the SEA Bridge, in October of 2022 I had no idea that our budding company would become international with our second customer. Unbenonest to me over the last two years as various professions in the United States have gradually begun to come to terms with the social model of disability and the notion of moving away from a deficit-based understanding of neurodivergence, across the globe Aussies have taken these ideas and run with them full on.
It was less than a year ago when I received an email from Jade Williams at Thrive Children’s Therapy in Melbourne requesting a meeting about collaboration. These requests come in from various places here and there, sometimes leading to a positive joint venture and just as often fizzling because of differences in point of view or purpose. So, when Jade suggested that maybe I should come to Australia and do a training I gave an enthusiastic but non-committal, sure!
Jade and I continued our conversations and slowly the reality that this was more than an impossible dream began to solidify in my mind. There was a hunger in Australia for the neurodiversity content that I had. A desire to shake up old systems and move forward embracing neurodiversity affirming practice (or neuro-affirming practice as the Aussies often call it). So, in my typical Katrina-specific neurodivergent style I threw well-thought-out reason to the wind and booked my flight.
Over the next six months I came to terms with the reality that now I needed to prepare to be “on stage” for two full days imparting something worthwhile to what would end up being nearly 150 people! Two full days, that’s a lot of face time. I couldn’t talk that long!
No, but I actually couldn’t talk that long.
So, rather than standing in front of everyone for two days lecturing from my “expert lens”, I played to my neurodivergent strengths. Creative problem solving, organizing, scripting, connecting ideas and connecting people. By letting myself be me rather than what society would say I “should be” as a thought leader, the workshops were a huge success.
During each workshop I relied heavily on collective wisdom because as I told participants, the neurodiversity revolution isn’t me, it’s all of us. Over the course of two days in Melbourne and then again in Brisbane I had the honor to meet some incredible clinicians and educators. Passionate neurodivergent adults, cautious folks just stepping into the neurodiversity movement and seasoned neurodiversity advocates. Together we explored how each viewpoint is vital in our ability to move forward in this movement. As a community we created a safe space, a place where individuals allowed themselves to be vulnerable to not knowing, in turn empowering themselves to learn something new.
I could see the path to ableist redemption in that room. Redemption from the harm that we as clinicians and educators caused by deficit-based thinking. Redemption from the trauma society caused by ignoring neurodivergent needs. Redemption from doing the wrong thing to and for neurodivergent kids for far too long. It was hard work. Together we acknowledged conflicting needs and grappled with the challenges they pose rather than shying away from them. We reframed goals and data to be neurodiversity affirming. We problem solved the push-back that we receive from administrators and funding agencies for following a neurodiversity approach.
At the end of the first day, I collapsed in my dark hotel room under the covers, spoons completely depleted. It wasn’t a negative feeling, simply a reality that I’d given everything that I had. By the next morning, I was ready to go again (another neurodivergent strength of mine is my ability to “rally”). The second day was even better than the first, and one of a handful of times in my life that I have truly had a “peak experience”. Our time together was almost over, when I made my way to the middle of the triple-wide conference room, surrounding myself with my fellow neurodiversity revolutionaries. Time stood still for a moment as though someone hit a pause button in the movie of life. In that moment as I stood among “my people” I felt proud to neurodivergent. I felt proud that my neurodivergent strengths created a connectedness in that room that was electric. I felt proud to be a part of these ranks of revolutionaries.
That room was filled with people in all stages of their understanding of neurodiversity, and use of “neuro-affirming practice”. Expertise was a shared understanding, not an individual characteristic. It is with this mindset that we will move forward, together.
