Connecting Neurodiversity and Creativity Through Storytelling: Personal Reflections

Have you ever wondered how creative writing could be a bridge to understanding and acceptance of neurodiversity? Join me, Stephen McHugh, on this eye-opening episode of Stephen's Evolution podcast, where I share my personal journey overcoming delayed language development and literal interpretations of idioms to become a better storyteller. 

I reflect on how special interests of mine, like Lego and astronomy, have fuelled my imagination and how creating neurodiverse characters in my stories has fostered greater acceptance and awareness. I reveal practical strategies that have helped me connect deeply with my interests through creative writing, and how these techniques could make idioms and figurative language more accessible for those on the autism spectrum.

During the episode I refer to a character named Alex from an example of creative writing based on an idea of mine. He is supposed to be a neurodivergent character with an extraordinary talent for art. One aim for me here is to try and inspire new ways to recognise and value unique talents. Through a supportive character named Emily, I highlight how empathy and understanding can significantly, and positively impact the lives of neurodivergent individuals. 

Dive into my tips for crafting vivid, sensory-rich scenes and relatable characters, and gain insights on how to raise awareness and promote acceptance through your own creative writing. 

Finally, I encourage you to share your creative endeavours and join this community in building support for neurodiversity. Your engagement can help spread awareness and foster a community that celebrates neurodiverse talents and experiences.

Thanks for listening. You can find me on my website stephensevolution.com, or on twitter here. You can sign up to receive news of new episodes when they're released here.


Artwork produced by Elena Designe
Music composed by Nela Ruiz

Transcript

Connecting Neurodiversity and Creativity Through Storytelling: Personal Reflections

Intro (0 - 5:11) 

Music Fades In

Hi there and welcome to another episode of the Stephen's Evolution podcast, where I talk about my lived experiences on the autism spectrum. I'm Stephen McHugh, your host, and I'm delighted to have you join me on this episode as I dive into an intriguing topic. It's a relatively new interest of mine - creative writing. In this episode, I aim to explore the fascinating intersections of creative writing and neurodiversity, discussing how creative writing, from my experience, can be a powerful tool and outlet for those of us on the autism spectrum. I'll be talking about my personal evolution regarding my language development, and how my language skills have evolved. I'll be covering some of the challenges I faced, and the strategies that have helped me along the way. 

Back when I was young and growing up, one thing I experienced was delayed language development. I would often take literal views of language. This would make more complicated forms of language, particularly idioms, confusing. Looking back, this unique perspective helped to shape my relationship with language in interesting and unique ways. Over the years since, there has been a noticeable improvement in my language skills. I hope that by sharing some of my experiences and the techniques that helped me, others might be able to benefit and find my experiences useful, including those on similar paths. 

One thing I did on my blog named Stephen's Evolution, I wrote one post based on short idiom stories, aiming to make it easier for those on the autism spectrum to understand idioms more easily. This, I believe, has helped me to practise and understand these expressions better In my writing. 

One thing I've also done is write some stories of my own, during which I created neurodiverse characters alongside supportive and understanding characters in the stories themselves. The way I look at this is,  it has been an important way for me to try and foster more in terms of acceptance and awareness regarding neurodiversity. Regarding neurodiversity, this initiative, I feel, has helped to fuel my passion for creative writing even more. Looking at my special interests, these have always been powerful tools for me, including in my creative writing process. 

Settings like mountains, underwater worlds, castles, forests, hidden caves and the vastness of outer space captivate my imagination with their mystery and beauty. 

Memorable people from my life in times gone by, I feel, have helped me to inspire relatable characters in my stories and, by imagining the characters having interests in things like music and advanced technology, which have been interests of mine, have helped me to become more deeply immersed and focused in my writing. My favourite settings, like I've already mentioned, have been in a separate series regarding an imaginary distant solar system where powers of chaos and peace are at battle. 

Personal Journey (5:16 - 10:49)

As well as finding idioms confusing, I had difficulty with inferences and understanding the points of view of others. This created challenges for me in terms of communication. Stories were also difficult because I would struggle to grasp the nuances that others would seem to grasp more naturally. One way to try and help me to overcome these challenges, was by being given access to illustrations from things like comics. I was encouraged to describe what was happening in such illustrations in my own words. 

Looking back, this exercise was incredibly helpful, as it set me on my way to develop more descriptive skills, and writing that was less confusing. It also led me on the way to better understand the context of what I was seeing, and sometimes reading. Additionally, there were other opportunities where I would write about things based on my real-life experiences. This would help me to connect with language to my world and my ways of thinking. It made it all the more meaningful. 

One important interest of mine when I was growing up was Lego, and how I loved building large Lego houses with long gardens. In such houses, I would imagine them filled with my favourite things like pianos, as I had an interest in music. In addition, I had an interest in astronomy, and would build what would be telescopes on the roof, and I would imagine them being able to show me views of objects far away in space, and be captivated by them. 

Using my imagination, I would imagine having Lego friends, and think about how we would embark on adventures in the surrounding areas of my Lego house and garden. The stories were often made up for me based on whatever interested me at the time. This had not only helped to fuel my imagination further. This approach also opened a new door to me by showing how stories could be constructed, and how language could bring such stories to life. 

Nowadays, the way I look at creative writing is to see it as a way to tap into and connect with my personal interests. Just like I did with Lego, I find I can build worlds and characters that reflect my imagination and personal experiences. Looking back, this connection has been beneficial for me when it's come to generating ideas linked to my special interests. This approach has helped me to make writing a more deeply personal, exciting and fulfilling activity. 

Going back to my blog post on short idiom stories. This has been, for me, another important milestone in my language journey. These stories, according to my website analytics, are the most popular content on my blog. They have, I feel, helped me to find ways of understanding idioms even better, and give readers opportunities to visualise and draw how they picture the text. With this activity, I aim to make it more interactive, with the aim of allowing readers to express their ideas, and continue their language development. It has also helped me to express my ideas and continue my evolution in my language development as a writer. 

There is also in this podcast, one popular episode titled, ‘From Literal to Figurative’. During this episode, I share my journey from when I took language literally to understanding it more freely, and aiming to use it more creatively. In the episode, I discuss how my experiences have helped to shape my approach to creative writing, and how others might benefit from it and find similar paths to connecting with language in their own unique ways. 

Importance of Neurodiversity in Stories (10:54 - 14:57)

What I have learned from being on the autism spectrum is how neurodiversity can bring a wealth of different ways of seeing and interacting with the world. For me, this diversity can introduce fresh perspectives, new angles and unique insights into our personal stories, and they're not just limited there. They can be incorporated into our creative writing, like story writing. In stories, characters can be given a particular problem to solve. For example, in any story, a neurodivergent character might notice details that others overlook, and play a very important role in a particular problem being solved. This can add richness and complexity to the narratives themselves.

Those of us who are neurodivergent can often approach problem solving in ways that are different and innovative, as we might see connections or details that others might miss. This can lead to creative solutions and intriguing storylines. By including such diverse ways of thinking in stories, this can showcase and highlight the unique, interesting, and potentially brilliant ways that neurodivergent minds can work. In fact, all of us have our own unique abilities and strengths. By highlighting these in story writing, this can be another way to celebrate diverse talents that neurodivergent individuals can offer. 

For me, by using this approach, we can not only make stories more compelling, but go a long way to promoting a more inclusive society, which will understand intelligence and capability. By incorporating neurodiversity in writing stories and other creative means, we can open up doors to worlds and new angles that might otherwise remain unexplored. This can allow readers to experience and understand the different perspectives and ways that other people might think. This can potentially, for me, go some way to fostering a broader and more sympathetic understanding of the human experience and ways of living. 

By putting my creative mind to use, I'm able to tap into another way that is beneficial to my language, evolution and development. I like to look at neurodiversity and compare it to the colours of the rainbow, and the variety of shapes and colours used together in paintings to make more attractive pictures, to create wonderful and diverse patterns. We can begin to see the inclusion of neurodivergent characters and perspectives and come up with more vibrant narratives. By creating imaginative worlds like this, they can be reflective of the diverse world we find ourselves in.

An example of some creative writing of mine (15:02 - 19:26)

And now I'm going to delve into an example of some creative writing I've done to show how we can raise awareness and acceptance through creative writing.  In this particular work I've done, it features a boy named Alex who initially would struggle to fit in at school due to his neurodivergent condition. He is the key character in this.

The aim of his journey is to highlight the importance of recognising and valuing unique talents and strengths that neurodivergent individuals possess, and how they can add value to the world. The aim of this story is to show how we can try and foster understanding and empathy and show readers the significance of acceptance and inclusion. 

In the story, Alex is a complex character. He faces challenges, while at the same time showing he has an incredible talent for art and drawing. Throughout the story, I've aimed to develop his character with both depth and authenticity. Another character in it, named Emily, turns out to be a supportive and compassionate friend. After seeing how lonely he is, she goes on to play an important and supportive role, and try to help Alex find a place where he can truly express himself in terms of his talents. With the guidance of a wise owl who lives in an old oak in a nearby wood, we see Emily's character and how it demonstrates how understanding and support, even from one person, can make an important difference. 

It has also been important to think about how to portray Alex's neurodivergence with respect and provide a more balanced representation of his experiences in the story. The school environment should reflect the initial challenges Alex faces in terms of trying to fit in, but struggle to do so. On the other hand, there is support from another character named Emily, who leads the way for positive change at the school and, of course, the art club together helped to create a more inclusive and accepting place here. 

All in all, the main themes of the story are centred around acceptance and inclusion, friendship and support, and the opportunity for self-expression through art. 

The key points in the story:  

The first key point highlights Alex's initial struggles with trying to fit in with other peers. Another key point is Emily notices how lonely he is, and recognises his artistic talent and the discovery of an after-school art club. And of course, we mustn't forget the guidance she gets off the wise owl from an old oak in nearby woods. 

When Alex joins the art club and begins to make new friendships, the story leads to a positive shift in the school's environment. Through this we can see the transformation that's taking place in terms of understanding and support. 

Writing Tips ( 19:31 - 24:05)

Sometimes, during my writing, one helpful tip I found was to record nature sounds. These included rustling leaves in the winds.  In the autumn, other nature sounds you could record include the crunching of leaves and seeds from fallen treetops. I found that recordings like these can remind one of specific sounds to include and describe in one's creation, thus helping create vivid, sensory-rich scenes that may draw readers into one's story and creations. 

Another great tip I've also discovered was to take photos of things and settings that may captivate one's interest. Such photos can serve as inspiration for scenes and settings in stories, and other pieces of creative writing, especially those areas that may hold senses of mystery and beauty. For instance, you could take a picture of a rainbow formed in the water droplets from a waterfall, and you could imagine in your story colours transferring energies from one place to another. 

While colourful language can add depth to one's work, one thing I learned was that it's important to not overuse it. One tip I can give here is to try and balance descriptive language with clear, concise prose. This, I find, can help to maintain reader engagement and ensure a message gets conveyed effectively.

In the past, I've found it's been useful to have a notepad and pen with me, so that I could jot down, on the off chance, any good ideas that came to me. Inspiration can come to us at any given time. Having a quick way to quickly capture your thoughts can be useful for the writing process. Nowadays, with access to mobile phones, you can do this on Google Drive. Since most mobile phones these days will have internet access, you can record such good ideas there. 

By drawing on personal experiences, you may find that you can provide a rich source of material for your work. By reflecting on your own lived personal experiences, you might find you create authentic and relatable characters and situations. This reminds me of basing characters on memorable people. You can do this from memorable people you may have met in your life, and form this approach as a basis for any characters you may create. This, I find, can help make characters more vivid and realistic, and add more depth and interest to your storytelling. 

In one series where I wrote about an imaginary solar system where powers of chaos of one planet are in battle with one for peacemaking, I thought about a former neighbour who was into music, thus sharing my interest in the subject. I used this as a basis to include one character who had an interest in music. This, I felt, was an example in making a particular character seem more realistic and add more interest to my storytelling. 

Conclusion (24:10 - End)

And that brings us to the end of this episode where we've explored together the combination of creative writing and neurodiversity. During the episode, I shared my personal journey regarding my language development and evolution, and how my special interests have helped me along the way in the creative process.

I highlighted the importance of representing neurodiverse characters in stories, and the impact of such representation on fostering understanding and acceptance. I also mentioned the story that I've created but is still not in the public domain. It's titled ‘The Wise Owl: Birds of a Feather Flock Together’. During this, I've aimed to illustrate such themes, and, finally, I provided some practical tips for any aspiring autistic writers. 

And now I'd like to invite you, my listeners, to share your own experiences and hear your own creative writing endeavours and stories, including those that may highlight diverse experiences, and promote more in the way of acceptance and raising awareness. Any feedback or questions can be sent via my website, including the contact form. It is also possible to text my podcast through the fan mail link in the episode description or, alternatively, you can connect with me via Twitter. This can be done via a link at the footer of the homepage of my website, stephensevolution.com. 

If you enjoyed this episode, and it resonated with you in some way, why not consider subscribing to the podcast and share it with others who you think might find it interesting and valuable. Any support can help me to reach out to more people and foster a greater understanding of neurodiversity out there. 

Thank you for listening. If you've made it this far, any support and engagement will be greatly appreciated. You can give this podcast a review and a rating on platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, and Podcast Addict. I look forward to hearing your stories, experiences and continuing this journey together. 

Music Fades Out