Celebrated our differences with colourful umbrella display
A town centre has been transformed with a rainbow of brightly coloured umbrellas aimed at raising awareness and acceptance around neurodivergent conditions.
The display was offcially launched today by Newark Creates in partnership with the ADHD Neurodiversity Foundation.
It forms part of the national Neurodiversity Umbrella Project and is designed to represent the one in five of people who have a neurodevelopmental condition, such as ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia or Tourette’s syndrome.
Dr. Tony Lloyd, chief executive of the ADHD Foundation, said: “This installation is a celebration of neurodiversity.
“About one in ten people have dyslexia, one in 20 have ADHD, one in 60 are autistic and so on, that makes up about a quarter of the population of this planet.
“In our culture, historically we have often considered those people as being less intelligent and less able, but we know that isn’t true. Over 30% of chief executives, entrepreneurs and self employed people have ADHD or dyslexia.
“The idea of the umbrellas came from a group of young people who were trying to think a name for themselves.
“They wanted to call themselves the alphabet kids because they had lots of letters such as LD, ADHD, ASD etc. I told them that these are just umbrella terms for people that think differently and has nothing to do with intelligence or IQ or generosity.
“In the UK we’ve also displayed in Berkshire, Essex, Liverpool, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Swansea, Cheltenham, Cardiff, London and now of course here in Newark.
“It never fails to make people smile when they look around. There is something wonderful about it that makes people ask those questions about what neurodiversity is.
“We all know somebody, whether they’re in our family, one of our friends, at work or school, who have these diverse minds and I think it’s about time that we started to define people based on what they can do rather than what they can’t.”
Students and young people from Barnby Road Academy, YMCA Creative Academy and Robin Hood Youth Theatre provided entertainment at the launch event as part of Newark Creates’ education and outreach programme.
Cultural programme co-ordinator for Newark Creates, Sarah Bullimore, said: “I think it’s beautiful. I think we are so lucky in Newark to have such a lovely market place and it doesn’t matter where you stand it brings a smile to your face.
“Newark Creates is the highstreet heritage action zone project, which is all about celebrating communities, artists and working with people — the Umbrella Project is just one of those things.
“We partnered with the ADHD Foundation on this project to adorn the streets of Newark with colourful umbrellas to help raise awareness of neurodiversity.
“There are five schools involved in the education programme and we have lots of community workshops, half term events and activities centred around this issue running all year round as well.”
