The aim of the Neurodiversity Summit, held on 4 December in Leeds, is to bring diverse voices together to identify common ground, and share the challenges our sectors face in supporting the neurodivergent population. The way that our usual support offers are configured often do not meet people’s needs and within healthcare there are huge capacity issues limiting the ability for people to receive a timely formal ADHD or Autism diagnosis.
However, neurodivergence is not solely something for the health and care system to support. All elements of the way our society operates across education, workplaces, the criminal justice system and more have a role to play in working together, understanding the pressures on one another and seeking to reduce barriers for neurodivergent people. This requires everyone to think radically about the options available and what our expectations should be of one another. At the summit, we started to build a shared vision of the future and identify what the actions are, and for whom, to start realising that vision. This is ongoing work to start to make substantial change.
To help people living with Neurodivergence give their views and experiences in a more comfortable way, a pre-summit was held and facilitated by West Yorkshire Voice in November 2023. You can read about the findings of the pre-summit here.