These images are part of a series of designs about understanding, raising, supporting, and loving my neurodiverse child. This project is me unpacking and processing our relationship. It's about me loving him unconditionally. It's also about advocacy and trying to help others understand what it's like to have a disability.
In the first image, I am trying to describe neurodivergent masking in the classroom. Sometimes neurodiversity is described as being a cat in a roomful of dogs. At one time or another, we have all worn a mask, but for someone with a disability, masking is a form of social survival. For example, a neurodivergent individual might mask certain behaviors or inabilities to navigate a neurotypical world. It's exhausting.
The second image is about emotional dysregulation, anxiety, and sadness. Unfortunately, because neurodevelopmental disabilities affect more than one chemical in the brain, a neurodevelopmental diagnosis usually comes with other comorbidities. No one wants this. Especially the person going through it. Emotions don't just trickle in; they flood in all at once. And if you are a kid with this type of disability, not knowing your own body or why you're acting this way... makes life really hard to navigate.
Cat woman Illustration from Pixabay / freeillustrated. Concept and design: Sandy Atkins
Boy Illustration from Pixabay / freeillustrated. Concept and design: Sandy Atkins
