Neurodiversity 

Aleena & Lara set out to raise awareness about neurodiversity by getting recognition for the special needs community at Headstart. They decided to paint a mural of the neurodiversity symbol with the help of the special needs children at school and display it at a main location in the city. The Academic and Behavioural Intervention Support (ABIS) and Picture Autism Team at Headstart were approached for help, and they worked with the students to make the project meaningful, engaging, and inclusive. 

The project sought to involve the special needs children and their buddies as much as possible. An ideation session was held to gather ideas for the mural. To cover the cost of the mural, funds were raised by selling brownies, and the students and their buddies were also involved in the baking sessions. 

The mural was painted on an 11X7 feet canvas cloth mounted outdoors. Slots were allotted to the special needs students, who along with their buddies joined in during the day to create the neurodiversity symbol using handprints, with black and white puzzle pieces in the background to represent autism. It took almost 4 days for the entire mural to take its final shape. The project meant that Aleena & Lara interacted beyond their comfort zone and built relationships with the special needs community at Headstart. Aleena commented: 

“In spite of being daunted at first, we found that achieving involvement was easy as the students were eager, and we all enjoyed working together painting and baking brownies. We forgot about our differences and embraced our similarities”.