What Does Equity Mean to Us - Our Musings So Far....
Equity Pathways Poster
Over the summer, we met to dream and theorise about what equity means to us as ADHD Babes. As we live in a world which prioritises harm over care; we wanted to think about what our lives would look like if we focussed on our communal safety and sustainability. As an organisation, we want to understand how we centre safety, joy and our best versions of ourselves to ensure we are able to hold each other in community for years to come.
Firstly we held a collective understanding workshop. Collective understanding refers to a shared viewpoint held by us as Black women and non-binary people with ADHD that is shaped by our individual and collective identities. At the workshop, we defined equity and started to think about what the world would look like if it centred care. For us, "equity is the practice of actively creating space for everyone to meet us as they are. Equity is a direct practice of care, we believe we have the agency to embody the world we want. It calls us to hold people who differ from us into space with us, in this way equity calls us to move toward community rather than converge away from it". Our full definition of equity will be released soon - keep an eye out for upcoming communications!
Following on from this, we held a collective imagination workshop. Imagination is a powerful, intuitive and sacred tool that we can use to change and shape the world around us. In our current world, imaginative practices are rejected in place of ideas that can be measured and rationally explained. By Collective Imagination, we are speaking of our shared ability to dream of an alternative world that is equitable for us. When we can dream, we are then able to create. At the workshop, we mapped pathways to equity which are avenues in our lives that we can influence collectively as Babes. We invited Babes to draw on the different ways they understand and know things and to take inspiration from any aspect of life that calls to them.
The pathways identified were:
Shared learning: explores how we collect, archive and share information and resources. This can mean how we understand ADHD in our lives, sharing what works for us. Shared learning creates space for us to develop our collective understanding of ADHD and build our community of Babes. This can also help shape a global concept of disability justice and neurodivergent awareness.
Art and creative spaces: exploring our relationship with art and creative expression as people with ADHD
Indigenous, religious and spiritual belief systems: exploring how our belief systems inform our understanding of ADHD
Intergenerational wisdom: exploring our relationship with ageing with ADHD given we live in a world that does not value older Black women and gender-expansive people. We can explore how we develop and deepen our relationships with older people in our community.
Parenting and ADHD: explores how our relationship with parenting is shaped by our experience with ADHD. This could also explore our relationship with our parents and those who have stepped into parental roles in our lives
Neurodiversity awareness and justice across institutions: exploring how we as neurodivergent people interact with work, health and social care services.
Mourning, grief and rage: exploring our relationship with mourning, grief and rage particularly in the advent of late diagnosis and whilst living in a world that is inequitable. We can explore different practices to move through and with our emotional worlds
Physical space: thinking about a physical space and home for ADHD Babes what would we like this to have; how would we like the space to feel
Food: food growing practices and how we can build intuitive relationships with food
Technology: the growing influence of technology on our lives and the use of assistive technologies to help our ADHD
These are being explored at our Pathway to Equity workshops and support group sessions. Sign up here for our upcoming workshop on Thursday 14th Nov 7-8.30pm GMT.
This space is facilitated by Veronica - ADHD Babes Strategy and Community Learning Partner. If you would like to reach out to share any feedback, please contact adhdbabes@gmail.com