Letter to the participants
Dear Participants,
I am writing to show my utmost gratitude and appreciation for your participation in the Double Diversity Digital Art Gallery. Your neurodiversity is a part of who you are, and it should bring value to your life. Although I wish you always appreciated the uniqueness of your mind, I recognize and understand that this isn’t always the case. Being discredited by others can make you doubt your worth and make you feel like an imposter in school, work, or social settings. It’s hard. Your normal is separate from society’s and often rejected by others. However, masking your experiences does not benefit anyone. Your adversities need to be heard to help other Black, neurodiverse people realize that they aren’t alone.
By engaging in this project, you have begun to pave the way for other Black, neurodiverse youth to come forth and tell their stories. You are providing them with the community that you were striving to find yourselves. Your boldness and strife will empower those who come after you to seek inclusivity and acceptance. We do not have to do this alone anymore. The quiet suffering we faced can be tended to and treated by fostering this community and developing a network of emotional support that will better equip us to navigate this world. We are here to push the bounds that the world placed on us, and you are already setting that precedent. So, to you, and every Black neurodiverse young adult, I urge you to realize and accept that you do not have a deficit. Your capabilities and skill can transcend the limits that the world has placed on you. Dare to be bold and challenge the world because you will be able to color this world with your vibrant ideas and paint Picassos with your creative ways of thinking. Educate others about your neurodiversity and encourage others to educate themselves so that they are not continuously informed by the false narrative that society spews about our experiences.
Hearing your stories solidified the reality of our shared experiences. All of us have moved past the stereotypes of our abilities and learned strategies to deal with our cognitive and behavioral differences. Neither our Blackness nor our neurodiversity was a barrier for us, the successful students at UT Austin. Each and every one of us is brilliant, and it is necessary to share our stories with others. I truly and deeply appreciate the chance to have made your experiences visible through art. Together, we are setting the foundation for other Black individuals to be open and transparent about their neurodiversity in an unaccommodating society. It is time to end the narrative that we are broken and stop masking our symptoms for a world that already ignores us for the color of our skin. Through this project, you have all played an integral role in bringing visibility to our double diversity.
Love,
Velta Brenya