Just last summer, we thought about bringing organisations and individuals together to mark the importance of our differences. Who would have thought we would deliver such a fantastic, meaningful week for everyone of any ability and age?

We started by introducing Fay Dunn, who outlined her journey with Dyspraxia with her recommendations of the best strategies, tools and fun toys for kids! Everyone was positively impacted by Fay's story, which has given important perspective and understanding to parents. Day two was focused on Autism, and the wonderful Aisling Foran presented valuable information for parents, teachers and carers. Her mission is to speak up about Autism, and how individuals can experience life without fear and boundaries. In the middle of the week, we welcomed Donna from Dyslexia Matters Ireland, who provided important strategies to support literacy as well as life and school advice for children with Dyslexia. It was such a pleasure to have Donna be a part of our week! Thursday was delivered by fantastic members of ADHD Ireland, including Tash Milne who spoke about her and her family's journey to explore ADHD. The presentation included strategies and day-to-day tips relevant to kids and adults. The final day focused Neurodiversity in adulthood, which we started with a discussion about mental health led by Aengus Burke, followed by a talk from Ken Kilbride, who focused on Neurodiversity in Business and how to make the workplace friendlier for neurodivergent professionals. During all the webinars for adults, we simultaneously held creative online classes for children, which have involved drama and mindfulness. We also included schools in our Neurodiversity Week initiative, and on Wednesday we held a Webinar with Claire from Internal Connections, who spoke about what neurodiversity is, and how fantastic it is that we each hold unique differences due to our brains. 

It has been quite the journey for 3 people to pull all of that together in just a few months, and we are so glad to have reached over 2000 people in this process! We would like to thank everyone who has shared our posts, who has opened our email, who has taken part in our story - Thank YOU from us, because of you we were able to make a Neurodiversity Celebration Week Valid in Ireland!

We will come back next year :) If you wish to be part of our Neurodiversity Celebration Week, please do not be a stranger, and email us at office.allabilities@gmail.com.

Now we are on a mission to 

• include schools for neurodiversity coaching, plus a smart moves programme!
• invite adults and teens to mental health workshops!
• carry on with our creative classes for kids, teens and adults!