Tips for neurodivergent creatives

Identify your needs as an autistic creative

It’s important to understand your own condition; traits and triggers you may experience from being autistic, as well as what drives and motivates you in your creative process. This is helpful in not only better understanding yourself, which is a massive advantage that many neurotypicals don’t often stop to think about enough, but it will help you flourish in being your greatest creative self. You can figure this out through journalling or asking yourself questions; for instance, at what points and times during your work do you tend to get tired, and what in particular can overwhelm you while working? What are the triggers that inform when you need to stop and take a break? This is all useful intel in helping you pay attention to how you work best.

Also note that this changes over time, and there will be the need to be flexible around what your needs look like at certain points and stages

Ask for reasonable adjustments

Once you’ve identified your triggers and potential challenges, it’s time to do something about this and to make a plan. One way is to consider the reasonable adjustments that would make a difference to how you may be impacted. For example, if working with a client, could you ask for the work to be presented in a particular way, using certain fonts, or to be communicated in a certain format or frequency? By making it clear that these are reasonable adjustments, this will help have these needs be met. If you find certain tasks tricky because you are autistic, or are impacted by your mental health, which consequently makes completing work and associated tasks difficult, then you can consider applying to Access to Work. I wrote a two-part blog on this topic, which you can read here, while I would also recommend Disability Art Online’s (DAO) guide to Access to Work, which is specifically written for self-employed or freelance creatives.

Utilise art opportunities and commissions for disabled artists

You may or may not agree with using the term ‘disability’ in relation to how you describe being autistic, but the crux of the matter is that being an artist often takes great fortitude and resilience, and being autistic adds layers to that

Websites such as DAO, Unlimited and Shape Arts provide opportunities and support for disabled artists and are well worth keeping an eye on, especially as they often partner with large art institutions and can provide an incredible platform for your talent. I would also strongly recommend asking for a support worker to help you with any Arts Council applications you write. The Arts Council have a budget for artists that need access support, and I’ve found this to be so helpful when making an application. You normally have to email them ahead of starting your application, and you can either choose your own support worker, or they can assign one to you. it’s well worth having the assistance if funding applications are something you struggle with. You won’t be the only one!

Don’t turn creativity into a process

I know as a creative, there are so many routes to market, and ample methods that you can undertake to reach your audiences and find work. Being autistic, it’s often the case that we want to be as thorough as possible and won’t want to leave any potential stones unturned. This does have merits; the attention to detail means we may find an untapped opportunity others haven’t spotted/tried out, however, it can also mean that it’s a case of constantly creating and running through different processes that can turn out never-ending. There’s always a new website or method to try, and that can really be exhausting.

I’ve learnt over the years to not see productivity as a measure of success, and to focus on fewer things

This is better for the mind: to really hone in on just a few areas, and this goes for which websites to sell your work on to how many galleries, publishers or potential clients you approach. Less really is more from a mental health perspective. It means you get to do a small number of things to a high standard and to build good, solid relationships with people – all of which will be of a higher quality overall than if you tried to do it all.

Get another job

Autistic burnout is something that we need to be truly mindful of and a way that I combat this is by having a job outside of my creative practise. With being self-employed, my income can be variable, while having a job which pays me a fixed income each month really helps. Plus, it’s nice to have a broad skillset and other options and trainings available. I feel it takes the pressure off having to work quite so much on my creativity, which us autistics will nearly always end up doing. This often results in compensating in other areas of our life, such as our mental health.

Having another job, especially in those initial years, can mean better balance and sustainability in the longer term. Which is what we want!

Look after yourself

The previous point brings me nicely on to this final point of taking care of ourselves. There aren’t so many rules and clear-cut career paths in the creative world, as there are a number of routes you can take and explore. And though this is exciting and liberating, it sometimes means that burnout can be commonplace, as one tries to navigate this landscape. Think about how best to manage tasks and to balance them with busier times, or seasons (I find winter really tough), so you’re not overwhelmed with work. I would also strongly encourage you to see rest and play as a part of the creative process and to take regular breaks and time off. This will also pay dividends further down the line as your mind has the chance to wind down, relax, and to have that space available to come up with new ideas.

I hope these tips specific for autistic creatives are useful in helping you think about your needs, how you can make a plan around them, and to make the best of the opportunities that are out there.

The main thing is to enjoy and nurture your creative practise, because as well as it being a source of employment to us, it’s also a lifestyle and resource that we have within us- and that’s incredibly special

Mahlia Amatina

December 2022