Neurodivergence in the arts: ‘Revealing my ADHD was the best thing’ | Ents & Arts News

High energy dance track Bang Bang! by Swedish electronic act Galantis kicks off with the lyrics, “You know I hate sometimes, my mind can run, faster than a bullet from a gun”.

Subtitled My Neurodivergent Anthem, it’s now getting a video game remake with an ADHD character at the centre of the action.

Created in collaboration with a small group of neurodivergent gamers, its makers say it’s game-changing.

Ubisoft’s neurodiversity talent director, Pierre Escaich, tells Sky News: “Coming out with your condition is not easy when ADHD is not recognised positively by society. And that’s why making it was so important to us.”

He says rather than being “problematic”, those with ADHD are “problem solvers” and “out-of-the-box thinkers”, and hopes the game will help “shine a positive light” on the condition.

Diagnosed with ADHD two years ago, reality star Sam Thompson says he hid his condition from prospective employers for years.

He explains to Sky News: “[I thought] If I go to a commissioner and say, ‘I really want to host a show’ they’ll be like, ‘This guy is going to struggle’. I was really worried about how the up tops were going to see me, having ADHD.”

But sharing his diagnosis with the world turned out to be the best career decision he ever made. He went on to win I’m A Celebrity in 2023.

The 32-year-old says he’d previously masked his ADHD on other shows including Made In Chelsea and Celebrity Big Brother “because I was almost scared I would be overly excitable… because you don’t want people to dislike you”.

But the hit ITV reality show changed that: “When I did the jungle, I couldn’t actually mask because I was so excited to be there, that it actually just didn’t allow it. And I was like, you know what, let’s just go full throttle.

“It was the best thing that could ever have happened because I talked about ADHD, I was so me, and people were awesome.”

Masking – or hiding your true self – is also a theme in Kidults! The Musical, a new stage show in which around a third of the characters are neurodivergent, with the umbrella term embracing conditions including (but not restricted to) ADHD, autism, dyspraxia and dyslexia.

Put together by Rooms101 Productions, the musical explores the challenges encountered in the twilight zone between childhood and adulthood.

Cast member Christopher McNamara, who suffers from severe dyslexia, tells Sky News: “It’s really refreshing to do a show where [neurodiversity] is embraced and it’s something that’s welcome.”

Fellow cast member and musician Ben Hughes, who has OCD, says harsh judgement can get inside your head: “There’s this fear of being noticed or set aside… however a lot of that can come from within ourselves as well.

“I find the more open I am about who I am and how I feel, the more confident and relaxed I feel and the more confident relaxed people around me feel too”.

The musical’s executive producer Michelle Plevins has worked for the NHS for 30 years specialising in neurodiversity and mental health, so understands the struggle.

She tells Sky News: “It can be really hard for people to deal with, especially as an adult diagnosis. They’ve spent their whole life not understanding themselves, and looking for that identity.

“I think that there is still a lot of misunderstanding, a lot of assumption and stereotyping, in all walks of life – in schools, in workplaces, in families and in society as a whole… We haven’t got it right yet.”

About one in seven people in the UK are neurodiverse and with knowledge of the brain increasing, diagnoses are on the up.

A 2021 study by The Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry found a 787% rise in the number of diagnoses in the UK across 20 years (1998 to 2018).

Popular reference to neurodiversity has followed, but the creator and director of Kidults!, Mark Tunstall, says its inclusion in his musical was far from a tick-box exercise.

“This isn’t a show about neurodiversity. It just happens, for it to be realistic, a lot of people are neurodivergent, and if I didn’t put them in the cast as characters, it would be unrealistic.”

No one is labelled with a condition in the show, and Mr Tunstall says it’s up to the audience to recognise traits on stage and make up their own mind about the characters.

With the arts working hard to improve accessibility in recent years, it’s perhaps no surprise to see neurodiverse audience members being taken into consideration too.

Will Soer, the founder of Out Of Body Pop, London’s first neuro-inclusive music event series, says the gigs are only getting more popular.

Described as “a new kind of day party,” events incorporate art, music, performance and dance, within spacious and comfortable venues with natural light and break-out spaces.

Mr Soer tells Sky News: “It’s not about nostalgia, but hope… We’re really trying to think about the possibilities of what the future can look like and how things could be different today.”

Held on Sunday afternoons, events feature live dancers on stage – helping guests feel less self-conscious about their own moves – and a painting space to sit down and “do something with your hands”.

And unlike traditional club nights, which can be crowded, events are sold significantly under capacity “to make sure there’s a nice flow to the space and it’s always easy for everyone to enjoy the music”.

With mainstream representation on the up, and venues becoming more welcoming to those with additional needs, the neurodiverse conversation is starting to make its voice heard.

Pushing back against negative stereotypes, and unmasking differences instead of hiding them, neuro-inclusion is a timely reminder that as far as the arts are concerned, great minds don’t necessarily think alike.