NYC: A Neurodiverse Perspective

Every city is different from a neurodiverse point of view. And this can vary day-by-day, mood by mood, street by street. In this blog post, I’ll run over my observations on how I’m finding New York as a city to live in. 

From a sensory perspective, NYC, surprise surprise, is a very LOUD city. This is something I’ve noticed over and above *anything* else. Its complete and utter assault to my eardrums, are like no other.  Horns honking. The train wheels screeching. But mostly the sirens from emergency vehicles. It’s like nothing I’ve heard before and seems to defy all logic – and sound barriers for that matter. And it’s constant. Even now after a few weeks of being here, I still jump and clench within myself, as the sound jars inside me, as I wait for it to simmer down. My body feels constantly shocked.

An example of an offending emergency vehicle

Normally I’m most sensitive to lights; their intensity in brightness and anything that flashes repeatedly or in a dance or strobe-style mode. And though the lights here are bright, I’ve seen far worse in Colombia. Here they’re just of a ‘normal’ brightness, (whatever that means these days). Surprisingly. I am deliberately avoiding the central mid-town area of Manhattan where you have the likes of Times Square and ample shops (no need to put myself through that!), so at least my eyes are being spared. The smells aren’t too intense either. I used to find in Colombia and Guatemala, the smell of food would dependably be in the streets, with vendors cooking food items from scratch. The aromas taking up the air space. Or other smells like shoe polish and other such chemicals. Here, it’s more in line with the UK’s ‘smell levels’.

Downtown Manhattan. Heavily build up. Also an area I normally try to avoid!

Like many large cities, New York is intense. Super intense. It can be hard to plan your day if you need to travel and get about by public transport. Trains are often delayed. The direction and stops are not clearly labelled - and then it’s not uncommon to find a station which shares its name with another station stop. Not helpful when you find yourself at the wrong ‘version’ of the station you’re supposed to be at! This is not much fun, and you really have to accept this and learn to plan in large margins into your time for lateness.

When you’re trying to cross a road, there’s a red counter that counts down the number of seconds you have left until the cars are unleashed to continue their ride. I know it’s like this in many cities, but given the size of the road to cross, this can be immensely anxiety-provoking. It’s not just one or two lanes of traffic coming at you either – but around four or five! This can feel quite disorientating. And stressful. I just find myself waiting a lot.

6 lanes of traffic to contend with!

The countdown to cross the road begins…

The interesting thing, however, is that because there’s so much space everywhere, it doesn’t feel quite so overwhelming. Or certainly not to the extent I expected it to be. The streets here are huge; for instance the sidewalk (yes, pavement!) can often be as wide as an entire road in the UK. In this respect, it just doesn’t feel as concentrated in its overall sense of overwhelming force. Another consequence is that it doesn’t feel overly busy either. There are lots of people, sure, but you’re never really bumping into them, as there’s enough space to not have to do so. It’s a contrast to Broad Street in Reading, where you’re constantly having to avoid doing so!

So, every city is different, and New York varies a lot for me, but here’s a snapshot to give you my general impression. Until the next blog post! 😉

NYC: Touch-down in Brooklyn, Part II

I’ve been here a little longer now and beginning to settle in. I’m navigating my way around the city better and due to the project work I’m doing here in terms of the workshops, studio work, visiting galleries and meeting autistic artists - I’m getting to see quite a bit of the city. Which, when I’m not getting lost – is lovely!

So. I’m in New York; this great, amazing city - part of America, this *mighty* land - yet it doesn’t feel so ‘great’ at times… and this is something that’s been gnawing away at me each day since arriving. It comes to me in bursts. Little things that continually get me thinking that living standards aren’t so fantastic here. I mean this at a personal level by the way, for your average American - or businesses and large corporation - the story is very different. And these are my comparisons to the UK/Western Europe.

Firstly, people don’t seem to have as many rights here. I mean their private healthcare system lends itself to its very own blog post, but I’m also referring to consumer rights and employment law. Their maternity pay and leave is minimal, and holidays aren’t easy to come by. I thought the UK had a minute number of public holidays! And you can totally forget about minimum pay here. And other basic rights: if you’re fired, you’re fired. And even though you’re paying private healthcare insurance, not everything is covered. For instance, you still have to pay for a mammogram (in the hundreds) or to give birth (in the thousands). How does that figure…?

In terms of consumer law, there’s a real lack of price transparency, and I’m noticing this a lot when I do my grocery shopping. You have to be really careful not to get ripped off! There are a lot of small, local, grocery stores. And often goods aren’t labelled in price. And where they are, you still have to check that it’s being priced through correctly at the till. It’s also really normal for my local greengrocer to change its prices on almost a daily basis – as it is for me to be charged $2.50 for a pepper, instead of the $1.50. And yes, that is the price for one pepper! Food is considerably more expensive here – and this is taking into account the not-so-favourable exchange rate. But you want to hear the worst of it? It goes off really quickly! Apparently, food standards overall are considerably lower than in Europe and in terms of the lack of price transparency – this is excused by saying that you weren’t ‘forced’ to buy the product and that you always had a choice in the matter. And no, you can certainly not get a refund easily(!)

Yes, the infamous $1.50 pepper, which I was initially charged $2.50 for

Another aspect, is the fact that it’s really uncommon to have a dishwasher, washing machine and dryer (or at least adequate outdoor space to dry your clothes) in your apartment. Now, I’m not against going to a launderette in any way – my last art project was all about washing, after all! But by not having these utilities, and with food shopping being that much more difficult – it takes up a lot of your time. Time away from leisure and relaxation. And surely that’s a sign in itself of lower living standards? It’s odd, it feels like we’re back in the 90s or thereabouts; a real drop that I just didn’t anticipate.

With no dishwasher, the washing up gloves are always at the ready! 

And yes, the food portions are notoriously huge. But why though? And why in New York, a more progressive state? And why so, more importantly, when people can’t and don’t finish them?! It makes you continue to pick at your plate when you’re far past the point of being full, and then you end up carrying a doggy-bag around with you for the rest of the evening. Smaller portions (healthier and more manageable) while charging slightly less (better for the consumer and the business wouldn’t lose out) being the solution? It’s an interesting one and will continue to plague me for the rest of my time here, I’m sure!

So, these have been my latest nit-picks as I continue to get to grips with the city! It’s a busy time, and I’ll speak more about the work that I’ve been doing in my next blog posts – I just didn’t want these initial impressions to become the norm, and for me to then forget about them!

Do stay in touch on social media too by the way through my handle @mahliaamatina – I’m posting most days on what I’m up to and continued observations on this fascinating city! Thanks for reading 😊

NYC: Touch-down in Brooklyn, Part I

I’ve been here in Brooklyn, New Yok, a short while now and it’s blown me away in terms of the number of impressions it has made on me. The initial one is quite simply the size: it’s a HUGE city! I always knew it would be big; American style XXXL and all that. But it’s only when you get here and start to navigate your way around the city, that you realise how quickly exhaustive it can all become, as you apply your London or other ‘big city logic’ to New York. It doesn’t quite work on the same level. I’ll let you know how that develops though, as it may just be the initial settling in period for me.

So anyway, yes, it’s a big place, but what else? Well the neighbourhood I’m living in; Crown Heights, has this intense population make-up of Jews and Afro-Caribbean’s. it’s such a contrast of behaviours I’m seeing between the two, as they live harmoniously, side by side. And the other neighbourhoods too - like in many cities, I suppose - change very quickly and are similarly made up of distinct ethnic groups. But here in NYC it feels far more striking. When I visited Brighton Beach, for instance, it was an area full of Russians and Ukrainians. To the point where Eastern European was the prominent, if not only cuisine available. They were the only languages I could hear (occasionally punctuated by English) and the signs were bilingual – in Russian and English. It was quite an extraordinary sight and feeling to witness, as I imagined them arriving into the area and then expanding to occupy it over time. Well, at least I’ve found my haven for dumplings, sautéed cabbage and potatoes, should I crave it!

My closest subway station that connects me to Manhattan and beyond: Franklin Avenue 

The area where I live is highly gentrified – you have the usual array of bars, cafes and restaurants and even museums and a botanical garden nearby 

On the whole, and despite the size of the city, I’d say it’s definitely a friendly city. I’m used to averting my eyes from people as I revert back to my ‘London ways’, however I’m always pleasantly surprised when someone greets me with a ‘good morning’ or a simple ‘hello’. And to be greeted is refreshing. A simple sign of humanity. But naturally where a city is friendly, it also has its brutally rude moments. I’ve known someone to quite literally be *shoved* out of the way at a subway station, as their ticket didn’t swipe through the first time round. I’m always surprised when I hear stories like this. It makes me reflect on what happens to a person to take this course of action; to feel this sense of entitlement over and above another human being. How and when did it start? Was it a one-off moment of impatience or are they always like this? My fascination with human behaviour! But overall, I would say it’s a friendly place, where people will smile and try to help you find your way 😊 I know I’ve been helped plenty!

And did I tell you that New York is an artist’s paradise?! My soul has been thoroughly cleansed and revived here, for there’s art and culture happening on each and every corner! And that’s one of the absolute *joys* of living here: there are pop-up galleries, one-off shows and performances – stuff that you happily and spontaneously walk past and pleasantly discover. Because that’s the only way to do it. Otherwise, you’d spend your life looking up every art and cultural event, and that’s time that no one has! And you’d never find it all anyway. For there’s always a new mural going up, an exhibition coming down, a musician setting up somewhere, a performance art piece taking place in this actual moment… So, the simple and best way is just to soak it all up and enjoy it – a very mindful approach to life, art and culture itself…

Brooklyn Museum – 5 floors of amazingness! It’s free on Thursday evenings, so no prizes for guessing where I am on a Thursday night!

New street art, I recently discovered – like I say, there’s art on every corner!

So those are my initial impressions, but there are many others that I’ve been jotting down, so do come back for Part II of this blog later this week! Until then 😊

The local streets of Crown Heights, Brooklyn

The traditional sign of America, seen in all those American movies, (as well as in Guatemala!) - the yellow school bus

Neurodiversity and the Arts - Arts Council Funding received to go to New York!

I am tremendously excited. For just a few days ago, I found out that I was successful in my funding application for the Arts Council’s ‘Developing your Creative Practise’ (DYCP). This is a new piece of funding, which started earlier this year, and gives artists of all forms the opportunity to try something different with their practise - and to ultimately have the opportunity that they wouldn’t otherwise have.

How did I get this, and what were the steps I undertook to create the proposal? Well, this blog will run through my process and hopefully make it clearer to those of your who are also looking to apply for similar funding. One that I would totally encourage, by the way!

So firstly, my artistic aim is to ‘create arts led advocacy work around neurodiversity that openly translates a positive message in impactful yet accessible ways’. I feel that by identifying your goal in the long-term is a great place to start. I then researched and found that to get closer to this objective, I would need to: build new relationships, receive mentorship and collaborate with other autistic artists - in a place that is progressive and leads the way in terms of the neurodiverse arts scene.

Me giving a talk at my autism-friendly and multi-sensory exhibition ‘Around the World in 80 Washing Lines’ 

In terms of the arts and neurodiversity, the United States is considerably advanced and progressive. For instance, it has more art centres and galleries that work with and support neurodiverse artists. Additionally, there is a higher concentration of neurodiverse artists based in the US, especially in/around the state of New York. My findings highlighted that New York City would be an ideal location and base to implement this step change in my working practice.

So, with my goal and location identified, I set to work in terms of researching and identifying potential opportunities. These included, for instance; meeting with influential people (who I emailed and set up meetings with), visiting neurodivergent arts centres (again emailing them to explain I’d be visiting) and the chance to lead workshops with autistic artists (also organised upfront) – all of whom I hope will be my collaborative partners for the next chapter of my artist career. I also researched and found artists who were willing to be my mentors during this time – both an exciting and rare opportunity. You may notice that I emailed and told these people/organisations that I’d be coming to New York. And that’s another key – believing you’re going. This way, the relationship builds regardless – and you’ll already be gaining.

One of the best pieces of advice I have to anyone applying for Arts Council funding is to attend a one-to-one surgery session in your area to meet with an ACE representative to talk your project through with. Having the chance to ask questions that are specific to your project is completely invaluable. You get to hear what the counterargument might be and where your focus should lay – especially when there is a strict character limit to adhere to. This, I believe, has been pinnacle in me writing a strong, focused application.

I also find it helpful to give my form to one or two other people and get their opinion. But just make sure it’s someone who understands you in terms of your artistic goals and your work. And of course; to come back to your application after a few days, or even weeks, after working on it. Like with my paintings – there’s nothing like a fresh set of eyes! Plus, with the way our minds work, they’ll always be thinking and working on the application in the background – very helpful while you crack on with everything else you have to do as an artist 😉

And finally: always get feedback if you don’t receive the grant. Even with this DYCP application – you can still phone up and ask - because it’s this feedback that will enable you to come back stronger next time round. This is what I did last year when I was initially turned down for funding for my #80WashingLines project. And I came back with a mightily amazing application the second time round - and received the funding!

So, let’s see where this opportunity takes me. At the very least it will set me on a journey of exploring my art practise within the context of collaborating and connection-making – all in a direction that is different to my typical art practise, yet still key to my art messaging. I’ll be writing up my findings in regular blog posts, so do please keep coming back to see how I’m getting on.

Until the Big Apple! 😊