Episode 218: Celebrating Neurodiversity, Beauty, and Belonging – from Art Heals All Wounds

The episode transcript is below.

Carolyn Kiel: Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds, the podcast that goes beyond the six second first impression to share the extraordinary stories of neurodivergent people. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel.

Thanks for joining me today. This episode is a little different from my usual episodes: I’m taking a little break from podcast interviewing this week, so instead, I’ve asked one of my podcaster friends if I could share an episode of her podcast that really resonated with me.

Today’s episode comes from my friend’s podcast, Art Heals All Wounds, which is hosted by Pam Uzzell. In this episode, Pam interviews her daughter Allegra Thelemaque, who is an illustrator and writer, about Celebrating Neurodiversity, Beauty, and Belonging. Both Allegra and Pam have a genetic condition called myotonic dystrophy, and Allegra also identifies as neurodivergent.

They talk about the idea of feeling like you belong in your body, how finding your own sense of style can help redefine the concept of beauty, and how meeting other people with myotonic dystrophy has been a source of understanding and support. Allegra also offers some advice on self-acceptance and belonging.

I wanted to share this episode with you because belonging is a theme that comes up a lot on Beyond 6 Seconds. Most of my guests talk about their sense of belonging – whether it’s with family or peers, in school or at work, and in the world in general. Often, by being neurodivergent, we don’t always feel like we belong where we are – whether we’re outright bullied or isolated, or just have a suspicion that something is fundamentally different about us. Finding where we belong and recognizing and appreciating our own beauty as neurodivergent humans, is something many of us strive for, each in our own ways.

Personally, belonging is something that’s been important to me as well. If you’ve listened to other episodes of my podcast, you may remember that I mentioned in my 2023 year-end episode that this year I’m focusing on finding community as a personal goal. I’ve had the pleasure of starting and building on some new friendships this year. I also admit I have some anxiety and nervousness about keeping my friendships going – worried that I’ll do something wrong, or people will get too busy to stay in touch, or I’ll get too busy. But I’m trying to stay open to new activities and opportunities where I can make connections with people.

This summer I’ve been especially busy – I went to my first in-person event for autistic people in June, hosted by a nonprofit organization called Autistic Adults NYC (or New York City). I designed and led a workshop with two other podcast hosts for The Podcast Academy, and I even did karaoke with some friends from my former a cappella singing group. I haven’t sung formally in years. I’m also going to be singing on a live Twitch stream with one of my friends pretty soon! That will be my first time on Twitch. It’s felt good to connect with people like this, while doing some new things and revisiting other things I haven’t done in a while.

How about you? How do you feel about belonging? Is it something you are still searching for, or have you recently found new places where you feel you really belong? Let me know what belonging means to you! Reach out to me on my social media or through my website at beyond6seconds.net/contact and let me know. I’d love to hear from you!

I hope you enjoy this special episode. I want to thank Pam for letting me share her episode on my show, and I encourage you to check out the Art Heals All Wounds podcast for other stories about how art is a catalyst for healing and change. Ok, here’s today’s episode.

Read the Art Heals All Wounds episode transcript.

Carolyn Kiel: Thanks for listening to Beyond 6 Seconds. Please help me spread the word about this podcast. Share it with a friend, give it a shout out on your social media, or write a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. You can find all of my episodes and sign up for my free newsletter at Beyond6seconds.net. Until next time.