Today FFBC interviewed Lisa Treece. Lisa along with her husband Jeremy Treece house their creative artwork under the name Crisishour and are based in Flint Michigan. She defines the term ‘neurodivergent’ in her own words, touches her on day to day life, the impact on her art, and the benefits of inclusive play for her and her family.

Can you inform our web-readers about Neurodivergent.
Maybe touch on your challenges and how it affects your life and in what ways.

 

My favorite definition of neurodivergent comes from Dr. Nick Walker, “Neurodivergent, sometimes abbreviated as ND, means having a brain that functions in ways that diverge significantly from the dominant societal standards of “normal.” Some well known types of neurodivergence include ADHD, autism, epilepsy, and dyslexia.

To me, neurodiversity indicates that an individual’s sensory perception is different from the norm. Physical touch may be generally intrusive rather than welcomed, harsh lights may cause anxiety, lots of excess information or external stimuli may cause an emotional storm or an emotional shutdown. There may be hyper-focus, or no focus at all. We may seem awkward socially, or be highly empathic.

One of the biggest challenges in our house is intrusive sound. Everyone in our house has headphones to help focus and drown out sounds that could potentially cause anxiety, emotional distress, or complete sensory overload and shutdown. Each of us also has very particular and set physical boundaries in regards to everything from hugs to arrangement of work-space.

Living with four neurodivergent persons under one roof might seem daunting, and the truth is that it definitely has its challenges- but more importantly, it has given us all a great deal of strength.

We are honest, hard working, dedicated, intuitive, intelligent, funny, and kind. I couldn’t ask for a better family.

Great reference : https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/clearing-up-some-misconceptions-about-neurodiversity/

Neurodiversity Definitions and Different Types

 

How does it impact your art?

 

Keeping on schedule can be very difficult. Our inconsistency with focus can mean many extended deadlines or an overwhelming number of projects.
Overbearing external stimuli can force us to walk away from something we truly want to be working on when we can no longer process all the information at once.

However, I believe our sensory perception has the biggest impact on art. How an artist perceives the world is how they figure out what to create from it.

Neurodivergence gives us the capability to experience the world differently. Some of the world’s favorite creatives like Carly Simon, Tim Burton, Justin Timberlake, or Dan Aykroyd- are also neurodivergent. We love and appreciate how they view the world and interact with it- it’s the exact thing that makes them so special.

 

Would inclusive play benefit you and your family?

 

Inclusive play and barrier free parks are definitely a benefit for the neurodivergent.

For our family, the sensory garden would have a big impact. The garden offers a semi-secluded place to find focus and engage all of our senses. Everyone in our brood can also become easily overwhelmed by large numbers of people, so having the capability to roam on the one-mile walking path is also a plus.

 

I would like you to add photos of your art and where a reader can purchase or see more of your artwork.

 

 


The comic related works of Jeremy and I can be found at – https://crisishour.net

Our personal and fine art work can be found through our Patreon pages.

Lisa’s Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/lisatreece

Jeremy’s Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/JeremyTreece