US Club Advocates for and Serves the Neurodiverse Community

By Lindsey Kundel, Director of Communications & Marketing

The upper school Neurodiversity Club recently held an officer outing pilot activity, serving a local group of adults with Down Syndrome as they worked together to make handmade soap. This club, founded by Patrick H. ('23) and Benjamin C. ('23), was founded in 2020 as a way for students to educate others about the importance of respecting neurodiverse individuals and to reduce the social stigma associated with various neurological differences and disorders. 

According to club co-president Benjamin, they thought it would be a good idea to start a school club to both help people with neurological disorders and to simply create a friendlier community for those at TAS and beyond.

For this recent club outing, Patrick and Ben were introduced to the organization known as Down Syndrome Association Taiwan by a common acquaintance. After reaching out to the organization, they were thrilled to find out that they were interested in partnering with the club to host activities that both the diagnosed patients and TAS classmates could participate in. 

"Our first outing involves making soaps that the organization actually sells in the market," said Ben. "This activity can help some individuals with Down Syndrome with their emotional regulation as it is a relaxing process."

The club's leadership thinks that this first outing was very successful and they look forward to planning future outings and advocacy.  

"There were a lot of smiles and laughter as everyone got along with each other instantly," said Patrick. "Our favorite moment is when we started presenting our work of soap to everyone, where we shared our experience and cracked a few jokes." 

It's important to both Patrick and Ben that people at TAS remember to include neurodiverse individuals when thinking about the school's overarching JEDI principles. "A common misconception about neurodiversity is that diversity means only gender or race," said Ben. "This misunderstanding is mostly due to the lack of knowledge about neurological disorders as neurodiversity is a fairly new term. Neurodiversity is the concept that developmental disorder in the brain causes a variation between people, and thus everyone should be respected and treated equally." 

The co-presidents hope that many TAS students and community members can join their club and club outings so that they can provide a safe and welcoming environment for any individuals to discuss their own neurodiversity and potential struggles. 

"Everyone in our club has personal experience with our own aspect of neurodiversity," said Ben. "We are open to talking about this with you and sharing our own lessons."
For more information about the TAS Neurodiversity Club, be sure to follow them on their website or social media.