Neurodiversity Community Center nonprofit founders Dan Carmeli and Renee Boos want to challenge the idea that there’s a “normal” way to perceive the world.
As a result, they created the center, at 100 W. Cleveland St. in Lafayette, to become a place where people can find themselves. The nonprofit will host a block party 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 18 on South Public Road, between Cannon Street and Simpson Street, to celebrate the grand opening. The party will include a variety of lawn games, craft projects and sensory activities.
Carmeli, executive director and co-founder of the center, said neurodiversity just means everyone’s brains work differently. He said the world is designed to align with a “typical” person’s perception and social constructs. This may not align to another person’s world, causing them to struggle.
“The reason people struggle is that they happen to be the ones for which the environment is misaligned,” Carmeli said.
Carmeli acknowledges that currently, common language is described as either neurotypical, neurodivergent or autistic. While people can use whatever language they want to describe themselves, he does not agree with the dichotomy those words create.
The community center is a place to simply be oneself, Carmeli said. Oftentimes places designed to embrace neurodiversity are focused on offering therapy or “fixing problems.” He wants to ensure there is a place for people to just be themselves and not worry about self-improvement.
“The perspective we’re taking is that we’re all enough already,” Carmeli said.
The center isn’t there to focus on goals, interventions or agenda. It’s simply a place to find connection, belonging, identity and have fun.
Boos, co-founder and head of programming, said neurodiversity is framed as a term that relates to a disability, a difference, or being “against the norm.” But she wants to challenge the idea of there even being a norm.
She said there is a lot of pressure to be normal, and it is often viewed as a problem to be fixed when someone acts outside of that view.
At the center, “you’re in a space where you can be yourself and be with others, and find alignment in that vulnerable expression of your true nature,” Boos said.
She said in recent years, people are embracing themselves, others’ perceptions of the world and neurodiversity. She said people can have a hard time accepting themselves or others when they do not fit into the normal, but acceptance can bring an ease to life.
Boos said it is bittersweet when meeting someone who can speak about the struggle to love themselves and their perception of the world but be able to come out on the other side and help others love themselves, too.
“For me, it was becoming truly who I was meant to be and the beauty in that and the freedom. I want to pay that forward,” Boos said.
“Masking” is a term commonly used in the autistic world, meaning to pretend to be someone you are not. Carmeli said everyone can relate to masking, as people all act a certain way based on their environment.
However, Carmeli said, some people are constantly masking, which can be exhausting and can cause people to lose a sense of identity. He hopes the center can be a place where people can unmask and find their true identity.
Carmeli describes the center as a home away from home, with most of the day being unstructured for people to play games, craft, hang out or just find connection with others.
Carmeli and Boos independently had the idea to create a neurodiversity community center, and were connected by a mutual friend. Boos said when they met for the first time, their visions for the center were so aligned they knew they had to partner up to make it a reality. She said the entire point of the center is to forge community and connections, and having a partnership to create that vision was perfect.
The center is anticipating to open in June, and will offer paid memberships to use the space as well as opportunities for drop-in visits and events.
More information is available at neurodiversitycc.org.
