Black x Multiple AuDHD x Creative Activist with Ben-Oní

*CORRECTION: Neuroexpansive is a term coined and trademarked by Ngozi Alston.

Episode Summary:

In this episode of What Happens In Between, I sit down with Ben-Oní, a neuroexpansive clinical psych doctoral student, orator, writer, and Black disability justice activist. Ben-Oní shares their experience as a Black Multiple AuDHD and how that translates into their Creative Activism. Join us on today’s episode as we explore what it means to be neuroexpansive, leading through a lens of beauty, and devoted to activism. 

Question of the Week: What is one thing that you want to make your descendants proud to say about you?

Topics Covered:

What it feels like to be in your own village or family as a multipleThe power of memory among Ben-Oní’s family, especially for friends and familyWhy Ben-Oní is pursuing a PhD in clinical psychologyHow academia interacts with Ben-Oní’s creative activismEssentialism, minimalism, and the role of beautyThe nuances of Black womanhoodHow the term BIPOC coalition builds and flattens experienceReal diversity means disagreeing with someone, or being disagreed with, and being OKThree questions for our Seedling Round 

Guest Info:

Connect with Ben-Oní on the Black Neurodiversity website and Instagram.

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Show Notes:

For Ben-Oní, being multiple means living within a family. Sometimes being part of his family requires surrender, but their goal isn’t to control or integrate their family as they accept their multiplicity exists to make them feel safe. 

Ben-Oní is committed to sharing resources and presence around neurodiversity, disability, and other spaces from their lived experience. Through Black Neurodiversity, she shares resources and trainings that center on intersectional neurodiversity and anti-ableism. Their aim is to give Black people their own space to dive into our unique experience with disability, neurodiversity, culture, ethnicity, and race to ensure our experience isn’t glossed over or minimized. In some ways, the right words to match the experience don’t even exist yet! 

Their academic work in clinical psychology supports an even deeper resourcing for Black Neurodiversity and their activism. Ben-Oní shares the importance of letting our work be impactful, informative, and meaningful while also infusing it with joy, humor, and beauty, especially beauty! We can be heavy and light. 

Join us on today’s episode as we explore what it means to be neuroexpansive, leading through a lens of beauty, and devoted to activism. 

Seedling Round:

Ben-Oní answers a few rapid-fire questions about their favorite thing they learned recently, their relationship to time, and why their lens as a Black, multiple AuDHD, and creative activist is a joyful space to inhabit. 

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