Abstract Stimming a Space explores stimming, neurodivergent self-regulation, as an access tool. The physical needs of neurodivergent individuals (grouping neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD, dyspraxia or autism), often navigating comorbidities, are usually not taken into consideration. Many neurodivergent artists struggle to maintain sustainable careers.
Stimming a Space draws from the emic perspective of a neurodivergent artist and embraces stimming not as a pathological or disruptive trait but as a natural form of self-expression. Stimming is the neurodivergent bodymind soothing itself in an overwhelming world, it is nervous system regulation drawing from embodied knowledge. Embracing stimming not just as a tool to feel better, but as a language and means of expression, Püschel proposes that exploring stimming can offer access to the accommodation of psychological as well as physical needs and therefore contribute to current efforts of institutions to become more inclusive. By exploring what is expressed and transmitted through stimming, and how it can form and facilitate community, this research aims to re-claim narratives away from stigmatized ableist projections on marginalized neurodivergent bodies towards the joyful and proud expression of neurodivergent culture. Drawing from her proposition that stimming is a radical gesture of selfcare, Püschel presents her concept of Neurodivergent Cosmology, dreaming a neurodivergent world as an alternative to the current late-stage capitalist environment that crushes able-bodied and disabled individuals alike. If we embrace different ways of moving through space, if we accept languages beyond words, what concepts for accessibility and inclusion come up, and what do these concepts offer to society as a whole? Püschel proposes to turn to the embodied knowledge of neurodivergent individuals to imagine an entirely different society, a utopian meditation on re-thinking and re-shaping concepts of living together.