When the system fails us, we still got us

Peer solidarity is at the forefront of our community's resilience

Author

NEUROMANCERS CIC
April 25, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

The news about the cuts in disability benefits are nothing short of overwhelming and confusing. As uncertainty builds up for those of us who rely on financial support like the Personal Independent Payment (PIP), mutual-aid alternatives provide hope. The possibilities that of Peer Solidarity offers can look like:

❤️‍🩹 Building support networks to meet immediate needs: food shares, transport help, or emergency funds.
💰 Crowdfunding for those at risk.
🫂 Joining a peer support group.
🧠 Trading skills i.e. benefit form help, budget coaching, etc.

Every act of solidarity chips away at isolation.

We will care for each other, as we have always done it.💞 

NEUROMANCERS Day took place on February 22nd, and it was absolutely brilliant. We saw this day as a practice in Peer Solidarity as we explore what it means to be neurodivergent+ and create autonomous, abolitionist, and accessible mental health care. We dreamed, we created, and we celebrated through:

💥 Workshops
📢 Open Mic Speakers
🧠 Peer-Led Discussion
😋 Vegan Food & Drink
✨ ️Stalls, and the best of all:
❤️‍🔥 Community Vibes

Thank you to all for your attendance and donations! And a very 🧠NEUROMANTIC 💖 hug to our partners (in no particular order):

We also offered 2 workshops, Creative Writing (a collab with @theanimaprint) and How to NEUROMANCE; here’s what our attendees felt about them:

The workshop provided opportunity and prompts to write and share without feeling pressured. I haven’t written a poem in years, and I used to write regularly, so this was really powerful. I loved hearing others’ poetry, and talking about writing as well. This was truly uplifting, inspiring, and special, I’m so very grateful.

- Creative Writing Workshop Attendee

[I’ve been]feeling v (sic) brainfoggy but I thought it was a really good introduction to poetry which made the form feel a lot more accessible to me. I learned both new writing and reading skills and felt encouraged to continue with my practice in my own time.

- Creative Writing Workshop Attendee

INTRODUCING THE NEUROMANCERS
MEMBERSHIP COMMUNITY

The online world can be full of divisive and discriminatory people and practices. However, the internet is also a vital space that so many of us rely on. This is why we created the NEUROMANCERS membership community. Our offering is an international online community that prioritises care over content, friends over followers, and no ads, algorithms, or repression.

Starting at £10, with the NEUROMANCERS Membership, you will access:

💞Community Platform: An international, digital community available 24/7, ready to support you. As a member, you’ll get to help our community evolve and create the change you want to see in the world.

🎟️Exclusive Online Events: Including body-doubling and check-in sessions every week AND featured live workshops.

📚Library of Resources: Articles, essays, workbooks, worksheets, and a collection of exclusive workshops from leaders in the neurodivergent+ community.

❤️‍🩹Care Programs: Peer Solidarity Groups, Peer Solidarity Pairs, and so much more! ​

Not only will you have access to our invaluable community and all the perks, events, resources, and programs that come with it, but your membership helps sustain our work.🥹

Click on the button below to learn more and join:

ONLINE WORKSHOP
Non-Linear Poetry: Intersecting Identities

This workshop will introduce you to non-linear poetry and give you tools and guidance in creating your works. Throughout the workshop, we will explore how to delineate our writing to create works that break beyond the bounds of traditional writing and embrace alternative ways of thinking, writing, and being. This workshop will focus on each poet considering the idea of identity and community, and will encourage participants to explore these through creating a work of non-linear poetry.

Non-linear poetry follows multiple paths and is not defined by a singular start or end. It embraces complexity and alternative possibilities, and can be created to mirror neurodivergent thinking.

About the Facilitator

Jessssi (also known as nya) is a neurodivergent artist and poet. They are passionate about reclaiming mental health care as a tool for liberation, and have developed their own art and poetry practice to support them as they navigate the world. They work with a circular practice of art, poetry, music, and movement, and like to explore ways to break beyond the constraints of each by combining forms.

Workshop details

Date: Friday, May 23rd, 2025

Time: 6 PM to 9 PM BST

Place: Online (Webex) - A recording will be available to members for a limited time only 😉 

We’re proud to feature the Survivors Leading Essential Education and Care (SLEEC), a survivor-run organisation that changes conversations, supports survivors and dismantles the roots of male violence.

Through their School of Care, Liberation & Disruption (SOCLD), SLEEC seeks to find better ways for liberatory recovery, action and collective care.

Bulking Up on Better Conversations on April 28th, 2025
Training in how to talk about misogyny, male violence, and sexism with young men and boys when they are shutting down or getting defensive.

Slut Consent on April 30th, 2025
Explore addressing and interrupting power dynamics within sex and sexual intimacy and look at communication for embodied pleasure.

Kink as a Vessel for Grief on May 22nd, 2025
A collective space to speak to grief as a companion through the body, acknowledging the challenges and choosing to sit together in compassion.