When a certain Melbourne lit mag announced on twitter it was going to do an Australian neurodiverse anthology there was a cheer of excitement amongst the ND community on twitter. Until someone noticed a slight caveat.
“A formal diagnosis of neurodiversity is required for submission.”
The outrage that flooded the community was absolute outrage and horror.
And rightly so.
Getting a formal diagnosis in Australia is hard. Really hard. You can be waiting in the UK for twelve weeks to know what the hell is wrong with your brain. In Australia you will wait a minimum of a year – and that’s only if you are able to afford the expensive appointments needed to get that diagnosis.
I was fortunate enough to get my diagnosis almost ten years ago during one of the worst mental health breakdowns of my life. It helped, but it hurt a lot too. But one of the greatest balms was knowing what was “wrong” with me, and that it wasn’t wrong at all.
The soul crushing dissmissal of this lit mag bespoke of every kind of hurtful thing anyone has ever done to someone who is undiagnosed. I’ve spoken about it at length. Loudly.
So when Deadset Press announced it wanted to do an anthology I was on board.
A quick twitter interaction later and we had a plan; an Aussie/Kiwi neurodiverse anthology about being neurodivergent during the most trying of times – an apocalypse. The submission guidelines are here and we want your short stories on neurodiverse characters surviving an apocalypse.
No diagnosis required.
E. J. Dawson 