All Kinds of Minds: A Neurodiversity Pride Song
A few years back when I was teaching elementary music, my colleague who taught special education asked me whether there was a song that her class could sing to go along with the book The Girl Who Thought In Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin by Julia Finley Mosca, illustrated by Daniel Rieley, for the school’s Women’s History Month showcase. Although many within the Autistic community now consider some of Dr. Grandin’s views to be controversial, there is no doubt that her advocacy has been powerful. There was no such song that I could find, so I wrote one!
The lyrics are a rallying cry, based on quotes from the book that have become core tenets of the neurodiversity movement. I hoped that the song would empower our students to believe in themselves and become self-advocates:
The world needs all kinds of minds,
It needs yours and it needs mine
Hear us when we say we are different, not less
We all have something that we do best
Although I intended to translate the song into ASL, the students’ motor skills necessitated simpler accompanying gestures:
Line 1: Tap head with pointer fingers
Line 2: Point to audience, then point to self with thumbs
Line 3: Hands around mouth in a calling/amplifying shape
Line 4: Thumbs up, pulsed to the beat
The year after I left that school to finish my doctorate, I returned one day for a visit. I could hardly hold in my tears of pride and joy when two students from that class greeted me with a spontaneous performance of this very song.
Flash forward to today, and I have just finished teaching a college course on music and activism, where my undergraduate students studied how protest songs have served as a powerful unifier of people and weapon against injustice throughout every historical human rights movement. We now find ourselves in a time of uncertainty, fear, and a rising tide of -isms, including ableism. Although concrete actions are needed, we cannot underestimate the power of songs to help us gather our emotional reserves, communicate important messages, and unify our community.
I give you this song in the hopes that you can use it for these purposes, whether it be for yourself or for students. The melody and chords are purposely simple. I welcome you to expand upon it, remix it, and perform it in any way you choose. I only ask that you share how you use it with the Neurodivergent Music Education community, whether through a comment on this blog post, in the Facebook Group, or by emailing me so we can appreciate and become inspired by its reach.
Click here to download the sheet music for “All Kinds of Minds: A Neurodiversity Pride Song”