My Experience at the KWE! Festival

The Kwe Festival was an experience like no other.

From the moment we arrived, we were welcomed with genuine warmth and openness. A desire to share their traditions and knowledge with us. A few minutes in we had the chance of watching a Pow-wow performance, featuring drums and dancers. What stood out the most was the presence of children.

Alongside two adult dancers, a young child and another slightly older child both participate in the Pow-wow. This early moment reflects the inclusion of younger generations, and first hand view of how their knowledge is passed down through lived experiences.

Later in the day, we participated in an activity where we created our own dream sticks. I had no prior knowledge to what a dream stick was, but we were guided through the process. Particularly meaningful was when Stanley Vollant joined us and explained their significance as symbols of resilience, healing, and aspiration. He shared that holding these sticks represents the right to speak and to dream boldly, encouraging us to envision and pursue our goals.

The most impactful part of this activity was the process itself. As we created our dream sticks, we would talk with the people around us, observe their work and share our lived experiences naturally, which made this activity a powerful way of connecting and learning.

As a neurodivergent student who previously conducted research on access to education for

neurodivergent people in Canada, I took this opportunity to explore how neurodiversity is understood in indigenous communities.

During the festival, I met Noah Goupil, who has autism and shared with me their personal experiences.

The situation was a bit different here as they described living in a space where their needs were sometimes overlooked because they were not perceived as autistic enough to qualify for certain services. These ongoing challenges of recognition mixed with access to support made it really difficult.

Through this conversation, I gained insight into the reality of awareness of neurodiversity within the Indigenous communities. I understood that each community is different in terms of their level of comprehension, and each individual as well, some being willing to talk about it and some completely disregarding it. In many cases, understanding is similar to that in non-indigenous communities, where knowledge is often shaped by personal experience rather than passed down knowledge from generations. Noah shared stories about how family members, specifically the mother, had to do research to fully grasp what autism really was and what it entailed. I also shared the story of a mother of an autistic child who’s been going into different communities to share information about neurodiversity to create more understanding around the subject.This experience offered valuable insights. The sense of welcome and willingness to share culture and knowledge was deeply meaningful. At the same time, I also understood that there is still work to be done within the communities to increase awareness and support for neurodiversity.