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Article By Elke Stevens
The power of storytelling
Stories often contain valuable life lessons for us and for others. They can offer insights that we can apply to our own lives.
They can provide hope and inspiration. Hearing about others who have overcome adversity can give us something to believe in and reflect on our own ability to overcome challenges, or at least to connect to others with similar stories and be strong in numbers. And let’s not forget the power of telling our stories, so they no longer take up space or live rent-free in our minds because of fear, whatever that fear may be.
When we tell or express our stories/our experience, we allow ourselves to connect with others, and others get the opportunity to connect to us. It fosters empathy and understanding when we connect through storytelling “in whatever form”: music, visual art, poetry, sound, dance- whatever you choose. You invite others to new perspectives; people can see things from a different angle.
Telling the stories of our lives means sharing our wisdom and insights. These stories speak of our challenges, but they can also be tales of triumph. Myths can warn us; stories connect us, evoke emotion, stir passion and aspiration, and help us to heal.
It is time to take our stories out of the dusty cupboard; they have been locked away for far too long.
We would love to hear your story. If you have an experience, memory, or piece of wisdom you feel ready to share, I warmly invite you to connect with us. Your story can take any form that feels right: written words, poetry, music, visual art, sound or movement.
If you are unsure what to share, or how to express your neurodiverse identity and experiences of living in the Orkney Islands, please reach out to us and we can have a chat.
I am very aware that sharing your story publicly may feel too exposing or could leave you in a vulnerable position, so I am offering the option to share anonymously.
You will find a new tab on the website with guidance and a link to the Google Form.
Together, we can bring these stories into the light, connect with one another and remind each other that none of us is alone.
selkiesoforkney@gmail.com
Article By Elke Stevens
2 Changes to the Website. To the Questionnaire, and Then There is the Book…
A little change to the questionnaires
At the moment, there is some overlap between them, so I’m going to take one offline and bring the interesting parts together into one questionnaire.
However, something has changed since I
first started Selkies!
Selkies of Orkney began very much from a place: Orkney, its landscape, its communities and the experience of being a neurodivergent adult here.
But the Selkies have started travelling.
People are finding the project from outside Orkney, and even outside the UK. That has made me curious about what happens when we allow those voices into the conversation too.
So I’m going to create a version of the questionnaire that people living outside Orkney and outside the UK can complete.
The heart of Selkies is Orkney.
That isn’t changing. But perhaps there is something interesting to discover by looking at the similarities and differences between neurodivergent lives in different places.
It also shows how important the Selkies are for a growing community of neurodivergent women worldwide, and the need to connect and be understood, and also how well the Selkie Myth has already travelled.
And then there is the creative project…
I have created a small set of questions specifically for the creative project.
These will be for neurodivergent women who have experience of living in Orkney. I’m interested in the everyday things that don’t always appear in statistics or official reports: what it is actually like to live here, find your place, navigate the island, experience community, services, isolation, belonging and all the little things that can make life here different when your brain doesn’t quite fit the expected mould.
You will be able to contribute anonymously or leave your contact details if you would like to be contacted about your contribution. You can keep authorship or not.
People will know how their words will be used, and people will get the chance to check the end product before it is displayed or published, if they wish.
The Selkies are beginning to find each other. Now let’s tell and show how Selkies experience the world by creating something beautiful, messy and honest
Let’s create some healthy curiosity, show them our selkies skin that has been hidden for so long.
Elke T.B. Stevens 08.09.2026
Selkies Of Orkney 