Screaming Underwater: Women Who Thrive

By Niika Daria

Sometimes life isn’t a given. For some people, life feels like nothing more than a series of hurdles set impossibly high.

Amongst all of today’s hot-topic conversations, nobody seems to be talking about neurodiverse women and how their unique experience affects their engagement with mainstream life. What’s it like to juggle a business and kids while having ADD? How does PTSD and trauma affect performance in the workplace? With the realisation that we can’t hear the voices of these underrepresented women, I decided to act.

I’ve experienced frustration, confusion, and displacement from society. Growing up in an oppressive immigrant family, I was taught that a girl is valued for obedience and silence. My voice didn’t matter, nobody was listening.

At school, I felt a divide between myself and my peers. I didn’t fit seamlessly into the mainstream as so many others appeared to do, and that was alienating. My displacement sparked a deep empathy within me which drew me to other people that society considered ‘different’.

I spent countless lunchtimes sitting with my childhood best-friend, Ruth, helping to improve her reading. Ruth’s Down syndrome set her apart from other kids who could never understand her experience. I remember feeling frustrated because people couldn’t see how much she had to offer!

So many of us feel dismissed and excluded from society because of some difference that sets us apart. It’s easy to think there’s no place for us, especially when society just pops you in the corner.

But there is a place. At the end of the day, we all have the power to slam our fist down on the table and demand change. We don’t need to meekly accept our situation; we can find our voice and turn it up!

This point of reckoning, the catalyst for change, was the inspiration behind Screaming Underwater. I want to amplify the voices of women who have hit this point, then used the momentum to carve out their own place.

The way I see it, there are two options in life: sink or swim. Clichéd, perhaps, but no less true! Screaming Underwater features women who have been dumped repeatedly by waves of oppression. They’ve been impeded by obstacles that society has set up for them. Finally, they’ve slammed down their fists and demanded change. Because sometimes we can’t do life the way society expects us to.

So, what then? What happens when we say ‘enough’? We either sink, or we swim. My documentary explores how deliberate and active changes can result in an entirely new life course.

These women are powerful examples of how anyone can take back their power and create success. Their stories have inspired me and many others, and I want people watching this to know that they too can demand change in their lives.

Even in today’s world, society struggles to accept that neurodiverse people are not limited in their potential to succeed. I find this idea infuriating, so I created the documentary to show that success and neurodiversity can coexist. To show people that they don’t have to kneel and submit to society’s demands. To prove that, no matter how impossible the situation may seem, we all have the power to ignite change and demand more from life.

This documentary follows stories of women who had their voices silenced because they didn’t fit the social mould. But when society refused them space, these women chose to carve out a place for themselves.

Screaming Underwater isn’t simply a recount of women who survive; it’s a story of women who thrive.

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