Fi Bailey

Reserving a place on the spectrum

Artist, writer and coach, Fi grew up in the 80’s alongside a parent specialising in autism, while autism had yet to emerge in popular culture.

Fi has the typical “spiky profile” of a late-diagnosed autistic. In the gaps between occasional success and epic failures, her biggest achievement is hanging onto her sensitivity and creativity.

It was the people she met throughout her gradual exclusion from education, and long stays in the mental health system before the age of twenty that shaped her career in nursing, counselling, and later, coaching.

Fi has developed expertise in group facilitation, using her outsider’s perspective. The insight from her clinical roles over the last 25 years has helped her design creative ways of improving mental health through writing, as Write To Be Known.

Fi’s art and writing practice explores the ways we experience public spaces, inviting us to pay attention to overlooked detail. Her interest in medical humanities and institutions has developed into projects such as Through An Open Door, (August 2020- August 2021). A short film on a series of walks, funded by Creative Scotland, will extend Fi's work with mental health archives.

Speaking on the monthly theme of Spectrum Fi will challenge the assumption that lingers today that - we’re neurotypical until proven otherwise – and explore the impact this has on creativity and identity.

Photo credit Chris Dooks