SWANSEA: One in five people are neurodivergent — but just 31% are in work. A Mount Pleasant project just got £20,000 to change that.

A Swansea project helping neurodiverse people find work and connect with others has secured £20,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund — money its founder says will reach people who have been falling through the gaps for years.

Neurokindinclusion, based in Mount Pleasant, runs a project called Grow to Glow. The idea is simple: bring neurodiverse people together, help them recognise their strengths, build their confidence and find jobs that actually suit them.

The need is real. Just 31% of people with a neurodiversity condition are in employment — compared to 54.7% of disabled people overall. A Swansea University study from 2023 found neurodiverse people were four times more likely to be lonely than those who are neurotypical.

And awareness alone is not fixing it. According to the City and Guilds Foundation’s 2026 Neurodiversity Index, the gap between what employers think they’re doing and what neurodivergent workers actually experience has got wider — not narrower. Slower support, less psychological safety, more microaggressions.

Part of the problem is scale. Research published by neurodiversity consultancy NeuroBridge in January 2026 estimates around one in five people are neurodivergent. Many employers think the number is far lower — because most people don’t disclose their condition at work, for fear of how it will land. The result, NeuroBridge found, is burnout, high staff turnover and wasted talent.

It is against that backdrop that this week also saw the Swansea Pottery Collective open its doors on Alexandra Road — another National Lottery-funded community project in the city. The challenges Neurokindinclusion is tackling are different, but the underlying gap is the same: not enough accessible, affordable, supportive spaces for people who need them.

Emma Snell, the organisation’s CEO, knows that gap first-hand. Before setting up Neurokindinclusion, she worked in recruitment — and watched the same pattern play out time and again. Neurodiverse candidates, often with real talent, not getting the right support to find roles that played to their strengths.

“Working in recruitment helped me understand the barriers people face in getting work and how supporting them can bring out brilliant results,” she said. “There is still a huge lack of accessible, supportive spaces for people who feel misunderstood, isolated or overlooked.”

Many of those Neurokindinclusion works with have never felt accepted in mainstream environments, Snell said. Grow to Glow is designed to change that — somewhere people can develop at their own pace, without judgement.

The loneliness challenge sits alongside the employment one. Efforts to tackle isolation across Swansea — from the city’s Men’s Shed network to employment support for veterans in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot — show how high the demand for that kind of community is. For neurodiverse people, the Swansea University research suggests, the problem is four times worse.

The £20,000 will go towards more support sessions, better resources and improved accessibility — so that cost stops being a barrier to people who need help most.

“We hope to continue helping people build friendships, discover strengths and feel more hopeful about their future,” Snell said.

Long-term, Snell wants Grow to Glow to become a recognised community project — one that genuinely changes outcomes for neurodiverse people across Swansea, not just a short-term fix.

Snell has already been nominated for her work in the field at the National Diversity Awards — a sign, she hopes, that the wider world is starting to pay attention to a challenge that has been overlooked for too long.

Anyone wanting to find out more about Neurokindinclusion and the Grow to Glow project can get in touch via the organisation’s social media channels.

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SWANSEA: Three arrested in dawn raids targeting organised crime network

Three people have been arrested in Swansea following dawn raids carried out by officers targeting organised crime.

South Wales Police’s organised crime team, supported by specialist officers, executed three warrants this morning as part of the operation.

A 24-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman from Mount Pleasant were among those arrested.

A 49-year-old woman from Townhill was also arrested.

All three remain in police custody.

South Wales Police said tackling organised crime was a priority for the force.

The operation was carried out by the force’s specialist organised crime team, which focuses on disrupting criminal networks across the region.

South Wales Police said: “Dawn raids by the Swansea organised crime team and specialist officers have seen three warrants executed and three people arrested in connection with organised crime.”

The force added it would continue to be “relentless in our pursuit of criminals to protect communities from harm.”

No details have been released about the nature of the organised crime being investigated.

Investigations are ongoing.

Mount Pleasant and Townhill have featured repeatedly in South Wales Police’s organised crime investigations.

A Mount Pleasant man was among four jailed for county lines drug dealing after a vehicle was stopped in Gors Avenue, while a Mount Pleasant woman received a suspended sentence as part of the ‘Scouse Ryan’ county lines operation running drugs between Liverpool and Swansea.

A Mount Pleasant resident was also convicted as an associate of a major south-west Wales drug gang that was found to possess a firearm, cocaine and cannabis.

Anyone with information about organised crime in their area is urged to contact South Wales Police on 101.

Reports can also be made anonymously via Crimestoppers online or by calling 0800 555 111.

If someone is in immediate danger or a crime is taking place, dial 999.

Community comes together as Mount Pleasant Food Forest takes root

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) — Volunteers in Mount Pleasant spent Sunday planting the town’s first food forest, a project leaders say will provide fresh produce, create community connections and grow i…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #Food #blueberries #foodforest #MountPleasant #oranges #plums #r.l.jonesrecreationcenter #root
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2606645/community-comes-together-as-mount-pleasant-food-forest-takes-root/

‘I told them she was nine months pregnant and she might die’ — Swansea mum gives birth in A&E during cardiac emergency

Alanna Rooke was almost 40 weeks pregnant when she suffered a seizure at her home in Mount Pleasant, Swansea. Her husband Simon called 999 but, fearing she couldn’t wait for an ambulance, drove her straight to Morriston himself.

When she arrived at the emergency department, Alanna was found to be experiencing supraventricular tachycardia — a condition that causes the heart to beat dangerously fast. Her heart was beating at over 200 times a minute, more than twice the normal rate, while her oxygen levels had plummeted to just 80%, well below the safe threshold.

Simon described the terrifying journey to hospital. “I called 999 and probably lost my cool a little bit. I was asked if I could take her pulse but she was shaking so much I couldn’t,” he said. “I told them she was nine months pregnant and she might die. She was on the floor being sick. I was thinking ‘this can’t be happening?’”

Two midwives were urgently summoned from Neath Port Talbot Hospital to assist the ED team. It quickly became clear that Alanna was not only critically ill — she was also in labour.

Community midwife Amanda Morgan described the moment they realised the full scale of what they were dealing with. “She was very clammy and disorientated and she was acutely unwell,” she said. “We were concerned she would arrest because the heart is under the most strain when the mother is in labour.”

Despite the extraordinary circumstances, baby Franklyn arrived safely, weighing a healthy 8lb 2oz. Community midwife manager Claire Itzstein, who helped deliver him, said it was one of the most challenging situations she had encountered in years of practice. “It was very surreal to be delivering a baby next to a defibrillator,” she said. “We were definitely out of our comfort zone.”

Alanna was treated for the SVT during and after the birth. She says she has no doubt she owes her life to the staff who cared for her. “I didn’t realise how bad I was until I was seen by the doctors,” she said. “I don’t think I would be here without them or the midwives. They were all so professional.”

Babies have not been routinely born at Morriston Hospital for more than 30 years — maternity services moved to Singleton Hospital in 1991. Since then there have been just two unexpected births at Morriston since 2014, with the last one also taking place in the ED eight years ago.

Franklyn was later transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit at Singleton Hospital, where he spent six days before being allowed home with his relieved family.

Director of Midwifery Kathryn Greaves said the birth was a testament to the teamwork between ED and maternity staff. “I will be forever grateful of how the ED staff allowed us to take over and support this wonderful family,” she said. “It made my day to be beside Claire and Amanda who were incredible.”

Alanna has said she had no history of serious heart problems before the episode. “I’d never had any issues with my heart before, apart from the odd palpitation I put down to exercise,” she said. “I blacked out in the car so I don’t remember much, but I was sick and in pain in the house, and my chest was tight.”

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