The Share Your Rare project is a collaboration between Dr Sam Chawner, a researcher at Cardiff University, and Phenotypica, an art and science initiative by scientist Ben Murray and artist Neus Torres Tamarit.

Share Your Rare, hoped to give the rare genetic condition community an opportunity to have their voices heard in society.

We asked people with lived experience of rare genetic conditions to share their stories and we covered themes such as: 

• mental health in genetic conditions
• the experiences of people with genetic conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Open to people living with a rare genetic condition, or researchers and health professionals with an interest in the area, we asked them to share their experiences through poetry and art.

Our goal was to find creative ways for people to express their relationship with rare genetic conditions from different perspectives.

We came up with two fun and interesting ways to tell your story.

• Writing - using our build-a-poem technique
• Drawing - share your story by putting pens or pencils to paper

Your Rare Stories is an activity which explores the diverse experiences of having, living, or working with rare genetic conditions.

Our goal was to channel your voices and stories to the wider community so that people can learn about rare genetic conditions from your experiences.

We did this through writing stories in the form of short poems, known as Cinquain poems. These are five-line poems that can be used to tell a story about just about anything, as you’ll

see!

Have a go

• More information about writing your poem

Submissions for our Share Your Rare project are now closed.

This activity is very simple. Express yourselves on paper!

We will provide you with topics; you just have to provide the materials.

Whether it's on paper or you'd like to create something on an iPad or computer, we'd like to see your interpretation of:

• Rare genetic conditions
• COVID-19 and lockdown

Have a go

• Submissions for the Share Your Rare project are now closed but if you'd like to try the exercise read more here. 

To contact the Share Your Rare team, email creativecomplexity@cardiff.ac.uk

The Share Your Rare project is funded by the Welcome Trust.

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