Celine Lees-Raw. “The school is mainly aimed at those who fall into the circle, the neurotypicals.”

He had already started pink magazine, is intended for women with or in remission from breast cancer. Here is now the journalist Celine Lees-Rau in the field of “atypical profiles”, these famous “dys”, ADHD, HPI, which we denote by simplifying abbreviations, not always being able to clearly identify them, diagnose them and, above all, understand, explain
and getting people to accept their behavior is just… different.

Because parents of neuro-atypical children often spend years wandering, and because these children, who sometimes reach adulthood without a diagnosis, deserve an easier path in life, welcome to the magazine. Zebras & Co. offering them a place of honor and prominence.

Madame Figaro. According to the numbers, neurodiversity affects 15% of the population, children and adults combined. How would you define it?
Celine Lees-Raw. – It is not a disorder, rather, a different way of being in the world. It includes all “dys” people (dyslexic, dysorthographic, etc.), with or without ADHD (attention deficit disorder) with hyperactivity, HPI (high intellectual potential)… in total, more than 10 million French people suffer this way. That’s huge.

Why are you interested in this topic? ?
Finding the right placement for my “dys” son was a real hurdle, from diagnosis to school supervision. He was bullied and harassed at school and failed sixth grade. As 85% of schoolchildren are neurotypical, the institution is mainly aimed at those who fall into the circle. Others feel discredited. The question arises: what should we do with them, these atypicals? Should they be shoehorned into the frame, or should the frame be adjusted so that they finally feel represented?

How would you summarize your magazine’s editorial line?
It is a quarter aimed at these 10 million people who live outside the norm every day. A paper magazine, between a book and a news magazine. When the general press is interested in this population, it is often from a health perspective. Back Zebras & Co. it’s about offering journalism solutions with advice and insight to parents.

Why the choice of this title? Zebras & co. ?
We owe this name to the psychologist Jeanne Sio-Facini, who used it to qualify some special children with special needs, high potentials (HPIs). I appreciate this term more broadly. zebra refers to all different profiles. It also causes great tenderness.

Is it important to be able to identify with role models when you’re neurotypical?
In this first issue, we present a 3-star chef portrait, as judged by the jury best chef Glenn Wiel, who admits that his dyslexia has fueled his creativity; A report in New York shows how Mayor Eric Adams, the multi-dis, helped change the way we treat atypical people… I had the same thought at launch Rose magazine. Our readers needed to feel represented as a group. Because they become audible within the collective. This is also the challenge of this magazine, to compile the tool that creates the community. A way to be heard and recognized.

Zebras & co.the starting price is 10 euros, then 14 euros, in newsstands.