What is Neurodiversity and What is Neurodivergent?
Chicago Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapist Discusses What is Neurodiversity and What is Neurodivergent Therapy?
Social and cultural awareness has continued to evolve over time. More than ever, people are noticing and discussing individual similarities and differences. They are also questioning how and why these differences are viewed as good or bad, or provide advantages or challenges within society.
In recent years, these discussions have expanded beyond gender, culture, race, and class, to include other factors that contribute to opportunity and oppression in society, including differences in brain wiring.
What is Neurodiversity?
Neurodiversity is the idea that all brains are different in various ways.
Like biodiversity in all forms of life, neurodiversity refers to normal genetic differences across the range of ways that a brain and nervous system can be wired. Neurodiversity is not a defect to be changed or a problem to be fixed. A red tulip is just not a yellow tulip.
Autistic Australian sociologist, Judy Singer, created the term neurodiversity in 1998 to help explore the idea that brains are not all made the same, and that this represents normal genetic diversity (1). The word neuro means relating to the nervous system; the brain, spinal cord, and network of nerves that run through the body. Diversity means variety.
Diversity in brain wiring results in differences in any or all areas of functioning of the brain. These can include how people take in and process information; learn; communicate; socialize; move; and generally behave.
What is Neurotypical and What is Neurodivergent?
Neurodivergent refers to a person or collection of people whose brains work in ways that are unique enough to stand out, or diverge, from the “typical” neuro majority group.
The term neurodivergent was coined by multiply-neurodivergent activist Kassiane Asasumasu. Neurodivergent people think, move, and otherwise behave differently than what society expects from the prototypical, or “standard factory model,” of human, known as neurotypical or as the neuro majority.
What is Considered Neurodivergent?
Since neurodiversity refers to the endless variety of neurotypes, how is it decided which are “typical” and which are “divergent?”
The answer to this question is subjective and fluid. Cultural and diagnostic standards vary across time, locations, and situations. What was once considered an abnormal way of functioning may change over time and become the social norm. Behaviors that are viewed as unusual in one culture may be typical in others. Evolutionary factors may influence genetic diversity to shift today's “neuro majority” into tomorrow's “neuro minority.” Accordingly, there is no way to objectively say what is neurotypical or neurodivergent.
Neurodivergence is brain wiring considered to be unique enough from the “typical” or majority wiring to be experienced as different from the socially expected ways for a person to move, think, talk, learn, sense, or otherwise behave. Neurotypes such as autistic, ADHD, AuDHD, twice exceptional (2e), gifted, anxiety, depression, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and other brain differences are currently generally considered to be neurodivergent.
Who Decides Who is Neurodivergent?
That is the technical answer. The practical response is that neurodivergent is often the label assigned by the “typical” neuro majority to a person or group of people whose neurotype seems different from what society expects. Their “brain-wired” way of speaking, moving, communicating, learning, or relating to others or to the world is not what is considered standard by the majority, and often may not be familiar or comfortable to them.
Those who are perceived to be enough like most others are grouped as neurotypical. Those who appear different enough to set them apart are organized into neurodivergent categories clustered by the ways in which their differences are expressed.
These differences may stand out in a way that is admired in society, such as for some intellectually or creatively gifted individuals. More often, however, these differences are seen by the neuro majority in ways that are viewed as problems in need of being fixed or supported so that they will stop being burden to others or a barrier to the individual.
To the neuro minority, neurodivergent is a label that may be claimed as an identity that acknowledges the scope and validity of their unique brain wiring. The neurodivergent label and identity may also be used to recognize the challenges that they may face with associated disabilities or with navigating a society that is not built to accommodate their needs.
Neurodivergent Examples
When the term neurodivergent is used today, it is often used to refer to autistic people exclusively, which represents an overly narrow view. Autism is a type of neurodivergence, but there are many people who are allistic, or not autistic, but who are included under the neurodivergent label.
ADHDers, gifted, and twice-exceptional people are also grouped under the umbrella of neurodivergence. Learning and motor differences such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia, and hyperlexia; epilepsy; tic disorders such as Tourette’s; and neurological differences affecting mental health such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and even anxiety or depression may all be considered to be examples of neurodivergence.
Additionally, many people are multiply neurodivergent. This means that they have more than one brain difference, such as an intellectually gifted, dyslexic, autistic, ADHDer (AuDHD).
Am I Neurodivergent, and Can Neurodivergent Therapy Help Me?
It is not always easy to know if you are neurodivergent if you have not had access to specific diagnostic evaluations or to good information about neurodiversity and neurotypes. If previous experiences with professionals left you feeling misunderstood or unheard, you may doubt your understanding of your own neurotype. If you wonder or suspect that you might be neurodivergent, but are not sure, therapy with a neurodiversity-affirming therapist can be a safe place to explore these questions and discuss ways in which neurodivergence may have affected you.
Neurodiversity-affirming therapy is aimed at understanding one’s neurotype and the factors that impact their strengths and struggles in order to support healthy growth. Trying to teach a succulent to become a tulip will not work. Treating a succulent like a tulip and expecting it to thrive will result in a lot of unnecessary struggle. Valuing the unique beauty and meeting the different needs of the succulent can help it thrive and figure out ways to navigate or negotiate sub-optimal growing conditions as needed with minimal negative impact.
Neurodivergence does not require any therapy to change aspects of a neurodivergent person to appear more neurotypical, and significant research suggests that such therapies can be quite harmful (2, 3, 4). Because neurodivergence is a reflection of the way that a brain is wired, symptoms of neurodivergence represent a difference, not a defect, and cannot be “fixed.”
Being neurodivergent in systems or relationships that do not always understand, value, accommodate, stimulate, or support the way that a person’s brain is wired can present significant challenges, and can be oppressive and disabling. People who struggle with difficulties in their lives or relationships that are related to their neurotype may benefit from neurodiversity-affirming therapy. This can help give opportunities to explore and address these issues in ways that are identity-affirming and support effective functioning that aligns with the person’s interests, values, and goals, rather than striving to change who or how the person is.
Neurodivergent Therapy Online From a Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapist
Contact me for a free 15-minute phone consultation if you are seeking neurodiversity-affirming therapy support to explore your neurotype, build an affirming neurodivergent identity, or to address anxiety, stress, burnout, or trauma that you may have experienced through your personal journey as an autistic, ADHDer, or otherwise neurodivergent person in a less-affirming, neurotypical world.
Shore Therapy is also committed to neuroaffirming therapy for parents or caregivers of neurodivergent people. If you have struggled with your own anxiety, stress, burnout, or trauma from trying to support your kid in a society that has not adequately understood or addressed their needs, neurodiversity-affirming therapy can be helpful for you too. Parents of kids with high support needs can learn ways to build a better relationship and care for your loved one in a more affirming way and with greater ease. I provide affirming therapy for marginalized adults including affirmative LGBT and neurodiversity affirming therapy; therapy for parent burnout and caregiver burnout; therapy for trauma and PTSD; EMDR therapy; and online therapy to support the needs of people in over 35 states across the U.S.
Meet Judy singer Neurodiversity Pioneer. My Spectrum Suite. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2023, from http://www.myspectrumsuite.com/meet-judy-singer/
Cage, E., Di Monaco, J., & Newell, V. (2017). Experiences of autism acceptance and Mental Health in Autistic Adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(2), 473–484. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3342-7
Gardiner F. (2017). First-hand perspectives on behavioral interventions for autistic people and people with other developmental disabilities (Research Report). Office of Developmental Primary Care Department of Family and Community Medicine University of California. https://autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/First-Hand-Perspectives-on-Behavioral-Interventions-for-Autistic-People-and-People-with-other-Developmental-Disabilities.pdf
Kupferstein, H. (2018), Evidence of increased PTSD symptoms in autistics exposed to applied behavior analysis. Advances in Autism, 4(1), 19-29. https://doi.org/10.1108/AIA-08-2017-0016
