As a child, I was frequently scolded for zoning out in class, interrupting conversations and losing just about everything I owned. It wasn’t until adulthood, when I was diagnosed with ADHD, that these “bad habits” began to make sense.
The idea that my brain is wired differently is the foundation of neurodiversity, a relatively new framework for understanding neurodevelopmental conditions like ADHD and autism. “Neurodiversity reflects an awareness that, across humanity, we have many different ways of perceiving and relating to the world that reflect differences in our brain development and brain function,” says at Duke University in North Carolina.
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Instead of viewing these differences as problems to be fixed, a neurodiverse approach aims to embrace them, she says.
That seems clear enough. But the concept of neurodiversity has been a source of debate in recent years, particularly in terms of what it means for psychiatrists and neuroscientists, who have long thought in terms of neurodevelopmental “disorders”, and the people they are seeking to help.
“Some people take it that the neurodiversity paradigm is against the medical paradigm,” says , a psychiatrist at Cardiff University in the UK. “What I have argued in several papers is that
What is neurodiversity?
To start from the beginning, the term “neurodiverse” was first coined in the late 1990s by sociologist Judy Singer, who used it when describing people with autism who had no intellectual impairments but struggled with relating to others or had repetitive behaviours.
The idea was to view autism as a difference, rather than as a disease or disorder, says Thapar. It also emphasised the many strengths that can come with autism, such as high levels of creativity, an intense focus on special interests or out-of-the-box thinking.
And it seems to have brought positive outcomes, by encouraging people to view their condition in a more positive light. Research shows, for example, that taking a strengths-based approach to autism .
“The strengths-based model is not about solving all problems, it is about helping people on the [autism] spectrum so that they are going to be able to have opportunities just like everyone else,” says at Stanford University in California.
Which brings us to a key point, and one that is commonly misunderstood – namely that neurodiversity isn’t meant to minimise the fact that autism comes with real challenges, says Dawson. Rather, it focuses on reducing those difficulties with interventions that allow for agency and choice, she says.
Over the years, the concept has expanded to encompass the entire autism spectrum, as well as other neurodevelopmental conditions like ADHD, learning disabilities and dyslexia. Some have taken it even further, suggesting that people with mental health conditions like anxiety, depression and schizophrenia are also neurodiverse – or even that we are all neurodiverse, in the sense that no two brains are the same.
This is where the waters get muddy. “From a research perspective, we have never been able to draw a firm line between what is neurotypical and what is neurodiverse,” says Dawson. But that presents a problem, says Thapar. “I think to call everything neurodiverse becomes meaningless.”
For her, “neurodiverse generally means those with early neurological brain differences”. In other words, neurodevelopmental conditions. And Thapar is clear that embracing neurodiversity needn’t mean abandoning diagnosis and intervention altogether. The trick is to pay attention to the extent to which a person’s neurodevelopmental difference is causing them problems, as well as their wants.
“You need to have that flexibility,” she says. “When I’m seeing someone in clinic, I’m not just thinking about their brain, I’m thinking about them. I’m thinking about them as a person.”
