An Introduction to Neurodiversity

Neurodiversity is essentially the radical notion that not everyone has a brain that works the same way. The concept of neurodiversity originated in the autistic rights movement, possibly because autism is one of the easiest-to-see examples of “not broken, just different,” but it applies much more widely.

Some people have brains that work better than other people’s– they might be able to grasp mathematical concepts much more easily or easily visualize complex three-dimensional shapes. Some people have brains that work less well than other people’s– they might feel sad constantly for no reason or constantly hate themselves. Some people’s brains work better in some ways and worse in other ways– ADD has benefits (multitasking like whoa!) and downsides (“where did I put my keys again?”). Some people’s brains aren’t better or worse at all, just different– for instance, autistic people or trans people.

The problem for all these groups is that society is set up for the norm. People assume that neurodivergent people work the way everyone else does, and that when they object to a food or physical touch or a room they’re just being fussy and need to learn to put up with it. Schools and workplaces are often very reluctant to offer accommodations that will help people do their work because it would be “special treatment.” Friends, family, or romantic partners of neurodivergent people are often complemented about how brave and strong they are for putting up with neurodivergent people. Lots of people think of neurodivergent people as monsters, with “awwww so inspirational” condescension, or as neurotypical people who are just pretending to be neurodivergent. All of this creates a lot of unnecessary trouble for neurodivergent people.

Here’s the thing: people are different. Different people have different needs. For instance, I need people not to yell at me, I need classes that move relatively fast, I need to have directions written down instead of told to me verbally, and I need specific training about how to deal with my emotions. As long as these needs are met, I’m fully capable of talking about things I did wrong, not getting bored, following directions, and not exploding into a sobbing pile of “I AM THE WORST PERSON ALIVE.” My needs are not any less real because they are different.

People’s refusal to acknowledge neurodivergence hurts people. Neurodivergent people are very often told that they’re lazy or broken instead of being taught coping mechanisms for their neurodivergence. Even when they’re taught coping mechanisms, they’re often not about having a happy and functional life while neurodivergent, but about how to pretend to be normal so you don’t threaten or upset people.

Incidentally, that also provides a neat solution to the whole “but we are overmedicating people and medicalizing ordinary variation!” problem. Medicalizing ordinary variation is only a problem if you think the purpose of treatment is to make people normal. So you have one side going, “We’re fine with you turning those people normal, they’re really weird! But some of those people you’re diagnosing with things are practically normal already. We don’t want everyone to be totally the same, just same enough that we don’t feel threatened or have to change anything to accommodate them.” And the other side goes, “Yes, but if we try to make all the people normal, then we get more money! Braindrugs for everyone!”

Telling people their experiences are real, helping them find people who are like them, teaching them coping mechanisms for their neurodivergence (which may include medication, but doesn’t always), helping them find accommodations… all of those are good things which the mental health system could do. Sometimes it even does them.

Finally, one of the big mistakes people make with the neurodivergence model is that they assume that because a lot of the trouble that comes from being neurodivergent comes from lack of accommodation, ableism, stigma, and other badnesses, therefore all the trouble that comes from being neurodivergent comes from those things. For some people, this is true.

On the other hand, there are lots of neurodivergences that lead to people hurting themselves or others, losing touch with consensus reality, or being unable to function in everyday life even with accommodations, and those pretty much suck balls. (Those are the ones I call “mental illness,” usually.) It is okay to acknowledge that some ways people are different suck; it’s not okay to treat people worse because of it.

7 thoughts on “An Introduction to Neurodiversity

  1. Fun fact: I just recently learnt that neurotypical is supposed to mean that you’re, eh, completely “normal” (yeah, it’s ironic to define it that way since it’s supposed to replace the value-laden “normal”). I used to think it meant you neither had ADHD nor autism, so I used to say that I was neurotypical. Although I’m a mental case.

    I think the most difficult skill which you must learn in order to function with a mental illness is how hard to push yourself. Push too hard, and there’s break-down. Push too little, and you don’t get anything done and fail to develop your potentials. Maybe this isn’t super difficult to everyone, but it is for me. I feel that at 35 I’ve just recently developed a fairly good grasp on how hard to push myself. Like, all adults will have to go to work even when they feel like shit sometimes, grind their teeth together and get things done even when this is really hard to do. BUT still you’ve got your limits, and the limits of a mental case are probably different from the limits of someone, well, neurotypical, and that’s gotta be respected. So that’s a very fine line to walk.

  2. “Even when they’re taught coping mechanisms, they’re often not about having a happy and functional life while neurodivergent, but about how to pretend to be normal so you don’t threaten or upset people.”

    Yes! Thank you! I’m autistic, have spent the last several years in an ongoing process of training myself out of “coping” mechanisms that have nothing to do with coping and everything to do with hiding, to make room for learning ways to actually be more functional when I have to interact with the NT world. My life would have been *way* easier up to this point if I could have skipped the “spend 20 years learning how to pretend to be more functional than I am, without actually *being* more functional” step.

  3. @Ozy:
    I disagree with your usage of the words “good” and “normal.” To wit: both are constructs.

    For example, “good” is context-dependent. To give a non-neurological example: stripes are good for some environments, spots are good for others. Stripes aren’t any better or worse than spots, but they shine in different contexts. It’s not so much apples and oranges; rather: value must be placed in context. Someone whose brain is good for math does great in the context of math; in the context of poetry? Maybe not.

    The very traits that make a psychopath can also perform exceptionally well in a business or military environment. You can’t simply say, “Being a psychopath” is bad, because they can (though not always) make very successful soldiers and businessmen (of course, you also have to define success, as well — a successful soldier is measured by teamwork as well as body count, and there are different soldiers for different battlefield roles).

    Which brings us to “normal.”

    Society, through various mechanisms, has constructed a constellation of traits that society calls “normal.” Society has assigned different values to traits like physical coordination, interaction with other people, ability to grasp abstract intellectual concepts, and said, “People who fall between X and Y are normal.”

    The problem is, a lot of what society defines as normal (or even “valuable”) really ignores a substantial portion of the human spectrum. That is the problem. It’s not that normal is overrated; it’s that normal, as defined by society, is pretty narrow.

  4. Lookit my chart: http://daisysdeadair.blogspot.com/2012/03/aspergers-quiz.html

    See, I think I am more neurotypical than neurotypical (more human than human) and this is how I can “read tarot” so well: I say the meaning of the cards, and then I read the people’s responses to what I say. That’s how I know what is going to happen to them. I often get paid for it too. I have a great track record.

    But really, its like seeing around corners. One BIG problem I have online is that I can’t do it with just words. Its people and faces I read, like Bobby Goren on Law and Order Criminal Intent. (Until the advent of the net, I did not realize how deeply I depended on this ability until I *couldn’t* depend on it.) Perhaps it is due to my decades of working in sales… but then why do I have decades of working in sales?

    But is that neurotypical? I would say no, its the other end of autism. Its a continuum… they used to call it “extrasensory perception” (ESP) before that term was cheapened. But that was originally all it means, that there is some other (extra) perception we are operating that can’t really be quantified. We don’t really understand it ourselves, but poker players can also do it.

    But see, that quiz? What are they measuring? Look at how all of my chart is on one end of the spectrum. Whatever they are measuring, that’s the “ESP”–the tarot reader or local storefront psychic, the profiler, the neighborhood noseyparker and the poker player. We are not neurotypical either, but they do not really know what we are, so we are deemed “typical”, when obviously we are not. You can even see from my chart, its all lopsided, but its lopsided in the “mentally okay” way, so I am considered okay. But I am “different” too, if you follow my meaning. (And yet, those categories of people that I mentioned above tend to have lots of divorces and drug problems, for example, now, whats up with that? Must be *something*.)

    In short, I don’t like it that there is no “word” for me too. I think we need new words, or at least more descriptive ones. Neurodiversity is a nice one. (about 30 yrs ago, I was formally diagnosed as “hypomanic” after I took the MMPI–a diagnosis now out of fashion) .But I think there is a spectrum, and autism/aspies are only on one end of it.

    We need to realize that everyone is on a spectrum, and learn where we are ALL on it. It would destigmatize the people who are all crowded at one end… or the other. ;)

  5. @Daisy:
    I don’t think there’s just one spectrum. I think there all multiple spectra and multiple axes. =)

  6. Gifted Kid Syndrome – Ozy Frantz's Blog

  7. On Medicalizing Mental Variation – Ozy Frantz's Blog

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