Just the title. Trying to understand what would genuinely suffice for somebody to be diagnosed as neurodivergent.
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It’s kind of just a different term for “mentally disordered”. Things like ADHD, Autismus etc.
Guess it’s supposed to sound nicer and more inclusive.
It’s a nonmedical term for people whose brains/thought patterns differ from most other people’s.
For instance, a neurodivergent person might struggle in social situations but excel in music without much effort. A normal person has no struggles with social situations and also excels in music, but it took them years of effort and practice to achieve the proficiency that the neurodivergent person attained in a much shorter period of time.
It has also been co-opted as a politically correct term for people with autism, ADHD, and other conditions. Largely because it frames these conditions as differences rather than disabilities.
Neurodivergence is when a person has been diagnosed with ADHD, autism, tourette’s, OCD, epilepsy, or dyslexia (and a couple others that you can find by googling).
All of these are different and show themselves in many different ways so keeping it brief, a person with one or more of these diagnoses is neurodivergent instead of nuerotypical.
People are not diagnosed as just neurodivergent, but may identify that way instead of using their actual diagnosis to avoid stigma because people are jerks.
Neurodivergence is an umbrella term for a group of diagnoses such as Autism and ADHD. It is not a diagnosis in itself. To get a diagnosis of one of these you have to go to a specialist (usually a psychiatrist in the UK) who decides if you fit the diagnostic criteria. Each neurodivergence has its own diagnostic criteria that has been developed over time and is reviewed/updated periodically (so someone might not have the same diagnosis through their whole lives).
People started using neurodivergence because a lot of individuals with these diagnoses argue that Autism, ADHD etc are not illnesses to be treated but differences in brain types that should be considered reasonable variations in what humans can be and given respect as such.
A lot of it comes from discussions about disability and whether the person is disabled by their impairments/conditions or if the impairments/conditions are just variations that are turned into disabilities by a society that doesn’t like them. These are often described as medical v social models of disability.
IMO neurodivergent is a more respectful and inclusive term when used generally as it recognises how narrow the ideals of ‘normal’ are in our world and how limited diagnoses can actually be in practice.
Hoo boy. See that can of worms over there…?
So, the answers here so far are basically right (it’s a term usually used as an umbrella term for ADHD, ASD, dyslexia and some other stuff) but it’s really important to be aware that there are some subtleties associated with *how* it’s used.
There are those who use “Neurodiverse” and “Neurotypical” and apply a thick layer of tribal thinking over the top, so you need to take care that you aren’t mistaken as thinking in those terms if you’re not. (This comes from both sides of the fence)
There are those who use the term “Neurodiverse” as a way to highlight the idea (somewhat controversial(!) but IMNSHO not without merit) that these “neurotypes” are part of a wider understanding of what counts as “normal”. (See “Toxic Positivity” and “Disability Denialism” for some taste of why it’s controversial, though)
There are those who point out that you don’t get diagnosed with one of the more specific terms unless your ability to function in life is impacted, and so these things are *by definition* a problem. (See Autism Speaks and Eugenics for some taste of why *this* side of the fence is controversial!)
I personally use the term “neurotypical” to mean exactly what it says: Neurologically *Typical* and really wish others would do the same. The word “normal” really is just a very judgemental way of saying “conveniently familiar”.
Source: I have ADHD and ASD and am quite happy to acknowledge just about every side of the arguments around the subject providing we’re all grown up enough to talk about it openly and kindly.
I think a massive amount of pain around living with disabilities and other differences could be avoided if we’d all just try to stop being assholes about it all :-/
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