what does neurodivergent mean?
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Anything that was categorized under the former axis 2 in the DSM 4 which was not a personality disorder: Mental retardation and various forms of autism. In addition, neuropathological conditions with behavioral implication, i.e. literal brain damage. Oh, and ADHD, but that was formerly on axis 1.
You probably can jot down several forms of dementia as well, but in that case the question about how “age-appropiate” the illness is comes up. A 90-year old with Alzheimer’s is less “divergent” than a 25-year old with some form of dementia.
Neurodivergence is largely defined by behaviour, because rarely actual neuropathological differences are found. First came the behavioural diagnosis and then later came the explanation relating to differences in the connectome. We actually do not know if the neurology of neurdivergent people noticably diverges, we just assume it based on behaviour. We do not even conclusively know that about autism. The exception to that notion are the aforementioned brain damage patients.
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