what does neurodivergent mean?
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It just means your brain and/or nervous system don’t work in a way which is considered to be typical of the majority of people.
The word comes from “neuro” – to do with the brain and nerves – and “divergent” – moving away or branching off.
There’s lots of different types of neurodivergence, including autism/autistic spectrum disorder, ADHD, dyslexia, sensory processing disorder, Down syndrome, synaesthesia (where the senses get crossed over so you can hear colours or taste music, for example) and a host of other things.
Neurodivergent people are often diagnosed with a disorder of some sort because the way they think makes it harder to interact with neurotypical people (people whose brains and nerves work the same way as the majority of other people’s) or can make it really hard to do tasks that other people may find easy, or it can make conditions like being in a noisy or brightly-lit environment cause literal pain to them where most other people wouldn’t even notice it was a bit louder than usual.
Neurodivergence (being neurodivergent) can also make some things easier – often neurodivergent people find it easier to spot when someone’s lying, or to see a pattern in a complex image or set of information, or to pick out a tiny sound from a noisy environment.
But whatever their specific strengths or difficulties might be, a neurodivergent person may also just have a different approach to doing things which shows that their neurotype (the specific way their brain/nerves work) is different from the usual ways of thinking/processing their senses. Neurodivergence can exist for somebody without being diagnosed, especially if they are good at masking (behaving as though they were just like other people even though really they’re not), even if they don’t show any major difficulties in the everyday world or don’t have any special talents as a result of it.
If a neurodivergent person is good, or at least passable, at getting along in the world and can hold a job, make friends and take care of their own body, mind and home, they may not be diagnosed or may be diagnosed later in life as they start to realise that not everybody thinks or acts the same way they do.
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