What is neurodiversity?
Neurodiversity is the idea that everyone’s neurology, brain, and mind is naturally unique, but that different patterns and styles of processing can be grouped together. This can encompass autism, ADHD (and AuDHD), dyslexia, dyscalculia, and various other types of neurodivergence. I will refer mostly to autism in this blog, as I myself am autistic. And of course, the largest group within the sphere of neurodiversity consists of those who are neurotypical.
Traditionally, neurodivergences (anything that diverges from the ‘norm’ of being neurotypical) are considered to be ‘disordered’, and are identified through psychiatric diagnosis. However, this suggests that it is a pathology to be autistic or ADHD for example, and suggests that there is something wrong or undesirable about such ways of experiencing and processing the world.
The neurodiversity movement grew up in response to this, and aims to offer an alternative to this medical model’s pathology-based conceptualisation of neurodivergence, one where autism is difference not deficit (Kapp et al, 2013). The movement sees neurodiversity as a necessary and desirable aspect of biodiversity (Chapman & Botha, 2022), where neurodivergent minorities need to construct niches (Armstrong, 2011) in order to flourish within society. I would argue that it is the responsibility of everyone to help in the construction of these niches, through offering creative accommodations which facilitate everyone’s engagement and inclusion.
Let’s backtrack a bit. Western societies have mostly viewed autism through what’s called the medical model. This approach sees autism as a set of deficits or impairments, something to be diagnosed and treated. This idea took shape back in the 1940s, when researchers like Kanner (1943) and Asperger (1944) began describing certain behaviours in children. Wing and Gould (1979) proposed the triad of impairments theory, that autism is characterised by deficits in social interaction, communication, and imagination. The current dominant diagnostic manuals, the DSM-5 characterises autism as involving a dyad of impairments: “persistent deficits in social communication and social interactions” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 31). In short, in the medical model of autism, the problem is seen as existing within the autistic person.
In the 1980s, disability theorist Mike Oliver introduced the “social model of disability” (Oliver, 2013). This approach flipped the narrative: it’s not the person who’s the problem—it’s the world around them. Inaccessible environments, rigid systems, and a lack of understanding are what truly create barriers for autistic people. The autist is dis-abled by an unwelcoming world.
Still, even this model has its limits. Anderson-Chavarria (2022) points out that neither the medical model nor the social model fully honour the full and nuanced experience of being autistic. She offers something new: the “predicament model” (2022, p. 1323), which acknowledges that autism can be both a disability and a positive difference—sometimes at the very same time.
And that leads us to where the neurodiversity movement comes in. Emerging from online autistic communities in the 1990s (Botha et al, 2024), the neurodiversity movement challenges the idea that there’s one ‘right’ way for a brain to function. Instead of viewing autism as a disorder, it sees it as a natural and valuable form of human variation. Autism, under this lens, isn’t a deficit—it’s a difference. A way of being.
Walker (2014) offers a useful guide, defining key terms and their correct usages. She proposes autism is a neurominority, an identity-based neurodivergent group who differ in significant ways from neurotypicality. I believe that that difference is essential. Much like biodiversity strengthens ecosystems, neurodiversity strengthens humanity.
Of course, not everyone has embraced the concept of neurodiversity. Some critics, including voices from the anti-psychiatry movement, argue that diagnoses like autism are too medicalized, too reductionist, and that they have no biological basis.
But as Russell (2019) points out, diagnosis of neurodivergence can be empowering. It can be a starting point for understanding, advocacy, and inclusion. “The medical diagnosis can act as an explanation of the experience of difference, a rallying point for political action, a tool to unlock resources and services, and a first step in moving toward entering a community”. (p. 299)
I personally believe that neurodiversity is a non-pathologising way to describe the natural evolutionary differences between people, in the ways they process, experience, and communicate their experience with the world. Being autistic is value-neutral, neither a superpower nor a disorder, just a difference that is just as valid as any other. If we unhook ourselves from ideas about ‘normality’ being preferably, and open ourselves to embracing the beautiful, varied, messy and exciting full scope of human experience, we can embrace the many and varied perspectives and work to build a world welcoming and inclusive of everyone.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). DSM-5: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Publishing.
Anderson-Chavarria, M. (2022). The autism predicament: models of autism and their impact on autistic identity. Disability & Society, 37(8), 1321-1341. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2021.1877117
Armstrong, T. (2011). The Power of Neurodiversity (2nd ed.). Da Capo Press.
Asperger, H. (1944). 'Autistic psychopathy' in childhood (U. Frith, Trans.). In U. Frith (Ed.). (1991). Autism and Asperger syndrome (pp. 37–92). (This chapter is an annotated translation of a German article by Hans Asperger that was published in "Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankenheiten," 1944, 117, 76-136. The original also appeared in "Heilpädagogik," Vienna: Springer-Verlag, 1952) Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511526770.002
Botha, M., Chapman, R., Onaiwu, M. G., Kapp, S. K., Ashley, A. S., & Walker, N. (2024). The neurodiversity concept was developed collectively: An overdue correction on the origins of neurodiversity theory. Autism, 28(6), pp. 1591–1594. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613241237871
Chapman, R., & Botha, M. (2022). Neurodivergence-Informed Therapy. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 65(3), 310-317. https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.15384
Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact. Nervous Child. 35(4): 100–36.
Kapp, S. K., Gillespie-Lynch, K., Sherman, L. E., & Hutman, T. (2013). Deficit, difference, or both? Autism and neurodiversity. Developmental Psychology, 49(1), 59–71. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028353
Oliver, M. (2013). The social model of disability: thirty years on. Disability & Society, 28(7), 1024-1026. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2013.818773
Russell, G. (2019). Critiques of the Neurodiversity Movement. In Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement: Stories from the Frontline (pp. 287–303). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8437-0_21
Walker, N. (2014). Neurodiversity: Some basic terms & definitions. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/618309342c2ee8376ef9f36e/t/6387e9ca81597b3880147ba0/1669851598123/NickWalker_NEURODIVERSITY-SOME-BASIC-TERMS-AND-DEFINITIONS.pdf
Wing, L., & Gould, J. (1979) ‘Severe impairments of social interaction and associated abnormalities in children: Epidemiology and classification’, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 9(1), pp. 11–29. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01531288.