What is Neurodiversity?
When someone asks us this question, what they're really asking is three questions:
It's important to note that there is no unified definition spanning the movement, but the general idea is that neurodiversity refers to the biological fact of neurological diversity in cognitive styles of all human beings which include societally coded strengths and weaknesses that are translated into gifts or deficits.
We interpret neurodiversity through the Neurodiversity paradigm, which is a perspective that considers this innate and acquired neurodiversity to be a naturally occurring form of human diversity and that this is valuable to our species. Social inequality, privilege, and oppression interact with neurodiversity in comparable ways to other forms of human diversity like race or sexual orientation. Similar to these two examples, a great deal of neurodiversity is socially constructed around biological realities. This view highlights, and actually comes from, the social model of disability, which will be explained further down this page.
Finally, the Neurodiversity movement arose to promote the Neurodiversity paradigm as a civil rights movement. Doing away with disordered thinking around brains will improve conditions of stigma; if we accept fundamental diversity to brains there’s no one model we compare competence to. This means abolishing the pathology paradigm which believes that there is one good mind, and all other minds are inferior to it. This mind is defined by the neurodiversity movement as the neurotypical mind, which holds a position of privilege in our society and many others around the world.
As a final note, the Neurodiversity paradigm does not contend that neurodivergence is not a disability, nor does it romanticize mental illness. Focusing on the hidden strengths of neurodiversity does not negate the damage some conditions can cause, but it seeks to bare the entire truth of our minds as they interact with our environment. This can diffuse prejudice, not just stigma, and improve self-conception.
We hope that you can find application of the Neurodiversity paradigm and corresponding movement in your life!
- What does the term 'neurodiversity' mean?
- How do you interpret neurodiversity?
- What does the Neurodiversity movement support?
It's important to note that there is no unified definition spanning the movement, but the general idea is that neurodiversity refers to the biological fact of neurological diversity in cognitive styles of all human beings which include societally coded strengths and weaknesses that are translated into gifts or deficits.
We interpret neurodiversity through the Neurodiversity paradigm, which is a perspective that considers this innate and acquired neurodiversity to be a naturally occurring form of human diversity and that this is valuable to our species. Social inequality, privilege, and oppression interact with neurodiversity in comparable ways to other forms of human diversity like race or sexual orientation. Similar to these two examples, a great deal of neurodiversity is socially constructed around biological realities. This view highlights, and actually comes from, the social model of disability, which will be explained further down this page.
Finally, the Neurodiversity movement arose to promote the Neurodiversity paradigm as a civil rights movement. Doing away with disordered thinking around brains will improve conditions of stigma; if we accept fundamental diversity to brains there’s no one model we compare competence to. This means abolishing the pathology paradigm which believes that there is one good mind, and all other minds are inferior to it. This mind is defined by the neurodiversity movement as the neurotypical mind, which holds a position of privilege in our society and many others around the world.
As a final note, the Neurodiversity paradigm does not contend that neurodivergence is not a disability, nor does it romanticize mental illness. Focusing on the hidden strengths of neurodiversity does not negate the damage some conditions can cause, but it seeks to bare the entire truth of our minds as they interact with our environment. This can diffuse prejudice, not just stigma, and improve self-conception.
We hope that you can find application of the Neurodiversity paradigm and corresponding movement in your life!
The History of Neurodiversity and the Social Model of Disability
The Neurodiversity paradigm and movement are rather recent phenomena, emerging in the late 1990's as a response to parent movements and cure movements against autism, and are guided by other civil rights movements of the 20th century.
Of great influence on the principles of the Neurodiversity movement is the Anti-Psychiatry movement, primarily the reconfiguration of what a 'normal' brain is and who determines this. Neurodiversity, the paradigm and movement, also work with the two models of disability. Models of disability illustrate handicaps when comparing disability, hereby known to constitute limits or reductions on a person’s abilities, with impairment, as the loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure and function of the psychosomatic body. The medical model is relied on to explain a psychiatric conception of neurodivergence, where impairment frames disability, and to alleviate disability, impairment is eliminated. This model confers a negative connotation to disability, as it is directly connected to an impairment, which the medicalization of the population immediately considers undesirable. Neurodiversity operates under the second model of disability; the social model suggests that impairment negatively interacts with society to cause disability. This means that we are disabled by societally structured accommodations and accessibility that are intended for the neurotypical.
The movement has primarily found its organization and promoted activism through online interactions. As it sprung from the autistic community and their advocates, the online platform enabled many who were socially isolated and/or non-verbal to reach out to each other, and begin telling their stories in a way that would reach a greater number and diversity of people.
For an extensive history of the Neurodiversity movement, see this article: http://radicalpsychology.org/vol7-1/boundy.html
Of great influence on the principles of the Neurodiversity movement is the Anti-Psychiatry movement, primarily the reconfiguration of what a 'normal' brain is and who determines this. Neurodiversity, the paradigm and movement, also work with the two models of disability. Models of disability illustrate handicaps when comparing disability, hereby known to constitute limits or reductions on a person’s abilities, with impairment, as the loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure and function of the psychosomatic body. The medical model is relied on to explain a psychiatric conception of neurodivergence, where impairment frames disability, and to alleviate disability, impairment is eliminated. This model confers a negative connotation to disability, as it is directly connected to an impairment, which the medicalization of the population immediately considers undesirable. Neurodiversity operates under the second model of disability; the social model suggests that impairment negatively interacts with society to cause disability. This means that we are disabled by societally structured accommodations and accessibility that are intended for the neurotypical.
The movement has primarily found its organization and promoted activism through online interactions. As it sprung from the autistic community and their advocates, the online platform enabled many who were socially isolated and/or non-verbal to reach out to each other, and begin telling their stories in a way that would reach a greater number and diversity of people.
For an extensive history of the Neurodiversity movement, see this article: http://radicalpsychology.org/vol7-1/boundy.html
Teaching the Neurodiversity Paradigm
Now that you are more familiar with neurodiversity (the concept, paradigm, and movement), it's important to share this knowledge and teach others neurodiversity's value. Why? Many people live in constant crisis or alienation due to an aspect of their thinking and/or behaviour they seemingly have no control over, but never investigate why they are the way they are. This can be the result of true ignorance in the face of personal neurodivergence, or willful ignorance and rejection of neurodivergent labels/status. The Neurodiversity movement offers that these people exist because the Neurodiversity paradigm is not normalized or accepted in societies across the world, and if people were to accept their personal struggles to fit the neurotypical mold as part of neurodivergence, there would be less crisis or alienation felt. Accepting that one differs from the norm can feel isolating because one cannot find people to accept them or peers who experience similar thoughts and/or behaviours. If we all teach each other it is natural to be different, and there is no one true or good type of human being, we will flourish in our own particular niches.
The importance of teaching the Neurodiversity paradigm in higher level education settings is not to be understated. Many students arrive at university or college from diverse backgrounds, having completed high school using different strategies and support systems along the way. It is our job as individuals in a community to recognize the abilities and challenges each student faces, and realize success looks different for everyone. Teaching the value of neurodiversity can support confidence and reduce stigma for students across neurodiversity spectrums.
The Neurodiversity movement seeks to teach empowerment and self-determination to those who have trouble accessing these basic human rights on the grounds of neurodivergence. It is also this club's mission to understand how diverse identities intersect with neurodiversity to twist and complicate the mission of the movement. In the end, we hope that human diversity is wholly celebrated and understood, rather than condemned or ignored, and we hope you can share this message.
The importance of teaching the Neurodiversity paradigm in higher level education settings is not to be understated. Many students arrive at university or college from diverse backgrounds, having completed high school using different strategies and support systems along the way. It is our job as individuals in a community to recognize the abilities and challenges each student faces, and realize success looks different for everyone. Teaching the value of neurodiversity can support confidence and reduce stigma for students across neurodiversity spectrums.
The Neurodiversity movement seeks to teach empowerment and self-determination to those who have trouble accessing these basic human rights on the grounds of neurodivergence. It is also this club's mission to understand how diverse identities intersect with neurodiversity to twist and complicate the mission of the movement. In the end, we hope that human diversity is wholly celebrated and understood, rather than condemned or ignored, and we hope you can share this message.
References
http://neurocosmopolitanism.com/neurodiversity-some-basic-terms-definitions/
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/41003/1/9241541261_eng.pdf
http://neurocosmopolitanism.com/neurodiversity-some-basic-terms-definitions/
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/41003/1/9241541261_eng.pdf