Neurodiversity

Autism rights movement
Philosophy Neurodiversity Neurotypical Sociological and cultural aspects Ableism Social model of disability Disability rights movement
Organizations Autism National Committee Autism Network International Autistic Self Advocacy Network National Autistic Society Aspies For Freedom
Events Autistic Pride Day Autreat
Issues Autism Every Day Autism Speaks Communication Shutdown Judge Rotenberg Educational Center Karen McCarron Inclusion (education) Inclusion (disability rights)
People Ari Ne'eman Jim Sinclair (activist) Donna Williams Michelle Dawson Amanda Baggs
Film Wretches & Jabberers

Neurodiversity is an approach to learning and disability which suggests that diverse neurological conditions appear as a result of normal variations in the human genome. This term was coined in the late 1990s as a challenge to prevailing views of neurological diversity as inherently pathological, and it asserts that neurological differences should be recognized and respected as a social category on a par with gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability status. Examples of these differences can include (but are not limited to) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, dyscalculia, dyslexia, dyspraxia, Tourette's syndrome, and others.

Neurodiversity is also an international online disability rights movement which has been promoted primarily by the autistic self-advocate community (though other disability rights groups have joined the neurodiversity movement). This movement frames neurodiversity as a natural human variation rather than a disease, and its advocates reject the idea that neurological differences need to be (or can be) cured, as they believe them to be authentic forms of human diversity, self-expression, and being. These advocates promote support systems (such as inclusion-focused services, accommodations, communication and assistive technologies, occupational training, and independent living support) that allow those who are neurologically different to live their lives as they are, rather than being coerced or forced to adopt uncritically accepted ideas of normalcy, or to conform to a clinical ideal.

History

Biodiversity is a term that refers to the importance of variation in the natural world; neurodiversity adds another area of variation to the concept of biodiversity. The neurodiversity concept was initially embraced by individuals on the autism spectrum, but subsequent groups have applied the concept to conditions unrelated (or non-concomitant) to autism such as bipolar disorder, ADHD, schizophrenia, circadian rhythm disorders, developmental speech disorders, Parkinson's disease, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dysnomia, OCD, and Tourette's syndrome.

The term is attributed to Judy Singer, an Australian social scientist on the autism spectrum, and it first appeared in print in an article by journalist Harvey Blume (which did not attribute Singer) in The Atlantic on September 30, 1998:

“

Neurodiversity may be every bit as crucial for the human race as biodiversity is for life in general. Who can say what form of wiring will prove best at any given moment? Cybernetics and computer culture, for example, may favor a somewhat autistic cast of mind.

”

This lack of attribution may be due to the fact that Singer’s conceptualization of neurodiversity had already been adopted by an international online community of people on the Autism Spectrum, to which Singer belonged, and which Blume studied for an article he wrote in 1997. In a New York Times piece on June 30, 1997, Blume did not use the term "neurodiversity," but he did describe the foundation of the idea in the phrase "neurological pluralism:" "Yet, in trying to come to terms with an NT [neurotypical]-dominated world, autistics are neither willing nor able to give up their own customs. Instead, they are proposing a new social compact, one emphasizing neurological pluralism. ... The consensus emerging from the Internet forums and Web sites where autistics congregate [...] is that NT is only one of many neurological configurations -- the dominant one certainly, but not necessarily the best."

Blume was an early advocate who predicted the role the internet would play in fostering the international neurodiversity movement, writing: "There is a political dimension to this bond with the Internet. A project called CyberSpace 2000 is devoted to getting as many people as possible in the autistic spectrum hooked up by the year 2000, reason being that "the Internet is an essential means for autistic people to improve their lives, because it is often the only way they can communicate effectively. ... The challenge we will all be increasingly confronted with, on-line and off, is, to look at ourselves differently than we have before, that is, to accept neurological diversity."

Many researchers also credit the earlier work of Canadian autistic advocate, Jim Sinclair, who was a principal early organizer of the international online autism community. Sinclair’s seminal speech, "Don’t Mourn For Us," which he delivered at the 1993 International Conference on Autism in Toronto was directed at parents, many of whom considered their child’s autism diagnosis as “the most traumatic thing that ever happened to them." Sinclair (who reports that he himself did not speak until he was twelve years old) addressed the communal grief that parents felt by asking them to try to take the perspectives of autistic people themselves: "Non-autistic people see autism as a great tragedy, and parents experience continuing disappointment and grief at all stages of the child's and family's life cycle. But this grief does not stem from the child's autism in itself. It is grief over the loss of the normal child the parents had hoped and expected to have…. There's no normal child hidden behind the autism. Autism is a way of being. It is pervasive; it colors every experience, every sensation, perception, thought, emotion, and encounter, every aspect of existence. It is not possible to separate the autism from the person—and if it were possible, the person you'd have left would not be the same person you started with. This is important, so take a moment to consider it: Autism is a way of being. It is not possible to separate the person from the autism."

Sinclair is also credited with coining the word neurotypical in the early 1990s, which was originally used to denote people with non-autistic brains, but has morphed in usage to denote neurologically typically-developing people (or the culture which is built around such people). Both Singer and Sinclair created new ways to view and frame people with neurological differences – first in regard to the autism spectrum, but eventually in regard to other conditions as well.

The term neurodiversity has since been applied to other conditions and has taken on a more general meaning; for example, the Developmental Adult Neurodiversity Association (DANDA) in the UK encompasses developmental dyspraxia, ADHD, Asperger's syndrome and related conditions. The term also gained broader exposure in a 2004 New York Times article by Amy Harmon, titled "Neurodiversity Forever; The Disability Movement Turns to Brains," and in a 2013 Wired article by Steve Silberman, titled "Neurodiversity Rewires Conventional Thinking About Brains."

Autism spectrum

According to Jaarsma and Welin (2011), the "neurodiversity movement was developed in the 1990s by online groups of (high-functioning) autistic persons. It is now associated with the struggle for the civil rights of all those diagnosed with neurological or neurodevelopmental disorders".

The term neurodiversity also represents a move away from the "mother-blaming" or refrigerator mother theories of the 20th century. Before the genetic advances in the 1980s, autism scholars popularized the belief that autism resulted from faulty parenting; this stigma remained until genetic research debunked this myth. The causes of autism are contested and could involve a variety of factors that are genetic, biological, or environmental in nature; however, the etiology of autism is no longer believed to be social. The post-1980 geneticization of autism, wherein the condition is said to have an organic basis, prompted the idea of neurodiversity, in which autism is framed as a naturally occurring variance.

Proponents of neurodiversity strive to re-conceptualize autism and related conditions in society. According to Andrew Fenton and Tim Krahn, the main goals of the movement include:

• acknowledging that neurodiverse people do not need a cure
• changing the language from the current “condition, disease, disorder, or illness”-based nomenclature
• broadening the understanding of healthy or independent living; acknowledging new types of autonomy
• giving neurodiverse individuals more control over their treatment, including the type, timing, and whether there should be treatment at all.

Controversies

Some consider neurodiversity a "controversial concept" that "regards atypical neurological development as a normal human difference".

The language surrounding neurodiversity has been controversial. Those proposing the medical model identify learning differences as "disorders, deficits, and dysfunctions." From this point of view, neurodiverse states are treated as medical conditions that can and should be corrected. Author David Pollak sees neurodiversity as an inclusive term that refers to the equality of all possible mental states. Still others reject the word because they think it sounds too medical.

There is also controversy over the assumption that the neurodiversity framework, if taken to its seemingly logical conclusion, would somehow remove the support that neurodiverse individuals currently receive. For instance, Jaarsma and Welin wrote in 2011 that the "broad version of the neurodiversity claim, covering low-functioning as well as high-functioning autism, is problematic. Only a narrow conception of neurodiversity, referring exclusively to high-functioning autists, is reasonable. They conclude that higher functioning individuals with autism may "not [be] benefited with such a psychiatric defect-based diagnosis" and "some of them are being harmed by it, because of the disrespect the diagnosis displays for their natural way of being", but "think that it is still reasonable to include other categories of autism in the psychiatric diagnostics. The narrow conception of the neurodiversity claim should be accepted but the broader claim should not."

Many conflicts over the neurodiversity approach focus upon the idea that neurodiversity activists don’t want any treatments, yet this does not take into account the work of neurodiversity-focused organizations such as the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, the Autism Women’s Network, The Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism, and Autism Network International, all of which advocate for direct support (such as inclusion-focused services, accommodations, communication and assistive technologies, occupational training, and independent living support). In a 2013 study of the neurodiversity movement, a team of psychologists note this false dichotomy: “Such a deficit-as-difference conception of autism suggests the importance of harnessing autistic traits in developmentally beneficial ways, transcending a false dichotomy between celebrating differences and ameliorating deficit.”

Additionally, in a 2009 study of neurodiverse students in the United Kingdom, Edward Griffin and David Pollak separated twenty seven students (with autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, and stroke), into two categories of self-view: “a ‘difference’ view—where neurodiversity was seen as a difference incorporating a set of strengths and weaknesses, or a ‘medical/deficit’ view—where neurodiversity was seen as a disadvantageous medical condition." Griffin and Pollak found that while all of the students reported uniformly difficult schooling careers involving exclusion, abuse, and bullying, those who viewed themselves from a difference view (41% of the study cohort) “indicated higher academic self-esteem and confidence in their abilities and many (73%) expressed considerable career ambitions with positive and clear goals." Significantly, many of these students reported gaining this view of themselves through contact with other neurodiverse individuals in online support groups.

See also

• Diversity training
• Mad Pride
• Mentalism (discrimination)
• Respect diversity