'Neurodiversity is not a word about autism alone. Neurodiversity 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 neurodivergent to live their lives as they are, rather than being coerced or forced to adopt uncritically accepted ideas of normality or to conform to a clinical ideal.ĭifferent people think differently - not just because of differences in culture or life experience, but because their brains are 'wired' to work differently. Today, neurodiversity is broadly defined as an approach to learning and disability that suggests diverse neurological conditions appear as a result of normal variations in the human genome. As such, neurodiversity activists reject the idea that autism should be cured, advocating instead for celebrating autistic forms of communication and self-expression and promoting support systems that allow people with autism to live as someone with autism. In other words, a condition such as autism is a part of whom the person is, and to take away the autism is to take away the person. These differences can include those labeled with Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Dyscalculia, Autistic Spectrum, Tourette Syndrome, and others.'

'.a concept where neurological differences are to be recognized and respected as any other human variation.

'.the diversity of human brains and minds - the infinite variation in neurocognitive functioning within our species.' - ( /neurodiversity-some-basic-terms-definitions/)Īccording to the National Symposium on Neurodiversity (2011) held at Syracuse University, neurodiversity is: This portmanteau of neurological and diversity originated in the late 1990s as a challenge to prevailing views of neurological diversity as inherently pathological, instead asserting that neurological differences should be recognized and respected as a social category on a par with gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability status. Neurodiversity is an approach to learning and disability that argues diverse neurological conditions result from normal variations in the human genome. Her hope and objective were to shift the focus of discourse about ways of thinking and to learn away from the usual litany of deficits, disorders, and impairments. In the late 1990s, Judy Singer, a sociologist who is on the autism spectrum herself, came up with a word to describe conditions like ADHD, Autism, and Dyslexia, this word was 'neurodiversity'.

Judy singer autism