Think of neuronormativity like a box. A really constricting box. Some people fit comfortably in the box (neurotypical people) and some people don’t fit in the box (neurodivergent people). If you don’t fit into the box, you are punished and labelled with a disorder or mental illness by psychiatry who will try to fix you so they can shove you in the box.
Anyone who doesn’t fit into the box, anyone who is labelled with a disorder or mental illness, is neurodivergent.
It doesn’t matter if you’re born not fitting into the box.
The only thing that matters is if you exist outside of the box.
#Neurodivergent #Neurodiversity #Neurotypical #Neuronormativity
How can we talk about neurodivergence or neurodiversity without relying on medical diagnostic labels?
Answer: The Neurodiversity Smorgasbord.
We deserve to understand ourselves beyond the DSM and we deserve to assign our own meanings to our differences, traits and altered states instead of relying on the single narrative that they’re a deficit, disorder or sign of an illness.
Read more about this framework on my website.
#Neurodiversity #Neurodiverse #Neurodivergent #Autism #ADHD #NeuroInclusion
it’s been over a year since I shared this neurodivergent umbrella graphic so I thought I would post it again as our wonderful yearly reminder ✨✨
a few things to remember:
💛 neurodivergent refers to anyone who’s mind or functioning diverges from dominant societal norms, standards and expectations.
🧡 neurodivergent was coined by Kassiane Asasumasu, a biracial, multiply neurodivergent activist in the year 2000.
💚 neurodivergence can be innate or acquired, it doesn’t matter how you came to diverge, it just matters that you do diverge.
💙 neurodivergent includes mental health conditions and has since the year 2000.
💜 neurodivergent is not a medical or clinical term, it’s an identity, it’s a sociopolitical term.
We do not say:
* neurodivergent condition
* neurodivergent diagnosis
* someone with neurodivergence
We do say:
* neurodivergence
* someone who is neurodivergent
* they are neurodivergent
#Neurodivergent #Neurodivergence #Neurodiverse #Neurodiversity #NeurodiversityAcceptance #NeurodiversityAffirmingPractice #Neurodiverse #NeurodivergentAdvocate #NeurodivergentAuthor #NeurodiversityAdvocate
between multiple suspensions (and I mean multiple), aggressive meltdowns, dissociating, sui$dal attempts in the classroom, absconding, getting into physical fights (to defend myself against bullying) and more, I definitely wasn’t a ‘pleasure to have in class’ neurodivergent kid but more a ‘the teachers definitely have meetings at the start of the year to share horror stories and figure out how to handle me’ neurodivergent kid.
beating those socialised as female audhd stereotypes one at a time 🥲
PS they did not figure out how to handle me
In honour of Mental Health Awareness Month, the clinical license for the Neurodivergent Friendly DBT Workbook is now 50% off 💛
Because DBT resources should be more neurodiversity affirming and support different ways of thinking, feeling, expressing, processing and communicating.
What’s the clinical license?
It’s for therapists, speechies, OTs, psychologists, counsellors, teachers or anyone who uses the workbook with others in their practice, business, school or organisation.
You get sent the PDF of the workbook and you can share or email as many pages or even the entire workbook with as many clients as you like. It’s your workbook to do as you like (except resell) and share with all the clients who may need a workbook like this ☀️
Comment DBT WORKBOOK to grab your copy ✨
#DBTSkills #DialecticalBehaviorTherapy #BPDAwareness #EmotionalRegulationSkills #TherapyResources
The neurodiversity paradigm was meant to challenge the belief that there is one inherently superior, correct or morally acceptable way for bodyminds to exist and function.
And yet, neurosupremacy continues to exist within neurodivergent spaces.
A neurodiversity affirming approach, neuroinclusion and neurodivergent liberation cannot coexist with selective compassion, conditional acceptance or diagnostic supremacy. It just can’t.
If your advocacy only extends to neurodivergent people you personally like, relate to, find useful or feel comfortable around then it is not liberation.
If we truly believe that neurodivergent people deserve dignity, autonomy, neurodiversity affirming care and inclusion, then that must extend to all neurodivergent people and yes, I mean all neurodivergent people including people with mental health conditions.
The moment acceptance depends on proximity to neuronormativity, it stops being genuine acceptance.
#Neurodivergent #Neurodiversity #Neurodiverse #Neurodivergence
I’m Autistic and I’m the friend that rarely messages first and rarely asks to hang out. It’s what happens when you struggle to communicate and initiate plans and you’re chronically ill, experience both time and attention differently to others and find solitude comforting and easy.
It doesn’t mean I don’t value my friends or I don’t like my friends. It doesn’t mean I don’t want friendships. It just means that maintaining friendships that require consistent communication and hanging out feels as inaccessible to me as working part time or doing the laundry or showering every day.
For those of us who aren’t the ones always reaching out first, who need to honour our capacity even if it means we don’t initiate plans, you are still worthy of meaningful friendships.
You deserve connections that aren’t measured by who texts first or how often plans are made.
You deserve friends who value you even when you might only exist in the background of people’s lives shooting through like a comet that comes once a year.
#Autistic #AutisticWomen #Autism #AutisticAdult
Neurodiverse, meet forest.
Neurodivergent, meet tree.
A single tree cannot be neurodiverse because neurodiverse needs a forest of many trees to be considered neurodiverse.
An individual cannot be neurodiverse because neurodiverse needs a group of many individuals to be considered neurodiverse.
Think of it like this:
A forest is a collection of many different trees just like society is a collection of many different individuals.
A forest = neurodiverse because it’s made up of many trees.
A tree = either neurotypical or neurodivergent but all a part of the forest.
It wouldn’t make sense to point at a single tree and call it a forest just like it wouldn’t make sense to call a single person neurodiverse.
Calling one tree neurodiverse is disrespectful to the forest and the other trees.
A classroom, family, workplace, community or group can be neurodiverse because it’s made up of many individuals.
So to clarify,
Neurodivergent = individual/tree
Neurodiverse = a group of individuals/trees
And just to make it even more difficult for people - neurodiverse can never be used to refer to a single individual but neurodivergent can be used to refer to a group of individuals.
We need to stop saying that neurodivergent people diverge from a neurologically typical brain.
Neurodiversity means every brain is different which means there’s no such thing as a typical brain or a brain that’s neurologically typical.
Neurodivergent people do not and cannot diverge from a neurologically typical brain, because it simply doesn’t exist.
Neurodivergent people diverge from neuronormativity.
We need to name neuronormativity.
I really think we’re doing us a disservice when we don’t mention neuronormativity or we reinforce the idea that neurodivergent means diverging from a typical brain.
How can we discuss neurodivergent, a socio-political term, if we don’t discuss the dominant societal and cultural norms that shape our experiences?
How can we draw attention to hierarchy, power and normative systems if we continue focusing on typical brains and don’t name neuronormativity?
(This is why my current Master’s thesis is on neuronormativity and why my PhD will be on neuronormativity because it shocking how little people mention or acknowledge neuronormativity)
Some Autistic people are misdiagnosed with BPD.
and
Some Autistic people also meet the criteria for BPD because we’ve also experienced significant relational and attachment trauma.
I used to think a BPD diagnosis automatically meant you’re probably Autistic and it’s a misdiagnosis. While it’s important to acknowledge that it is common for those who were socialised as a girl or woman to be misdiagnosed with BPD and BPD has a pattern of being weaponised against marginalised individuals, it doesn’t mean we deny that it’s a valid diagnosis (as valid as any diagnosis that pathologises trauma responses) for many Autistic folks too.
We can validate the lived experience of both.
We can acknowledge the pattern of misdiagnosis and respect that BPD can be a valid diagnosis for some Autistic individuals.
#AutisticWomen #Autism #BPDAwareness #AutismAwareness #Neurodivergent
6 nuances that are important to understand when it comes to the neurodiversity paradigm.
I mostly made this because someone commented that we should combine the pathology paradigm with the neurodiversity paradigm to acknowledge nuance but we don’t need to combine two paradigms that are fundamentally incompatible (combining the pathology paradigm and the neurodiversity paradigm would literally defeat the purpose of an alternative paradigm existing) to acknowledge nuance.
#Neurodivergent #Neurodiversity #Neuroaffirming #NeurodiversityAffirming #Neurodivergence
