What does it mean to be a neurodivergent person?

Although being a neurodivergent person seems like a recent topic, the reality is that It encompasses a wide range of personalities and ways of processing the world. Thus, neurodivergence is a growing social movement, since in recent years it has gained greater visibility.

In short, The concept of neurodiversity groups together the so-called neurodevelopmental disorders (intellectual disability, autism, ADHD, specific learning disorder and others), whose patterns of thinking, behavior or learning styles differ from neurotypicals.

The reason for this term is to claim that the brain development of these people It is not necessarily pathological, but different from what is understood as habitual. Because it can lead to misunderstandings, below we will take an in-depth look at what it means to be neurodivergent.

What is neurodivergence?

As we said before, neurodivergence is a category created to designate people who have a neurodevelopmental disorder. Its origin is in the thesis of Judy Singer Neurodiversity: The Birth of an Idea (1997). The intention was equate the term to biodiversity, but applied to the context of psychology and sociology.

In this way, in Singer’s work he is referred to as the variety of ways in which all people think and behave. The word derives from many others, such as neurodiversity, neurodivergent, neurodiverse and neurotypical. The latter is used to refer to social and cognitive behaviors framed within traditional norms.

Broadly speaking, the concept recognizes that Brain function and behavioral traits are nothing more than indicators of how diverse humanity is. Differences are not “bad,” “pathological,” “disabling,” or other negative adjectives. On the contrary, they are part of the spectrum that can be found in society. And in certain contexts they are even beneficial.

Types of neurodivergent people

Talking about neurodivergence means knowing the different profiles in which it manifests itself. Although it is possible to develop a neurodivergent trait as a result of injury or trauma, in most cases it exists from birth. The spectrum is very broad, but often includes the following.

1. Intellectual disability

Intellectual disability is among the most common neurodevelopmental disorders. According to data from the American Psychiatric Association (APA), It affects about 1% of the population. Among them, an average of 85% have a mild intellectual disability.

It is a syndrome whose causes are multiple (genetic, congenital, innate or acquired). Among all of them, it seems that genetics are the most involved. It is worth highlighting, as the most frequent, Down syndrome or trisomy of chromosome pair 21.

It was previously believed that intellectual disability was equal to low IQ. Today the conception takes into account the intellectual level, but not exclusively.

It is understood that disability is a product of the interaction between the person and their environment. Therefore, it is not an individual condition, but rather an interactional and contextual one. Furthermore, if adaptations are made to the environment necessary to provide supports, difficulties will be less and functionality will increase.

2. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

As its name suggests, the so-called autism spectrum disorder (ASD) It captures a wide range of disparities in evolutionary development. What is now called ASD was previously called autism, Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome or childhood disintegrative disorder.

Despite being a spectrum, there are things they share in common. In essence, they are difficulties with social communication, the presence of repetitive movements and restricted interests. More specifically, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates the following as characteristic symptoms:

Excessive anxiety or worry. Difficulties in motor coordination. Epilepsy or other seizure disorders. Unusual eating and sleeping habits. Restricted and repetitive behaviors or interests. Do not show tolerance or flexibility to changes. Difficulties in social interaction: not gesturing; not understanding the emotions of others; being unable to understand ironies and double meanings and not playing with equals.

3. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

If there is a disorder whose prevalence is increasing drastically in recent years, it is ADHD. It is true that there is a lot of controversy around it, there are even professionals who deny its existence.

Be that as it may, What cannot be ignored is that there are children who have problems paying attention and concentrating. And this has a negative impact on school, extracurricular activities and relationships with others.

ADHD is the combination of two symptoms: difficulty maintaining attention and emotional regulation through purposeless movement (hyperactivity).

Children with this clinic are seen by others as absent-minded, disorganized and impulsive. However, there is a lot of discomfort that is not seen. And, according to a study published in the Journal of Neuro-Psychiatry, are more likely to have other disorders such as anxiety or depression. Furthermore, we should not overlook the negative impact on performance in school.

4. Specific learning disorder

The last neurodevelopmental disorder that we are going to mention is specific learning disorder. In diagnostic manuals it appears as a single entity that encompasses several already known difficulties:

Dysorthography: deficit in the knowledge and use of spelling rules.Dyslexia: imprecise, slow reading or lack of understanding of reading a written text.Dyscalculia: errors in mathematical reasoning, in understanding numbers and mastering their meaning.Dysgraphia: poor representation of letters in space (letters close together or too far apart, shapes that are not understood, being unable to write in a straight line, and so on).

As can be seen, they are deficits in abilities related to academics. For that reason, they only appear during childhood. If similar alterations appear in an adult, when maturational development has been normalized, we should suspect a brain injury.

In children, it is not associated with an organic cause, but with non-normotypical brain development. If they receive the necessary supports at school, their performance does not have to be affected.

Let’s accept neurodivergence as well as normality

Although the term neurodiversity may seem strange, the truth is that it refers to common and frequent profiles in the general population. Going a little further, we could understand it as differences of degree and not of kind. That is to say, We all have the same capabilities, but to different extents.

Perhaps a neurodivergent person has endured offensive terms for years. Her abilities and potential were called into question and she was treated in a condescending way, as if there was nothing that could be done for her.

For this reason, the approach to adopt with the neurodivergent person should be social inclusion. That is, it is part of the community and relates to the rest as one more. Of course, taking into account their difficulties and providing the necessary help to try to mitigate them.

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