I just want to say before I start, I appreciate what I am about to write is on a sensitive and potentially controversial topic. I welcome any disagreement or discourse, so long as it is respectful. So please feel free to return serve, if you like.
A crucial component of ableism, one that doesn’t get as much sunlight via conversation, is when someone is attempting to be ultra affirming. I’m referring to the view that neurodivergence cannot include disability. There is no disability in neurodivergence, only superpower. That whole argument. On face it may not seem like an ableist view, but it is. It is because it means a neurodivergent person goes unheard. Unheard about the most challenging components of disability. Like for myself, when I can’t pick out details to save my own life. I’m very commonly having to ask staff at grocers to show me where a particular item is because I can’t seem to see it amongst the noise. No matter how hard I try. It’s fucking annoying and wastes time. I then feel rushed to find other things in the shops I need and then miss more things because I was trying to make up for lost time. It makes me feel like a kid who was left behind at the start of a 100m sprint race, because I was still having to tie up my shoe when the starting gun went off. So if someone told me my ‘ability’ to not pick out specific details is a ‘superpower’, I’d be pretty pissed off.
Even now, as a 30 year old therapist, I’m just now starting to unpick my relationship with my neurodivergent brain, but also with my body. I have cerebral palsy. I’m only now starting to open a door that before I had sealed shut. Which is an ableist narrative that I was ‘lucky’ that my CP is only ‘mild’. It’s true, in many ways I am fortunate, but such a view has subconsciously corralled me into avoiding and suppressing the challenges of my CP. I would never adhere to physio regimes growing up as much as I was told I needed to. Even to this day I feel like a bit of an imposter when I say I have cerebral palsy. Most people genuinely wouldn’t notice it.
You can start to understand why some neurodivergent people are not so keen on the neurodivergent movement. The ableism tends to start by well meaning parents and companies/organisations looking to make money, but it can also leak into neurodivergent people too. Something referred to as internalised ableism.
When an affirming movement arises – subgroups that feel left out by the moving majority start to ‘split off’ and stand against the main group. Another faction is created. For example, a sect of people split from the neurodivergent movement because they fear the benefits of the medical model are being rejected, such as the use of medications in managing ADHD.
This can also create challenges amongst medical and allied health professionals, not only regarding the disagreement between professionals but also alienate some patients/clients who hold a different view to the clinician. For example, where a therapist rejects the medical model stance on neurodivergence but a patient/client does not. Ironically, the therapist can end up invalidating and alienating the very person they are trying to help.
Why do people take a stand? One hypothesis is that because they feel like they are being left behind by the moving majority, they take a stand, to ask to feel heard and for respect. It’s an attempt to regain belonging, to be brought back into the fold. When these people go unheard, it’s a continuation of a pattern they have experienced their whole life. Possibly made more disappointing this time, because it’s coming from those that were supposed to be allies. If you can’t trust those allies to hear and respect you, why not create your own faction?
Lesson: We need to ensure all views are heard and respected, this is because nearly all approaches, including the medical model, also provide benefit. These movements don’t need to be about completely rejecting the old way. Instead we need to grieve the damage old ways have caused, decide what we want leave behind and decide what we want to retain about the old ways (in this case medical model).
It’s a crucially counterbalanced approach but many do want help in managing the challenging components of ADHD, for instance. Just like many that are Autistic are interested in learning assertiveness skills, because learning such skills, to them, promotes self-advocacy and prevents others from crossing their boundaries.
For the record, despite the challenges above. I still believe the neurodivergent movement is needed and I am a strong supporter of it. Just like how rejecting the medical model completely would be problematic, we don’t need to fully reject the neurodivergent movement because of its issues. We just need to stop, listen to and respect those that are feeling left behind by it.
It’s important to remember that this stuff is hard. Knowing what to do about human behaviours is massively challenging. Helping people grow is still a massive challenge for me and I’ve had 10 years in the mental health field (adding my training and work together). Figuring out where neurodivergence (being different from the norm) falls within neurodiversity (all human brains are different) will go on for years to come, I’m sure. It’s very hard to figure out where we stand compared to normal, when we can’t quite figure out what normal is. At the same time, just because we haven’t defined normal clearly yet, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. My point is that we don’t have all the answers, so we need to keep an open mind as much as possible.
It’s fair to say that this has also been a story where specific terms (neurodiversity and neurodivergence) have been morphed to mean many things beyond their original meaning. It happens all the time. Unfortunately this debate is no different.
It’s made all the more challenging by the fact that there are controversial figures that end up tied to certain arguments. The issue is, despite that occurring, we still need to keep having these conversations.
I know I risk others disagreeing with me in writing posts like this. I am partially fearful of doing so as I consider myself quite new to the neurodivergent movement. But like many others I learn best through conversations with others. We are all social beings in one way shape or form. I also made a conscious decision earlier this year that I would not ‘wait’ to form a solid opinion before attempting to discuss challenging topics. When I waited, I would be waiting forever because I learn best by speaking with others. It’s hard to do that if I don’t let myself speak in the first place!
Human beings have an innate tendency to over-correct when something becomes damaging. Surely there is a counterbalance that can be struck between acknowledging and managing the disabling traits of neurodivergence and connecting with the strengths and special abilities that come with it. I don’t propose to have all the answers, but we only get there by respectfully talking about it and taking action.
Deliberate Practice Psych 