The Fatherly Guide to Neurodiversity
Neurodiversity is the view that brain differences are normal. People with autism, and learning disorders such as ADHD, dyslexia, and dyspraxia don’t have deficits; they have a normal variation of the human brain. And no one type of brain is better than another.
The term, which was coined in the late 1990s by Judy Singer, an autistic sociologist, frames brain differences as unique strengths that society — including schools and workplaces — should appreciate. Rather than searching for cures, neurodiveristy suggests that society should change to better accommodate people across the range of brain differences and allow them to play to their strengths.
Neurodiversity is meant to make people with atypical ways of perceiving and interacting with the world feel accepted and normal, and not wrong or lesser than. And when parents understand their neurodivergent children in a context of acceptance and normalcy, kids have a better chance to grow and thrive.
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