Disclaimer: I have no quarrel with the mods using the term in the creation of this community. I understand why they chose it, as even if they share my disagreement with the term when applied to ADHD, there’s not really a better inclusive term. “Mental illness” is really the only other option, and naming a community that would probably invite darker discussions that the mods might not be prepared to handle.
Another disclaimer: I think the term is perfectly valid when applied to autism, as autism is not, to the best of my knowledge, a mental illness so much as a difference in processing. Being autistic is only “bad” in the sense that our society discourages autistic traits. (Apologies if this is wrong; I’m neither autistic nor especially knowledgeable about autism.)
The term “neurodivergent” implies that there’s nothing wrong with you if you have ADHD–you’re just special and different. But my ADHD is an illness that requires treatment. A lot of people will tell you that the only reason ADHDers struggle is because society is set up wrong, but I don’t think that’s true, at least for me. Being unable to remember anything, unable to self-start, and hypersensitive to rejection would be massive problems in any world. Sure, the world today is particularly brutal for ADHDers in a way we could probably mitigate if we reorganized society to be kinder, but that doesn’t mean ADHD isn’t ultimately a disorder that some people need to treat with medication and therapy.
Right out the gate, I don’t like the ‘superpower’ narratives or the ‘something we should get rid of entirely’ ones myself for both ADHD and autism, as someone with both.
but that doesn’t mean ADHD isn’t ultimately a disorder that some people need to treat with medication and therapy.
First off, I agree that therapy can be big. The difference with ADHD coping methods is that I’ve found the ones have therapists recommended me generally helpful or well-intentioned neutral, while the vast majority of the autism ‘coping methods’ I’ve gotten have ranged from unhelpful to legitimately harmful.
Second is the medication point; some people don’t want or need medication, and that’s fine. Some others might not have a choice either way. I don’t have as many options there when it comes to ADHD because of anxiety and vice versa, so I might never have the option of having my ADHD mostly or completely treated through medication.
I mostly feel like it’s up to the individual. I kind of see the term as a net neutral and quite situational. I’ve found reading through the replies here to be quite interesting!
adhd is a neurodevelopmental thing and to my knowledge that’s just what neurodivergence means
I always that of neurorivergent as “my brain works different”. That applies to autism as well as ADHD. I don’t think the fact that there is medication for it is important. People with autism struggle just like people with ADHD. Not just because people don’t understand them but also because they don’t understand people. I have a friend with autism and I have ADHD. We both struggle because of our brains.
I don’t think the term “neurodivergent” implies there’s nothing wrong with you and you don’t need treatment. Neurodivergent is also used to describe bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder. The term means that there is a structural difference in how the brain deveops in comparison to neurotypical people, as opposed to a “chemical imbalance” as is often used to describe mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety, which you can be born with but you can also develop due to trauma.
My friend uses “neurospicy”
I like neurodivergent in the same way I like queer.
It’s got a real punk feeling; I don’t into fit in to your normalised perception of reality, I don’t need to and I relish not fitting into this narrow definition of what it is to be.
I feel very differently about my ADHD and my queerness. My queerness is only a problem for me in that some of the people I share this world with want to eradicate me for it. There’s nothing wrong with it inherently. I like being queer, or at least I would if it didn’t result in so many people wanting to kill me.
I don’t feel that way about my ADHD. If I could cure it, I would. The problem with my brain isn’t that other people don’t like the way it works, it’s that the way it works is actively detrimental to my goals, desires, and very existence. Social change could mitigate but not erase the problems I face due to having it.
You have actually inadvertently highlighted one of the reasons I’m a little uneasy about the term “neurodivergence.” It feels less like a term for people who struggle than a fun club people can join to be rebellious, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’m okay with anyone who identifies as queer being allowed into the queer club, no questions asked. Pretty much the only requirement I have for the label “queer” is that you not be a (literal or figurative) cop. But it seems to me that the label “neurodivergent” takes a pre-existing label, “mentally ill,” and expands it to just… anyone who doesn’t like The Man keeping them down, I guess. I’m not sure I like that. I feel like maybe it dilutes the meaning of having a neurological difference a little.
I think I disagree with how you’re defining neurodivergence and I certainly feel differently about my ADHD.
ADHD is part of who I am, I really like how my brain functions and there are lots of benefits to thinking the way I do. The structure of society and to a large extend capitalism is what causes conflicts with my way of thinking. I am not wired to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day for the rest of my life. But that is what society demands it isn’t a problem with me
Yes my ADHD can make some of my personal goals more difficult, but I can manage that through medication and strategies like anything else that may prevent me from achieving my goals.
Lactose Intolerance prevents me from eating cheese, but I still want to eat cheese and am happy that I can take medication to do so; it’s a good thing that our economy isn’t built around a requirement to eat cheese though, treating those who can’t as lesser, other or wrong.
I don’t like the term mentally ill because it implies there is a normality or standard. It creates a false dichotomy between the ill and the not ill. I don’t accept that.
My brain is how it is, my ADHD is how it is, my depression is how it is. But it is my brain chemistry, it is unique to me, is is part of who I am physiologically and shapes who I am intellectually & spiritually.
I am not ill. I simply do no fit in society’s false idea of normality. I diverge from that idea.
Neurodivergent also recognizes the overlap of a lot of these conditions, and the fact that the scientific community hasn’t finished researching and disambiguating these things.
Lazy reply cause I’m tired, but could it be that your frustration lies on the neurodiversity movement instead of the term neurodivergent? A lot of your frustrations align with others’ criticisms of the neurodiversity movement, and I’m wondering if - because most people will conflate one with the other - you simply don’t consider yourself part of the neurodiversity movement instead?
I’m asking this because a lot of people here are saying they’re two different things, but if you go on like reddit they will talk about it like they’re the same thing. I want to make it clear that, they’re not, but if they’re being talked about like they are in widespread culture then I can understand your frustration with a term that is associated with something you don’t feel a part of, even if that’s not actually what it means
Perhaps. My only real exposure to either has been through social media, so that’s what my thoughts are based on. But I do feel like even if you divorce it from the neurodiversity movement, the word “neurodivergent” is to “mentally ill” as “differently abled” is to “disabled”: an unhelpful and somewhat idealized version of a more appropriate term. Though that specifically applies to it regarding ADHD, not every difference in neurology, as I said.
Oooo okay that’s a very interesting connection. To be fair though, I do have my gripes about how people treat the word “mental illness”, in that a lot of people treat it like it’s some gross word to avoid, that there’s a stigma that nono you shouldn’t identify with that. (Personally I don’t think the word “mentally ill” should have as bad of a connotation as it does right now, but that’s just my opinion and I don’t expect others to think the same.)
So I can see where you’re coming from with that. Even if you look at the initial, historical definition, it doesn’t negate the fact that the word neurodivergent is mainly used today as a way to say “different, but with a good connotation instead of a bad one”, and with a definition (vaguely) like that it can start to border on some toxic positivity. And I’m not sure if you’ve experienced something like this but I do find that I tend to think that people who put me on a pedestal or think of me as special or something don’t actually want who I actually am and all of them just think that I’m an exception to the actually negative stuff they hate. I’m not sure if I’m making any sense, uh tell me if this is confusing or not.
I don’t have ADHD, nor autism, just… suspected some flavor of neurodivergence. I don’t feel confident in putting it into a specific thing until I get tested. But I do identify with being neurodivergent because there’s nothing else to call me really when I don’t know what I have yet. I don’t really identify with the neurodiversity movement though, but I appreciate their existence. Just wanna put that out there so you know my biases.
I also realized you’re here to relate, not debate, so just a quick apology for fueling more debates. I don’t want to speak over your experiences, so I’ll ask instead, but do you mind if I give my own opinion about what “neurodivergent” means in relation to “mentally ill”?
I agree with you that “I have a mental illness” shouldn’t get a horrified reaction anymore than “I have an illness” does. It’s a shitty stigma we should try to break down.
Yeah, the toxic positivity is a big part of what I’m referring to here. I’ve been deeply disappointed to hear my fellow leftists say things like, “Under socialism, you wouldn’t need your ADHD meds! You’re not disordered, you’re just living in a capitalist society that doesn’t value you!” Which, while it’s true that living in a capitalist society makes things much harder on people with ADHD, I don’t think it’s true that none of us would struggle or need meds under a better system.
I totally understand why you identify with the term neurodivergent. It really does seem to be the best term that exists for people like you.
Go ahead. I’m perfectly down to have a discussion.
Neurodivergent is a technical term that denotes that your brain is wired outside the norm. It doesn’t actually say anything about if it has a medical diagnosis attached or not.
I found the second part kind of funny because executive function deficit, issues with hypersensitivity, extreme empathy, struggle with impulse control and so on, are all things that people with ASD struggle with.
I was just about to write this same thing… And that’s for people with high functioning ASD! I used to babysit a kid with ASD who was non-verbal with cognitive impairment. He will need care the rest of his life. To say there are no struggles with having ASD is just not true.
Yup, people with ASD, OCD, and CPTSD also struggle with these issues. They tend to be mis-diagnosed with other conditions on the list fairly frequently.
Side note: If you’re diagnosed with ADHD but stimulants make your symptoms worse, consider being evaluated for OCD instead. That was something a friend of mine experienced.
The term “neurodivergent” implies that there’s nothing wrong with you if you have ADHD–you’re just special and different.
I think that’s definitely something you’ve inferred but is not necessary implied.
For me, it perfectly describes a wide range of neurodivergent conditions such as ADHD, ASD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, et al. It describes a threshold that makes those different from neuro-diversity to where that person has a disorder that impacts their daily life.
Conversely, I feel that the term ‘neurotypical’ implies that theres nothing wrong with that person when those who are NT, tend to not say what they mean, talk in riddles and hold some very strange assumed opinions about things as well as considering themselves to be normative, very much to the detriment of those they think are outside the parameters they set in their minds.
“Mental illness” is really the only other option
That would imply there is a cure, which there absolutely is not, and that there is a normative ‘well’ condition.
Honestly, I liked the term a lot when I heard it. With competition like ‘learning disability’ and ‘a bit on the spectrum’, it was like a breath of fresh air. If it makes people who don’t have ADHD less likely to bully kids at school, then it may be worth the inaccuracy.
Plus, it hits the point that you can’t make broad assumptions about people with ADHD. Some people need medication/ therapy. Some people have coping strategies that reduce or eliminate the need for either. A lot of people are still trying to figure things out.
