just neurodivergent things

hey, mod b here! we’ve all been inactive for quite some time, and have answered questions like this before (here’s a link to that discussion), but i wanted to get you a solid answer, and mine has actually evolved a bit more over the past couple years! so i’m gonna come at it from two points.

tl;dr: you’re neurodivergent if you identify as such. that’s it.

1) the creator of the term neurodivergent, who coined it long before it showed up on tumblr, has said repeatedly that it just means a brain that diverges. mental illness is a neurodivergence. so’s epilepsy. so are learning disabilities. they created it specifically to include as many people as possible.

2) the boundaries between different mental illnesses/symptoms/neurotypes are honestly fuzzier than you’d think. this is true in the DSM (which is on its 5th edition now!!), where different diagnoses have been shuffled around, added, and removed. but i think we can also see it in the idea of “autistic cousins:” folks who have many autistic traits, but might not meet that specific diagnosis. we overlap all over the place. a lack of social skills due to childhood trauma can look a lot like a developmental disability.  severe depression and anxiety can present with psychosis. sometimes other identities play a role in people’s official dx, like how autism and adhd are overrepresented in white boys.

i think on a practical level, it’s also important for neurodivergence to be a big umbrella term, as a movement and a concept. we can build solidarity with each other, while knowing that we’ve got different needs/histories and some of us are hurt differently by society. but like if our goal is to accept that brains diverge in all sorts of ways (some of which we treat and some of which aren’t illnesses and don’t need to be treated), that needs to include all brains. we can’t leave people in the dust.

so yeah, like i said before rambling: neurodivergent is a term of intentional inclusion. and it’s yours, if you want! <3

Hi! I believe in the curb cut effect-- if it’s something you find useful, you should use it and normalize it! It started out with a lupus patient but afaik she’s been very pro-anyone using it. 

If you’re uncomfy about stepping on toes, you could always use the metaphor of your (social/focus/sensory) battery running low. 

[image description: a person wandering blindly through fog with their hand outstretched. the caption in the center reads, “brain fog. just neurodivergent things”]

(old post / instagram)

[image description: packaging for the “guess who?” board game. the caption in the middle reads, “constantly forgetting names and faces. just neurodivergent things”]