About Neurodiversity

Neurodiversity is a term coined by sociologist Judy Singer and then made popular by journalist Harvey Blume, who used the term in a now widely-quoted article in The Atlantic. A neurodiversity movement took off, with activism in the autism community promoting social justice for neurodivergent individuals and framing cognitive variations as a form of diversity, not a disability. This stance is highly controversial within the wider autism community (see here, here, and here, for some varying perspectives on the neurodiversity movement).

Since the 1990s the conversation around neurodiversity has broadened significantly to include the many cognitive variations present in human populations. On this website, we understand neurodiversity as variations in sociability, mood, attention, learning, and other mental functions. A few examples of these variations are ADHD, anxiety, autism, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyslexia, dyspraxia, learning differences, and Tourette syndrome. These variations, while often associated with challenges in the traditional education environment, are often also associated with strengths such as creativity and risk-taking, pattern recognition or strong 3D visualization skills. They are invisible forms of diversity that offer benefits to society.