Do you identify as neurodivergent?
When, why, and if we use the label.
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I see a lot about neurodivergence online. It resonates, and I have a diagnosis that falls under that umbrella, but I still feel like an imposter who shouldn’t use the term. What’s your relationship with it?
Jess: Welcome to team neurodivergent! In general, I’m in the “big tent, the more the merrier” camp. There are so many conditions that fall under the neurodivergent umbrella, and we’re still learning just how interconnected many of the conditions are. That said, lots of folks fit under the umbrella but they don’t personally resonate with it, and that’s cool too. While I’ve had an ADHD diagnosis since I was super young, and a migraine diagnosis since my early 20s, and a handful of other neurodivergent-umbrella diagnoses throughout the years — I didn’t really get how my brain functions until I started learning about neurodiversity. Turns out, a lot of what I spent years berating myself for weren’t personal failings, but symptoms. That realization has helped me be more kind to myself, which in turn allowed me to start accepting myself, and then to better advocate for and accommodate my needs. So I’m a big fan of folks finding what resonates and works for them. And if in that searching, you find something that doesn’t resonate, it doesn’t mean you’re not neurodivergent — that’s part of the beauty of neurodiversity! We get to better understand our differences, and find validation and connection in the “oh, you too?!”
Ash: Did I call myself neurodivergent when I got my ADHD diagnosis? Nope. Bipolar disorder? Still no. Autism? Bingo!
All of these diagnoses fall under the spectrum of neurodiversity, but I didn't acknowledge or accept the label until I received an autism diagnosis. It's similar to how I still don't even call myself disabled despite the fact that since second grade I've needed vision correction to use my eyes beyond a few feet in front of me — and that's excluding all of the things that are going on in my body nowadays.
I think that getting the autism diagnosis made a lot of things click in my brain, leading to a better understanding of myself, and acceptance that I do interact with the world in a different way. I do have strengths and weaknesses — as viewed by the societal "norm" — that helped explain why I feel like such an alien out in the world.
Autism — and my mental health in general — often impacts me more significantly on a daily basis than being chronically ill. I actively have to conquer my brain everyday, but the daily management of my illnesses tend to be more infrequent with the exception of when I'm in a flare. Honestly, I really only remember I wear contacts regularly when I'm actively taking them out of putting them in.
Much like I accept one label and hold off on another, it's all about what makes you comfortable and feels good to you. Maybe it doesn't now but one day it does.
Kat: Ah yes, here I am. The friend of this BFF quartet who identifies solidly in the neurotypical category (despite having chronic migraine, which I hear could be considered neurodivergent?). I’ll keep my two cents short: If you’re like me, with zero lived experience in this area, please listen and learn from those who are. Until about eight years ago, I absolutely perpetuated stereotypes and held my own limiting beliefs about how brains should work. (I’m ashamed to admit that, but I think it’s important for folks to own it. We can all do better, myself included.)
Skyler: I don’t describe myself as neurodivergent (ND), but I absolutely do not identify as neurotypical. I feel like I fall into a messy grey area (I’ll occasionally refer to myself as “neurospicy,” which is a term I stole from Jess, who says, and I quote, she “absolutely stole it from TikTok”). Similar to the question-asker, I’d feel like an impostor if I claimed the term neurodivergent for myself. I also wouldn't consider myself part of the ND subculture and it's not necessarily something I research or seek information or media about in my spare time, so I would consider it disingenuous if I used the label. In a way, it’d feel appropriative.
By the time the concept of/word for neurodivergence became a widely known term, I had already received several psychiatric diagnoses. At that point, however, the popular definition seemed only to include autism spectrum disorders and ADD/ADHD. (Perhaps I should mention that I have undergone testing for ADHD, but received a diagnosis of "mild ADHD," and, to be frank, it's not even in the top 10 health conditions I worry about on a daily basis.) I'm aware that many, many more conditions have been added under the neurodivergent umbrella in the years since I first learned the term, but I'm still not comfortable saying that I am neurodivergent (maybe it's Maybelline, maybe it's internalized ableism), although I do recognize that a myriad of my psychiatric and physical conditions affect my thought processes and how I navigate the world.
I guess the tl;dr is you do you, but please don't let the bully of impostor phenomenon get in the way of expressing your most authentic self.
💡 For the curious: We use neurodivergent in the singular, to refer to an individual. We use neurodiverse in the plural, to refer to a group of people that is either all neurodivergent folks, or both neurodivergent and neurotypical folks. And neurodiversity, per Wikipedia, is “… a framework for understanding human brain function that recognizes the diversity within sensory processing, motor abilities, social comfort, cognition, and focus as neurobiological differences. This diversity falls on a spectrum of neurocognitive differences.”
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