This topic has come up in multiple threads now, and (at least in my opinion) the number of posts that tend to come up in response can have the effect of derailing the original thread. So I'm creating this one as a place where we can discuss the
neurodiversity movement without taking over threads where others are discussing other issues. If it comes up in another thread with a different focus, people can always just point to this one.
The wikipedia link above is a reasonable place to start if you don't know about this already. The concept of neurodiversity was introduced in the context of
autism, but it has been expanded to include ADHD, bipolar disorder, and other mental health conditions. In a nutshell, it boils down to the idea that these diagnoses are not medical disorders that should be cured, but part of normal human variation that should be accommodated.
In the context of autism, one consequence of this outlook is that it has suggested that
applied behavior analysis is unethical, because it is often used to try to extinguish behavior (e.g., stimming) simply because makes neurotypical people uncomfortable. On the other hand, ABA is possibly the most effective intervention to treat autism (if you accept the medical model that autism needs to be treated at all), and those on that side of the debate argue that it is therefore unethical
not to use it.
By definition, the kids on this board who are autistic are also gifted. As such, they are more likely to end up on the side of "stop trying to change us, and change yourselves to be able to accommodate us, instead" than low-functioning individuals, who are rarely granted enough agency to reach that conclusion. We may also have a higher proportion of kids who don't fit autistic stereotypes in one way or another (for example, children who do not stim, children who do not line up their toys by size, or children who engage in some imaginative play).
What are others' thoughts about neurodiversity? It is harder to find articles or discussion on it in the context of ADHD or other disorders than it is for autism. Is that because it's not really applicable to those disorders, or just that those movements are less well-developed?
