ZIG/ZAG

The vast majority of advice and support available for neurodivergent people is geared towards helping us to change, get around, or exploit how our minds naturally work. Sometimes that’s useful – but it’s not enough. We need to imagine a future that can work for everyone.

The word ‘neurodiversity’ describes the whole, marvellous range of human perception – it was never intended to simply mean ‘different’. But with more and more people using it as a euphemism for ‘special needs’, it’s time to talk about what neurodiversity actually means.

Imagine a future in which neurodivergence is understood in a similar way to how queerness is perceived today – as a fundamental characteristic of identity that affects the way the world is experienced by a significant minority of the population.

It’s a word that is often misunderstood, often misused and often mistaken for something else. Its meaning depends on whether it’s being spoken by academics, capitalists, or activists. And it can be just as often used to silence, oppress, and erase people as it is to include, empower, and accept them. So what is neurodiversity?