09/06/2025
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1XuM23tx3G/?mibextid=wwXIfr
No ifs or buts, neurodivergent is and always has been a term for those who diverge from neuronormativity including those who have been diagnosed with a mental illness or mental health condition… but if you’re confused or curious as to why or how, this post might help.
Neurodivergence can include innate or genetic neurodivergence as well as acquired neurodivergence - which means even if you don’t diverge till later on in life, you can still call yourself neurodivergent.
Just like if you don’t develop a disability till later in life, you can still call yourself disabled.
Regardless of whether something is innate, genetic or acquired, it doesn’t actually matter when it comes to neurodivergence.
This is because neurodivergent is a social and political term, it’s not another biological category or a medical or clinical term.
Neurodivergent refers to anyone who diverges from neuronormativity - an oppressive colonial and capitlist ideaology that reinforces the idea of a “normal” mind and believes there is a right or superior way to function.
Basically, individuals with a mental health condition diverge from neuronormativity.
If you’re a System or diagnosed with DID or OSDD, you diverge from neuronormativity because neuronormativity believes having a singular sense of self is the right way to function, exist or be.
If you have bipolar, you diverge from neuronormativity because neuronormativity believes there is a right way to experience shifts in attention, moods and time perception.
Neurodivergent names a social position - individuals who are marginalised, pathologised, oppressed, punished and labelled as mentally ill or disordered for functioning in a way that diverges from neuronormativity.
And individuals diagnosed with a mental health condition are absolutely othered, punished, marginalised and pathologised.
Another point is that neurodivergent is often a term of resistance from the dominant pathology paradigm that labels our differences and the way we function as an illness or disorder.
Many individuals with mental health conditions reject the idea that their voices, plurality, distress or altered states are signs of an illness - and so we deserve access to a term for that.
Another point is that categorising these as neurodivergence doesn’t mean we’re saying they’re all the same. We can acknowledge that physical conditions, neurological conditions, neurodevelopmental conditions and mental health conditions are all disabilities without assuming they’re the same so let’s apply that same thinking to neurodivergent.
Lastly, Kassiane Asasumasu who came up with and defined neurodivergent has always meant for it to be a term of inclusion, not exclusion. Let’s not forget that.
