This is a typical definition of Neurodiversity found at random on the web. There are innumberable such, all referring to "normal" variations.
First, it's important to be wary of the "passive voice" which confers authority by fudging who is speaking. If there is an omitted "by" in the sentence , it's worth asking "by whom". So...
Regarded by whom? I submit: by an echo chamber of Wiki editors rephrasing earlier Wiki editors. In true viral mode, these definitions were then adopted by myriad respectable institutions and replicated ad infinitum.
Who can blame them? Nobody owns the term. I never defined it either, thinking its meaning self-evident. Nevertheless I will put my oar in based on the intuitive Aha! moment I had while writing the work that contained it.
And for goodness sake, do NOT go to Wikipedia for a definition of Neurodiversity. It seems to be changed almost daily by heaven knows who, and it is clear that most of these people don't "get it", they just mash up earlier misconceptions.
Neurodiversity is not a judgment. It has nothing to say
about Normality or Morality.
Neurodiversity names a biological reality, the virtually infinite neuro-cognitive variability within Earth’s human population. It points to the fact that every human has a unique nervous system with a unique combination of abilities and needs. That is all.
Normality is a socially constructed term originating in the 19th century mostly for the use of the bogus science of Eugenics (see my thesis for more detail on the construction of normality).
I recognize that words evolve beyond their origins by way of a dialectical process. But for the record, I intended the word
- to function as an addition to the toolbox of intersectional analysis and
- to suggest a name for the emerging 1990s civil rights movement of NeuroMinorities
And it should never be used as a synonym for Neurological Disability, so that respect for Nature’s awe-inspiring variability and its challenge to our ethics and practices becomes the latest stigmatized term for “the Other”.
