Neurodiversity Affirmative Care

Neurodiversity refers to the natural and valuable biodiversity of human neurology: we have different ways of communicating, processing information and emotions, experiencing our sensory environments, and generally existing in the world.

Kassiane Asasumasu coined the term neurodivergent to refer to any brain whose functioning diverges from societal norms. Neurodivergence includes mental health challenges and mental illness, neurological conditions, learning differences, genetic and acquired neurological conditions, brains that have changed as a result of trauma or injury, and sensory processing differences.

These differences can and do impact our personal lives in ways that are challenging, exhausting, and at times debilitating. They can also be sources of creativity, resilience, and transformative potential. Different does not need to mean deficit or disordered; different can just mean different, and no less deserving of respect and support.

Many of the challenges we as neurodivergent people face come from social stigma attached to our diagnoses, access needs, and visible differences in the ways we move, dress, or communicate. We frequently encounter structural barriers that enforce neuronormative standards.

All people, regardless of how their bodyminds function, deserve respect, agency to make choices about their own lives, freedom to safely move, learn, and express in their own ways, and access to social and material resources and support.