|| First published: | Last edited: || 📚🕒 Reading Time: < 1 minute The word neurodiversity is used to describe a diverse group of individuals with different neurotypes. It includes all humans, though colloquially it is often used for a group of neurodivergent people.
A person can be neurodivergent or neurotypical based on how their brain works, but a single person is not neurodiverse.
neurotypical
‘Neurotypical’ describes people whose brain functioning follows common patterns, making it easier for them to align with common expectations in areas like processing sensory information, understanding social cues, following conversations and managing everyday tasks.
Most of our current societies are calibrated to neurotypical functioning with narrow margins of error, which can inadvertently disadvantage people whose neurological configurations fall outside the borders of what’s considered ‘typical’.
neurodivergence
Neurodivergent conditions include ADHD, Autism, OCD, Sensory Processing Disorder and specific learning difficulties, like dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia.
neuroaffirming
Neuroaffirming or neuro-affirmative refers to practices, approaches, or environments that recognize and affirm the neurodiversity of society and the neurodivergence of individuals.
