There has been a subtle but significant shift in how mental disabilities are viewed. There is optimism that neurodiversity will continue to grow as a concept, change attitudes concerning mental illness, and ultimately improve the lives of those who are “wired differently”. Neurological differences should be respected, not a disease to be cured. Parents express surprise at the number of positive things said about a student who is troubled and/or troubling others. Rather than dwell on the negative attributes of a child, looking at a child’s true potential, real solutions to help them are generated.
Labels like ADHD, autism and dyslexia attract negative thoughts and attributions from professionals, family and others, and these individuals to through their lives saddled with low expectations. However, when one looks more deeply into their lives, we begin to see strengths, talents, abilities and intelligence shine through. Investigating the positive dimensions of people with negative labels can make a world of difference in helping them achieve success in life. Disease-based thinking too often dogs the lives of labeled individuals and embrace a more positive vision of who they are, and who they can become. The word “neurodiversity” conveys this sense of affirmation. Just as “cultural diversity” and “biodiversity” refer to the rich variety of social heritage or biological life, neurodiversity is just the right word to convey a sense of the richness of different kinds of brains.
Recent evidence from brain science, evolutionary psychology, and other fields suggests that there are bright spots of promise and possibility. Rather than viewing them as having “broken brains”, there is strong evidence of extraordinary gifts in those individuals who might to many people seem least likely to possess them. Most people are surprised at the number of positive things that can be said about people possessing these conditions.
Up to now, we’ve tended to use heavily medicalized language to speak of brain diversity but generally positive naturalistic language to talk about cultural diversity and biodiversity. It is essential to start using more positive language to talk about the brain in its many variations. They bring untold suffering for those that have them and for those who are caretakers and loved ones. Rather than being one-sided in our disease-based orientation to brain differences, we need to spend time exploring the positive side to correct this imbalance.
Especially interesting is the way in which these conditions are regarded in other cultures, or might have proved useful in times past (including prehistoric times). Whether you are regarded as disabled or gifted depends largely on when or where you were born. The cultural relativity of disability is a good reason why these conditions are still in the gene pool.
It is important to construct niches using assistive technologies, good career choices, human resources and specific strategies. Special education programs have been isolating, stigmatizing experiences for many kids. A new type of inclusive neurodiverse classroom, consisting of kids with and without labels, is a more suitable learning environment for all children.
Some people have contributed huge amounts to the field. Judy Singer and Harvey Blume came up with the term “neurodiversity” and Kathleen Seidel has a marvelous website Neurodiversity.com. Oliver Sachs may be the “godfather” of neurodiversity.
Instead of celebrating the natural diversity inherent in human brains, we medicalize and pathologize those differences using terms like he/she has autism, a learning disability, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. With respect to the human brain, this sort of thinking goes on all the time under the aegis of “objective” science. The lessons we have learned about biodiversity and cultural and racial diversity need to be applied to the human brain. We need a new field of neurodiversity that regards human brains as the biological entities that they are and appreciates the vast natural differences that exist from one brain to another regarding sociability, learning, attention, mood and other important mental functions. Instead of pretending that there is a perfectly normal brain to which all other brains must be compared, we need to admit that there is no standard brain, just as there is no standard cultural or racial group and that diversity among brains is wonderful.
Most neurologically based disorders were unheard of 70 years ago. More than one-quarter of all adults suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder. About half of all Americans may suffer from mental illness at some point during their lives. When one subclinical varieties that may be undetected in many people, virtually every single individual alive may be regarded as afflicted with a neurologically based mental disorder to one degree or another.
There has been a tremendous leap in knowledge over the past several decades regarding the human brain. Endless studies come out every year giving us more and more information about how the human brain works. This is revolutionizing our understanding of human mental functioning. We need to be aware that this may be responsible for our becoming a disability culture. Medical researchers generally have a disease-based perspective about the brain, not one that is focused on health and well-being. Psychiatrists may receive little training in anthropology, sociology, or ecology and thus aren’t in a position to regard individual differences from the standpoint of a diversity model.
Advocacy groups for specific mental illnesses promote awareness of their particular disorder and have done enormous good in raising people’s awareness, but each vies for funding and public support in part by emphasizing the negative aspects of their particular disorder. There is a tendency to emphasize deficits, disabilities and dysfunctions and de-emphasize strengths, talents and aptitudes. The concept of neurodiversity provides a more balanced perspective. The emphasis is placed on differences, not disabilities.
This discussion emphasizes the positive dimensions of humanity to thoroughly map out the gifts of neurodiverse populations.
The term neurodiversity was first used in print by the journalist Harvey Blume published in the Atlantic in September, 1998. “Neurodiversity may be every bit as crucial for the human race as biodiversity is for life in general.” The actual coining of the term has been attributed to Judy Singer – a self-described parent of a child with Asperger’s syndrome, who wrote a book chapter in 1999 titled “Why Can’t You Be Normal For Once in Your Life?”
Since then, neurodiversity has continued to grow as a concept, through support groups, websites, blogs and publications.
The best definition may be “the whole of human mental or psychological neurological structures or behaviours, seen as not necessarily problematic, but as alternate, acceptable forms of human biology.” Some definitions seek to differentiate “neurodiversity” form neurotypical syndrome” (eg. normal behavior characterized by preoccupation with social concerns, delusions of superiority, and obsession with conformity). Neurodiversity also includes an exploration of what have thus far been considered mental disorders of neurotypical origin but may instead represent alternative forms of natural human difference. There are seven conditions included in neurodiversity: ADHD, autism, dyslexia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, intellectual disabilities, and schizophrenia.
This discussion bridges how the condition is conventionally regarded and how it might be reframed using science and social and cultural history. It hopes to provide an approach toward alleviating some of the pain and suffering associated with each condition.
THE EIGHT PRINCIPLES OF NEURODIVERSITY
1. The human brain works more like an ecosystem than a machine.
Mechanistic images of the human brain have been based largely on computer models. However, the human brain is not a machine, it’s a biological organism. It’s wetware. And it’s messy. Millions of years of evolution have created hundreds of billions of brain cells organized and connected in unbelievably complex systems of organicity. The neuron looks like an exotic tropical tree with numerous branches. Neuronal networks and neurotransmitters compete against each other for predominance in responding to environmental stimuli. Unlike a computer, each individual’s brain is more like a rainforest, teeming with growth, decay, competition, diversity and selection.
Like an ecosystem, the brain has a tremendous ability to transform itself in response to change. Damaged parts of the brain result in areas being able to function with even greater strength in compensation, sometimes causing a torrent of creativity in art or music. Since the brain is more like an ecosystem than a machine, it is particularly appropriate that we use the concept of neurodiversity, rather than a disease-based approach or mechanistic model, to talk about individual differences in the brain.
2. Human beings and human brains exist along continuums of competence.
Differences between human beings with respect to a particularly quality -say sociability – exist along a continuum. On one end are humans who are totally socially isolated such as the most severely autistic and on the other are Asperger’s syndrome. To follow on the continuum, are eccentric individuals with “shadow syndromes” who don’t qualify for a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder but who nevertheless seclude themselves from their community. Some might be diagnosed with “avoidant personality disorder”. Further along are individuals who relate well to others but are highly introverted by temperament and prefer to be alone. Increasing levels of sociability ultimately ends in the highly sociable person. People with disabilities do not exist as “islands of incompetence” totally separated from “normal” human beings. Rather, they exist along continuums of competence, of which “normal” behavior is simply a stop along the way.
This selects sociability but could also apply to reading ability or schizophrenia. This helps to destigmatize individuals with neurologically based mental disorders. There is a tendency to take people with diagnostic labels and put them as far away from ourselves as possible. We need to have a far greater tolerance for those whose brains are organized differently from our own.
3. Human competence is defined by the values of the culture to which you belong.
People who receive low scores on intelligence tests were regarded as imbecils, morons, or idiots and homosexuality was regarded as a mental illness are only two examples how “mental disorders” reflect the values of a given social and historical period. In 50 years we will undoubtedly look back on today’s psychiatric diagnoses and see the our contemporary prejudices. Today, mental disorders are defined as abnormal because they violate one or more important social values or virtues. ADHD appears to violate the Protestant work ethic in America. One attains positions of wealth and power through the rational use of their time and energy, through their rational and efficient use of time and energy, through their willingness to control distracting impulses, and to delay gratification, and through their thriftiness and ambition.
Dyslexia violates our belief that every child should read. 150 years ago, only the privileged few were expected to be literate. Autism (sociability), depression (happiness), anxiety (tranquility), developmental disorders (intelligence) and schizophrenia (rationality) all violate contemporary values.
4. Whether you are regarded as disabled or gifted depends largely on when and where you were born.
What is sickness in one, might be chromosomal abnormality, crime, holiness, or sin in another. In ancient cultures that depended on religious rituals for social cohesion, it might have been the schizophrenics (who heard the voices of the gods) or the obsessive compulsives (who carried out the precise rituals) who were the gifted ones. Today, kids in special ed classes tend to be weakest in those things that the schools value the most (the three r’s, test taking, rule following) and strongest in those things that schools value least (art, music, nature, street smarts, physical skills). So they end up being regarded by society as attention deficit disordered or learning disabled, ultimately defined by what they can’t do rather than b what they can do.
5. Success in life is based on adapting one’s brain to the needs of the surrounding environment. Today’s complex and fast-paced world demands on them to read, be sociable, think rationally, follow rules, pass tests, have a pleasant disposition, and conform in other distinctly defined ways. Many of the conventional approaches used to treat the seven disorders are essentially of this adaptive type. The best examples of this adaptive approach is the use of psychotropic medications. Drugs such as Ritalin, Prozac, and Zyprexa have been invaluable in helping people with SDGD, depression, and schizophrenia function in the real world. Behavior modification is a way to help neurodiverse individuals adapt to a conventional environment. What’s often missing are strategies that seek to discover surroundings that are compatible with their unique brains.
6. Success in life also depends on modifying your surrounding environment to fit the needs of your unique brain (Niche Construction).
In this complex culture of ours, there are many “subcultures”, or microhabitats, that have different requirements for living. If individuals can only discover their particular “niche” within this great web of life, they may be able to find success on their own terms. We are all constantly changing our surroundings to build such niches for ourselves. The term “niche construction” represents the process by which an organism alters its own (or another species) environment to help increase its chances of survival. It may be important to evolution as natural selection. Neurodiverse people can alter their environment to match the needs of their own unique brains. In this way, they can be more of who they really are. The environment is viewed as changing and coevolving with the organism on which it acts selectively. Instead of always having to adapt to a static, fixed or “normal” environment, it’s possible for them to alter the environment to match the needs of their own unique brains. In this way, they can be more of who they really are.
For example, autistics favor cybernetics and computer culture as they systematize rather than empathize. They often work extremely well with non-human factors such as machines, computers, schedules, maps and other systems. The computer industry favors people working alone at their own workstations using programming languages. A great percentage of people with autism live in and around Silicon Valley. It is a self-selecting community that caters to the high-functioning autistic mind.
7. Niche construction includes career and lifestyle choices, assistive technologies, human resources and other life-enhancing strategies tailored to the specific needs of the neurodiverse individual.
Making choices about lifestyle or career may be among the most critical in determining whre a person suffers as a disordered individual or finds satisfaction in an environment that recognizes his strengths. Someone with ADHD would do badly at a 9-5 desk job in a large, impersonal corporate office, an example of poor niche construction. However, a job that involved speed, novelty, change and physical activity, it likely that the symptoms wouldn’t even be regarded as problem, but instead a positive set of traits.
Assistive technologies (high-tech tools, including computers, software and peripherals) that enable individuals with disabilities to perform tasks they were previously unable to accomplish. A rich network of human resources serves to validate, enable and in other ways support the gifts of the neurodiverse. This includes positive role models, coaches, therapy, support groups, teachers, aids and others possessing specialized knowledge designed to help neurodiverse people reach their full potential – surrounding oneself with people who see the best rather than the worst. Each person can put together their own unique niche that supports who they are as a positive neurodiverse human being.
8. Positive Niche construction directly modifies the brain which in turn enhances its ability to adapt to the environment.
The environment has a powerful influence on brain development, particularly in the early years. Adversity (including family conflict and parent criminality) is a associated with a greater risk of ADHD. Young children who have an episode of depression are at greater risk of a second episode because of the “kindling” effect, where the emotional trauma of the first depression sparks changes in the brain chemistry that make a second depressive episode more likely. Early intervention in autism can increase a child’s chances of significantly improving social functioning and that a warm hoe environment in childhood provides a buffer against depression.
This is another important reason for engaging in positive niche construction: it can literally change the brain. The notion that the brain is hardwired as we grow into adulthood has been challenged. The concept of “neuroplasticity” is that it is never too late to change the brain through alternative learning strategies or innovative technologies, whether there were incurable brain problems or without specific problems. The brains of young children are especially plastic or susceptible to stimulation to stimulation from the environment during the first few years of life. Positive niche construction in the earliest years of life should be the number one priority for parents and other caregivers of neurodiverse children.
Children with a genetic vulnerability to depression or anxiety need safe, warm, and predictable homes and schools. Children prone to to learning disabilities (that is, those who learn in a different way) need a stimulating learning environment that helps them with their phonological skills. Children with autism need opportunities for meaningful social interaction. Caregivers should regard niche construction as a form of “special handling” for the child’s brain to help maximize its positives and minimize it’s negatives in both adjusting to the world and fulfilling its highest potential.
People who idealize depression by linking it with creativity, sensitivity, and perceptiveness should be criticized. Depression is associated with brain disorganization and nerve-cell atrophy. Depression appears to be progressive – the longer the episode, the greater the anatomical disorder. To work with depression is to combat a disease that harms patients’ never pathways day by day. Nor is the damage merely to the brain. Depression has been linked with harm to the heart, endocrine glands and bones – depressives die young – not only of suicide. Depression is a multisystem disease.
By focusing on the hidden strengths of mental disorders, there is merit in focusing on the positives. Neurodiversity is a powerful concept that can help revolutionize the way we look at mental illness. The goal is to diffuse some of the prejudice that exists against them. Focus on the positives as much as, or more than, the negatives. Seeing our own inner strengths builds our self-confidence, provides us with courage to pursue our dreams, and promotes the development of specific skills that can provide deep satisfaction in life. This creates a positive feedback loop that helps counteract the vicious circle that many people with mental disorders fin themselves.