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To think the terms "neuro diverse" and "neuro typical" will be short lived.

1 reply

theplatformedge · 16/01/2024 08:30

Diversity means "a range of many people or things that are very different from each other" (Oxford learner's dictionary), so the idea that a minority of people are "neuro diverse" and everyone else is "neuro typical" is not only semantically illogical, but also potentially offensive.

We're all different. Some people have traits that make life more difficult for them than others, whether it be ASD, ADHD or a range of other conditions, with spectrums of severity. Telling people that you're neuro-diverse is so vague as to be meaningless, and telling other people they are nero-typical when you have no idea what they're feeling inside is insensitive. Some people get a formal diagnosis for their symptoms, some people self-diagnose and others don't recognise it in themselves. Nobody knows how many people are living with these traits across the population, but the massive increase in diagnostics suggests they're a lot more common than anyone ever thought in the past, and therefore gradually becoming very "typical".

Discuss! 🙂

HopeMumsnet · 16/01/2024 12:41

Hi @abominablesnowman,
Thanks very much for flagging this "this forum itself has a section that is incorrectly titled as 'Neurodiverse Mumsnetters' when it should be 'Neurodivergent'", we'll look into it from our end.

As to the thread itself, it doesn’t appear inherently offensive or ableist for expressing a perspective on the usage and implications of terms like 'neurodiverse' and 'neurotypical'. From what we can see the OP is considering the idea that a binary distinction may become oversimplified as our understanding evolves.

We absolutely appreciate and understand that perspectives may vary but ultimately we want to host open and respectful discussions with the hope they lead to a better understanding.

Describing all discussions that may broach these issues as here to ‘stir up ableism’ etc just isn't in that spirit. There are many posters here who have ASD or parent or love someone who does and have interesting perspectives to offer.

Posters are always welcome to challenge those perspectives, we are a discussion site after all, but we must ask that they do so without contravening our long-standing guidelines. And of course please do continue to report any posts that concern you.

Thanks to those who have done so already, we couldn't do this job without you.

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