To think “neurodivergent” is being used too casually and too often?

[MauveOrca]

Every quirk or preference doesn’t mean you’re ND. I know diagnoses help some people but it feels like it’s now shorthand for anything outside the mainstream. Can we not just have variation without a label?

This gets posted like every week

True. But valid every week.

We are within a social / cultural revolution of neurodivergent awareness,
it is long overdue that society is considering ND so widely …
mental health services are FuLL of people living the repercussions of being ND in a. Typical world -
let’s hope that changes as society becomes more aware of/ accepting and accommodating of ND’s

Nope. It’s time for us to stop being quiet. We have lived in a world build for the mainstream for far too long. The more noise we make, the more we can change things.

No. You don’t get to decide. Why should people be silenced.

OP asks … can we not have a variation without a label ???

no label = no reasonable adjustments, no mitigations, no occupational health / HR appropriate responses No school mitigations
No come back for those that discriminate

say you have a disorder / a problem …
the label is often the gateway to the remedy / support / treatment required !!!!!

It's not a label

No I think it’s showing that far more people are ND than we think. It explains so many behaviours and encourages people to make allowances if we recognise it. Not abuse etc of course

By label do you mean diagnosis?
People who are nd shouldn't be made to feel like they ought to hide it.

Are you an expert on it op?

Lots of adults have quietly struggled or been misdiagnosed as being anxious/depressed/bipolar.

What makes you think that every quirk is being labelled as autism/adhd? People don’t always publicise what they’ve been through.

We could have variation without diagnosis if it wasn't for the large number of nt people who treat nd people like shit.

If we get to a point where nd people aren't laughed at, struggle to find friends and really struggle to find employment then maybe it wouldn't be an issue.

I guess we need to wait for the nt world to improve to a point where 'labels' aren't required in orde4 to stand a chance of being treated like everyone else. 🤷‍♀️

Do you know how hard it is to get a diagnosis?

Maybe it’s just that people are finally being assessed?

What would the benefit be in using the term neurodivergent less often?

In your opinion. Not in mine.

We tried that, and we still got labels.

Like lazy, stupid, scatter-brained, difficult, rude, naughty.

The problem isn't that ND people "want a label". The problem is that NT people don't do "accepting differences" unless they are forced to by law.

I think what you might possibly be thinking about is self-diagnosis?

There's a lot of that about and especially online.

For example, a lot of people don't know the difference between feeling anxious, and actually suffering from anxiety.

Ditto OCD.

I might actually love you.

I am autistic and it is useful to have label for accessing services and support I.e reasonable adjustments in work and study, occupational health etc.

ND people need diagnosis because the world is designed by NT people who need reminding to expand their definition of “normal” (ie acceptable ) and that the quirks aren’t an attempt to annoy or frustrate NT people and structures which can be the rigid barriers to society ticking along.

Yes I'm kind of with you op. there are obviously people who are genuinely ND but for example just because someone is shy these days they are now labelled as ND even without an official diagnosis but parents insist and push their dc must be ND because the child is shy. I think its actually going to get to a point where there are more ND people in the world than NT at this rate. why can't people just accept that we as humans are all different with different personality traits which are all part of being a normal human being.

The problem is, theres no such thing as neurotypical

Currently pursuing diagnoses within my family for these reasons. We are all individuals with strengths and weaknesses but when the system doesn't allow us to thrive without the label then you must get the label (because you can't do X or have Y unless you have a diagnosis). I also think there is something about the pace / type of of lives that we lead now that is surfacing "ND" more obviously than it was before.

I'd probably have agreed with you until my brother was diagnosed as ADHD in his mid thirties. The poor bloke has struggled since being a kid but was labelled as a class clown whereas now we'd see that as the hyperactivity part. He is now a primary school teacher and medicated. He can now think straight, fits in socially and is able to deal with his MH as soon as he spots his warning signs. He no longer thinks he is thick, useless and pointless as he was made to feel by our dad. Honestly had my brother been diagnosed as a kid he probably wouldn't have felt suicidal as an adult. It took an hour of a therapist first meeting him to ask if he'd been tested over years of education with nobody thinking something was up.

No, there’s not. We’re all different. Always have been. But we apparently need labels now. 🤷‍♀️

People who actually think they are neurodivergent, or are diagnosed, are absolutely fine imo.

It's this new lot of people who just want, what they perceive as, attention for being ND, and use terms like neurospicy, or this God awful one I saw on here the other day - neurosparkly, that piss me off.