To think a very high percentage of people are Neuro divergent?

[Marshmallow4545]

I have just spoken to yet another friend who suspects that they may be Neurodivergent. They are not interested in seeking a diagnosis for various reasons but this means they will never be picked up in the statistics. Anecdotally, this isn't unusual amongst my friendship circle and I now suspect that a very large percentage of the population believe they may be ND even if they have no diagnosis and have never seen a professional about this. So out of interest please vote:

YABU: if you think you are Neurotypical
YANBU: if you believe you are Neurodivergent, even if you don't have a diagnosis

When we were going through assessment for DS1 his consultant said that everyone has traits that can be defined as ND - and that an assessment is made IF there are a lot of traits AND they adversely affect the persons every day life.
So yes, we can all read a list of 'symptoms' and recognise them in ourselves. but most of us have strategies to cope with our feelings and are able to live a normal life. I think life is much more complicated than it used to be meaning we do not get the down time we need to decompress and have much more stress and external input.

So 70 years ago I would have probably not worked. I would be able to take my time doing some housework and laundry and cook a meal for the family when they returned home from school and work. I may have been able to have a cup of tea with a friend.
Today I have had to rush around dropping kids to school and get to work constantly bombarded with messages and emails about school stuff, building works, mortgage renewal, checking in with DS1 who has started Uni, all whilst doing a full time day of work which is also stressful and full on. by the time I get home I will be mentally exhausted by all the demands on my time. I will be so overwhelmed with all the stuff I need to do at home I will shut down and not do any of it. Which leads to a cycle of shame and dysfunction. On top of that we are bombarded with news from every corner of the globe, silly videos and information overload from social media.

I dont know what the answer is really. Modern life is too much of an assualt on the brain and we do not have enough calm to reset ourselves on a daily basis.

Sensible post.

I really doubt there are just two neurotypes and we all fall in to one or the other. We're all a complex mix of traits and quirks depending on our brains, upbringing, culture.

In my friendshop group I'd say it's about 50/50 neurotypical / neurodiverse. Some diagnosed, some not.

This is interesting. I wonder if the difference between someone being diagnosed or not being diagnosed is their ability to manage their ND traits in modern society as opposed to inately having more ND traits.

So for example, if we were to reformulate the education system with the premise that many of us have ND traits and it is likely that they will adversely impact us at some point in our life then would that help? If coping strategies were integrated into school life and we were taught to a certain extent that struggles were normal and how to increase our resilience and ability to cope with divergent traits.

Of course people who are interested in autism are going to click on this thread - making the vote very biased.

I think some of the tictoks are ridiculous.... A little know trait of ADHD is not liking the sound of people eating popcorn in the cinema!!! Ridiculous..nobody likes that sound! Or feeling like you don't fit in.... Everybody feels like that some times!

When my brothers and sisters and I went to primary school in the 80s there was an average of about 3 kids per class that were 'naughty/useless', and usually 1 or 2 who were 'geeks/boffins'.

When my older boys went to school in the 00s they had about 3 kids per class who were 'disruptive/bad' and a couple who were 'introverted/weirdos'.

Then when my little boy went to primary school (he left last year) there were 5-6 kids who were 'neurodivergent'; ADHD, autistic, whatever.

People who have been the outliers or different at school have always been labelled, going back those lables could be stigmatising or unhelpful. I think its natural that people want to find a label that properly describes them and isn't a horrible stereotype.

It’s very clearly not. Because even you have to know there are people with severe autism, non-verbal and severely affected. The ‘edges’ of ASD may be subject to intelligent debate about what constitutes difference/deficit/disorder, but not that they exist.

’Bandwagon’ and ‘gone too far’ are not sign of knowledge about serious, observable differences.

I think the term neurodivergent is over used and the threshold to be classed as neurodivergent lowered. I think many people self diagnose but aren't really. I think its a term often used to describe odd or rude behaviour.

I also think its just something else that is labelled now - everything needs a label for whatever reason.

People have always been quirky, sometimes eccentric and sometimes completely batty.

YABU to expect people to agree with you without defining what a "very high" proportion means to you!
1 in 10?
Half?
90% ?

If such a high proportion of the population are neurodivergent then what norm is it divergent from?

Of course there are people with severe autism.

But your average person who has trouble concentrating or getting stuff done isn't necessarily adhd.

It's not helpful to give everyone a label - and an obvious diservice to people who actually are ASD!

But you asked people to hit YANBU if they thought they were ND, not if they agreed with your theory (I'm ND and so hit YANBU but I disagree with you). Your results aren't a reflection of ND incidence in the general population! I think if there's a high proportion of ND in a friendship group its because ND people tend to get on better with each other. Though I do agree there's a lot of undiagnosed neurodivergence out there so the official stats are probably an under estimate to some degree

Honestly I don't at all deny the existence of NT conditions nor do I deny that as a society we are better at recognising it so diagnosis has naturally gone up for this reason. However, I think the absolute explosion in diagnosis is largely not because the majority of us are ND but because the majority of us are thoroughly dissatisfied and unable to cope with modern life and we're looking for a way to make sense of that. Please don't slaughter me....

Everyone is neurodivergent, which means no one is. It is the new norm.

Meanwhile, some people have terrible, life limiting autism with concomitant care needs and it is irksome at best for their carers when highly successful adults claim to have the same condition.

I've never had a diagnosis but can see I have some of the traits. DD2 is diagnosed with ASD and combined ADHD which then made me think abut myself and DH. And also DD1. DD1 was very very sensitive to noise as a baby and young child, if anyone I'd have said she may have ASD, and I was very surprised about DD2. But if it doesn't impede you greatly in life then you may never know. It was only because DD2 has immense anxiety about secondary school that we sought a diagnosis. Perhaps the rest of us are NT, or we are ND and have developed coping strategies.

I’m a psychologist and I agree with you. Modern life is not conducive to positive wellbeing.

It’s so bizarre how hung up people are on this at the moment.

By definition, if more than 50% of people are neurodivergent, it becomes neurotypical as divergent refers to diverging from the norm.

Most people have varying degrees of oddities and obsessions but they just deal with them.

It may be useful to pay for an ed psych screening if you feel you will gain tools to understand yourself and manage your behaviour.

But, a relatively small minority of people actually need special accommodations made for them. The rest need to fit in with everyone else and learn resilience.

Your post does not make sense. If you think there are more ND than NT people, then surely you are "like other people" and the NTs are the minority

(Maybe it’s not an Ed Patch but a psychiatrist for neurodivergence. My point still stands).

Tic Toc everyone is ND, lots of are you autistic if you X, Y or Z and if you do this and that then you are ADHD. Get your private diagnosis then claim PIP or DLA for children but remember to write the worse possible things for care and getting around so you get max money. It's a free for all now.

The people who have autism that actually impacts everything of their life meaning lots of care/unable to live independently, non verbal, live in care homes since unable to cope/function in society are forgotten due to the 'well I line things up neatly' - I'm autistic brigade.

If ND becomes the norm, then it’s a nonsense term by definition, because there’s then fewer NT… it doesn’t make any sense.

They can’t be ND and the larger segment of the population if they’re a greater amount - they just become the new NT.

Everyone is different.

The end.

60 years ago if John ate a cheese and pickle sandwich for lunch every day for his entire working life, didn't like anyone else sitting in his chair or messing with how he had things laid out, always read the daily paper in precisely the same order starting with the back pages and working forwards, kept himself to himself except for his weekly darts outing where he always had precisely two pints no more no less, that was just "what John was like". There wasn't really anything more expected from him

Agreed.

I actually think there's more ND people than NT people. I always knew I felt different from other people but pretended I was fine. I could never ever understand how everyone around me found most things effortless whereas for me it was a huge battle

I am not picking on this poster in particular, just a good example. But it is not possible for “NT people to be the minority” and also for “ND people to feel different from everyone else, and to find things that everyone else finds effortless, a huge battle”.

Unless ND people also feel “different” in the company of other ND people and how NT people feel/act is something of a red herring as there are too few of them to make any difference, in which case I’m not really sure what the solution is.