Diversity and divergence: The importance of clarity

Language is a beautiful thing. It adapts and evolves with society and cultural experiences. New terminologies appear at dizzying rates and meanings shift.

If you go back 30 or so years, the term neurodiversity didn’t really exist. In fact, the first recorded use of the term is believed to have appeared way back in 1997 as a blend of the words neurological and diversity.

Nowadays the word neurodiversity is a well established phrase in the English language. But how many people out there are using the term correctly?

The official definition is ‘neurodiversity refers to the different ways in which people’s brains function’.

Much like biodiversity is used as an umbrella term for the breadth and variety of life on earth, neurodiversity is the same for our brains.

Yet we often see neurodiversity used interchangeably with the term neurodivergence.

Yes, I know, they look the relatively similar and they’re both about the brain (neuro), but there’s a huge difference between the two that can be explained in very simple terms.

We are all part of neurodiversity because we all have brains.

Much like all living things are part of biodiversity, our beautiful brains are all part of neurodiversity because we are all unique. This is a biologcial fact.

Neurodivergence on the other hand is focused on brains that function in a ‘different way’ to brains that are considered ‘neurotypical’.

While there is no official ‘list’ of who is considered neurodivergent, it’s often believed that autistic individuals would be considered as such due to experiencing the world in a different way to a ‘neurotypical’ individual.

It goes without saying that the idea of a’ typical’ or ‘normal’ brain is the crux of much debate, but that’s an in depth topic for another day!