You absolutely are neurodivergent if you have been diagnosed with a developmental or learning disorder, such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, or Tourette's syndrome. You may decide to consider yourself neurodivergent if you have no diagnosis but think, behave, or interact in ways that are outside the norm.
“You can choose to identify yourself as neurodivergent, but you should not unilaterally assign other people the label of neurodivergent. Not all individuals with a medical diagnosis like autism or ADHD self-identify as neurodivergent. There is also no standard for a 'neurotypical brain.
“With this definition, anxiety can be considered a form of neurodivergence, although it may not be as commonly recognized as ADHD, autism, or trauma,” she says. Many people utilize self-identification to categorize themselves as being neurodivergent, explains Claney.
Besides ADHD, neurodiversity commonly refers to people with: Autism spectrum disorder. Dyslexia.
Add to that people who hyperfixate but don't have one of the neurodiverse diagnoses, and the list of possible underlying causes gets very long. But that's OK. It just takes careful detective work from a skilled practitioner to figure out what's really going on.
While some people who are neurodivergent have medical conditions, it also happens to people where a medical condition or diagnosis hasn't been identified.
Other types of neurodivergence include Tourette's, dyspraxia, synesthesia, dyscalculia, Down syndrome, epilepsy, and chronic mental health illnesses such as bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder, anxiety, and depression.
Hyperlexia is advanced and unexpected reading skills and abilities in children way beyond their chronological age. It is a fairly recently named condition (1967) although earlier descriptions of precocious reading do exist.
Someone who is neurodivergent behaves, thinks and learns differently compared to those who are neurotypical. This term can be used to describe an individual whose brain functions differently to what we consider “normal”.
Learning about neurodiversity can help you move the focus from impairments towards everyone's different abilities. It is thought that up to 15% of the population are thought to be neurodiverse. The remaining majority are neurotypical.
Neurotypicals learn things more quickly in the ways that information is currently typically presented, whereas neurodiverse people may find it harder to process facts presented in this form. The latter may need more training time or different approaches because their brains are wired differently.
Despite growing societal awareness of diversity in the United States, the study revealed that more than half of Americans (58%) say they don't have a clear understanding of what neurodivergence is.
Many neurotypicals (NTs) struggle with the idea that not everyone experiences the world in the same way they do — it likely comes from being part of the privileged majority, which can cause pathological behaviours.
Neurotypicals misinterpret this as being callous, narcissistic, uncaring, or socially inept. Taken together, the vulnerability of a person with ADHD to the negative feedback of others, and the lack of ability to observe oneself in the moment, make a witch's brew.
Neurodivergent people tend to have high affective empathy and low cognitive empathy. The inverse is true for neurotypicals. (Some people have a high degree of both types of empathy, because they have practiced and learned the type that does not come as naturally to them.)
The three primary characteristics of neurodivergent burnout include: Chronic exhaustion, reduced tolerance to stimulus, and loss of skills (e.g., reduced executive functioning such as thinking, remembering, creating and executing plans, performing basic self-care skills, and activities in daily living).
Since they are constructed socially and individually, everyone can experience or present them in different ways. This applies to neurodivergent people as well. With regards to people with autism, some claim that they do not feel empathy or emotion. This notion is entirely false.
Trauma induces similar physiological changes in the brain. Following a traumatic event, your brain changes its structures to attempt to adapt to the traumatic event. These adaptations can be viewed as neurodivergence.
Created by Dr. Gary Chapman, they're words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. Words of affirmation are verbalizing appreciation and expressing love with words.
The choice of when to disclose a disability or neurodiversity is personal and will depend on where you are in your life, your previous experiences, and what you're trying to achieve. No one can or should tell you what to do.
Neurodivergence is often different from mental health conditions, like anxiety or depression, because it doesn't appear suddenly in adulthood or after a pivotal experience. (There are exceptions, such as schizophrenia, which often begins in someone's 20s or 30s; along with treatment-resistant depression and PTSD.)
Intense emotions and hyperfocus
New relationships or crushes are exciting and (mostly) enjoyable. But for kids with ADHD, that excitement and enjoyment can sometimes go too far. Your child might hyperfocus on the relationship, while schoolwork, sports, family, and friends take a backseat.
Hyperfocus is a state of intense concentration where you lose track of time, you really enjoy what you're doing and you seem to be better at that than whatever it is you're doing.