What autistic people really think about the word 'neurodiver

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As Autistic people it is understandable many get upset about incorrect grammar. When it is about personal identity it is well personal. That acknowledged language definition disputes distract from the ableism the language is designed to contest.

If one has a diagnosable condition that can affect their social, emotional or intellectual functioning to a greater degree than the average human, then they are probably neurodiverse.

Autism isn't the only neurological condition out there.

Autism is a weird condition because it's hard to know where it fits. For me (personally speaking, so I am NOT speaking for everyone else with autism) Asperger's has always felt more like a lifelong mental health condition than an intellectual or social disability. Anxiety, depression and frustration have always been my main struggles in life, not as co-morbids to Asperger's, but seemingly as an actual condition.

I've always been consumed with emotions, seeing the world through a highly emotional state.

"Neurodiverse" is too diverse.

Why do we have to lump everything into one broad catch-all category? Everything is all ASD now thanks to a bad DSM revision, when we have nothing in common with severe low-functioning autism. How do LGBTQIA+etc people in the far corners of their orientations have anything in common? It's like throwing religious fundamentalists into the same room with atheists, calling them all extremists, and locking the door.

^ When is it better to lump things together or to split them? Despite being very far from stupid(common sense is another matter!) I don't see myself as functioning anywhere near as well as most others here who were given an Asperger's dx. Due to the schizophrenia/schizoaffective dx? I get quite a lot of support. To the extent that my daughter has done a social services carers' assessment.

Should I be put into another,new,category?

Asperger's should be separate from the autism spectrum, just like ADHD, depression, anxiety disorder and Fragile-X are, despite all having an overlap of symptoms with autism. It seems Asperger's has as many overlaps with autism as those others, yet Asperger's had to be lumped in with autism while the others got to be their own separate conditions.

A lot of people these days are diagnosed with autism when they don't even have any social awkwardness or deficits, but just have mental health problems instead. But you can't argue, because "everyone on the spectrum is different" and "maybe they've just mastered masking very impeccably". Which brings me to the "everyone is a little autistic" theory, because how do you know what's really going on in everybody's heads and that they're really not just excellent maskers passing off as NTs?
I mean it wouldn't surprise me if I went on to Facebook and got the profile of the most popular girl in my old school up and found out she'd been recently diagnosed with an ASD, despite being remembered as the typical popular high school girl with all the best qualities a human can have; sporty, pretty, bright, confident, and very "normal".

I mean I know my natural persona doesn't scream out ASD, but I'm still quirky and a bit socially awkward, I cannot hide that.

The subcategory concept is fine when used correctly. Nobody is confused if you say you have cancer or COVID despite these presenting in radically different ways. With ASD the three subcategories are not nearly enough. A lot of it is we don’t have the scientific knowledge but plenty of it is competing contentious agendas.

I still think for now Aspergers is roughly Autism with less pronounced Autistic traits. Then there are the co morbids. Many contend that “profound Autism” is not really profound autism but Autism with strong co morbids. Which raises the question are your problems being caused by your autism or are your autistic traits that are impairing you being exacerbated or caused by your co morbids? Which leads to the larger question are some traits we call traits of co morbids are also autistic traits? We don’t know.

As for neurodivergent of course it is going to cover a broad range of conditions as divergent is in the word.

Personally while I don’t mind being called neurodivergent I identify as Autistic because it better describes me. Aspergers did better describe me then autism but bringing that diagnoses back is a lost cause.

NeuroDiver. .. almost sounds cute ..nice idea for someone to use ...So as to show how ignorant on the topic.One person might be ?
Kinda like a "teenage slang term " possibly meant? to be a Slur on somebodies character, good or bad.
Yes might be nice to bring back Asperger's word . Then would that have ? to have , levels of seperation.?
Rainman VS maybe slightly odd ? / or non verbal but brilliant .

I think there should be a thing called "atypical autism", which describes the highly social types like me who naturally are socially orientated and do not exactly lack social skills but still have a quirky or odd way about them, and had no speech delays in childhood. Not many sources on autism actually circle much of this but it does exist.

I did think of an analogy to explain my point but some people might take it the wrong way and I don't want that.

I wonder if functioning level can also be relative in a sense based on perception. I might consider some person on the spectrum "higher functioning" than me while somebody else can say the same about me in some ways.

That fell under the PDD-NOS umbrella and it was informally called Atypical Autism.


Absolutly. Autism diagnosis are subjective.

A doctor did once say that I was PDD-NOS, even though I had a diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome. It confused me, as I still don't know who I really am. I'm so glad I got assessed for ADHD and diagnosed with combined type because that does explain an awful lot and I wish I'd known sooner. But ADHD diagnoses was not offered to girls in the 1990s unless they were extremely disruptive in the classroom. I was very ADHD at home but assessors didn't seem to take into account what a child was like at home, only at school.

I had anxiety, and one of my fears was being yelled at by the teacher at school, so that was why I forced myself to sit still and be good in the classroom, although it was mentally draining and was the reason I didn't like going to school. Sometimes on a Sunday afternoon I would feel school looming ahead and became angry and tearful, causing major distress for my mother, but it was just school anxiety setting in.

I chafed under discipline at school and I still do to this day, in the workplace.

The lack of understanding hurt a lot of people back then and still does.

Now people are starting to understand how common a combination of Autism and ADHD or as it informally known as AuDHD is.

I expect we all have "diverse" opinions, we never are all on the same page for any other topic. Not even the same room, or even the same world..... for many of us.

Diverse still means different... fait-divers... the other (unimportant) small news items...

It is used as a big word to pretend everyone fits in. Makes 'normal' non-diverse people feel left out, puts diverse people on display and sometimes target.

Fait-divers... distracting tidbits. Either they distract, marginal issues... or... used to distract.

Neuro or gender... same thing.

Like with word, what it means depends on intent and interpretation.

Yes it can mean everyone is neurodivergent, one has to excuse abusive narcissists because they were born that way.

The ND advocates use it to say you don’t have to fit in.