Welcome to the Melbourne Community Daily Discussion Thread.
Thanks for sharing, I have definitely noticed this but never had a word for it. With the eagerness for labels, I think there’s something else going on too. Labels can give people a sense of belonging. So it’s an overlap of feeling special individually plus feeling part of a tribe. Not saying neurodivergence doesn’t exist, but I do sometimes get unsettled when people label human experience that I consider to be just normal, to be something clinical. No, sometimes lost keys and procrastinating over doing the dishes are just lost keys and dishes. Can we just be allowed to be human.
This echoes my own sentiments, that we need a wider definition of ‘normal’ for humans. We should celebrate diversity, not medicalize it.
If I recall correctly the person who originally coined the term “neurodivergence” (an Australian psychologist?) intended it to describe all people, not to create a distinction between the “neurodiverse” and the “neurotypical” (as if the latter do not also exist on spectrums).
