Neurodiversity is a word used to explain the unique ways people’s brains work.
Rather than thinking there is something wrong when a person behaves in a way that is different to others, neurodiversity is the idea that it’s normal and acceptable for people to have brains that function differently from one another.
Neurodiversity can be broken down into two main categories:
- people who are neurotypical
- people who are neurodivergent
Being neurodivergent isn’t the same thing as having a disability, though neurodivergent people can have disabilities. People who are neurodivergent are not abnormal, or less smart than neurotypical people; their brains work in ways we are still learning to understand and they have just as much to offer as neurotypical people do. An example of neurodiversity is how autism allows people to see the world differently to neurotypical people.