Neurodiversity

When I am completing autism or ADHD assessments, or working therapeutically with neurodivergent clients, I am frequently hearing their experiences of being dismissed or minimised by others, with people making comments such as ‘we all are a bit autistic’, or ‘everyone wants a diagnosis these days’. For neurodivergent people, this can be incredibly upsetting and invalidating.

It’s true that public awareness of neurodiversity is much, much better than it once was. This is a hugely positive development helped by public figures sharing their own diagnoses, media articles and programmes, and the assessment services, both NHS and private, that have flourished since the Autism Act stipulated their necessity in 2009.

It’s also true that this increased awareness has led many people to question whether they may have neurodiversity. We live in a world where diagnostic labels are required to access services, and often, to aid understanding. People seeking assessments often just want to be understood rather than judged/blamed, and to have an answer for their difficulties and differences. If society was more inclusive, accepting and available to all, perhaps we would not need to label anything, but we do not live in such a world, and so we do.

If someone has had a diagnosis from a credible and appropriately trained professional then it is likely to be valid (nothing has 100% certainty as assessments are based on observational data and information provided as opposed to something medical which can be diagnosed via physical tests). If someone is self diagnosing or has been assessed poorly, this is of course another matter. This is why it’s so important to seek assessments from the correct sources.

Please, tread carefully if you find yourself wishing to dismiss others who have had diagnoses of neurodivergence. Think about what part of you is showing up here that makes you feel the urge to do so, and how this might make the other person feel. Many neurodivergent people have had a lifetime of invalidation (from self and others), may be suffering with mental health difficulties as a result, and to be further dismissed once diagnosed can be crushing.