Neurodiversity: a process, not a ‘steady state’

The letter by Fionola Farrant and colleagues (July/August 2022, and extended online), 'Celebrating neurodiversity in Higher Education', argues that we should do more to enable and celebrate neurodiversity. A lengthy step towards this goal will be made, in my view, when leading players in the 'neurodiversity movement' stop treating neurodiversity as if its origins are principally (or even entirely) innate.

The attraction of innately-determined neurodiversity is easy to see. Among the things that all people seem to strive for in life are meaning and belonging, rooted in some kind of self-understanding. And a sub-clinical neurodiversity classification offers many people a straightforward and unambiguous way to understand and contextualise the 'weird stuff' that goes on in their heads: I think and feel differently from other people because my brain is wired differently. Comedian Sara Gibbs, for example, writes: 'I found strength, certainty and pride in connecting with other autistic people. Becoming part of this vibrant, thoughtful, socially conscious, kind, straight-talking, open-minded, wonderful community helped me to learn to love myself for the first time.'

In 2022, this positive view of sub-clinical neurodiversity defines an increasingly large number of people's sense of owned personal identity. And perhaps there would be nothing further to say about the matter – if the positivity felt about sub-clinical neurodiversity was universal, or if its classifications were so strongly rooted in observable biology as to leave no room for doubt.

"Neurodiversity offers a life-long and dynamic process of growth, creating our diverse perspectives and unique paths through life."

But neither of these things is true. Not everyone feels positive about being classified as innately neurodivergent. Many people regard the boxology of neurodiversity with anxiety and resentment (especially when divorce court lawyers call them 'a narcissist'). Others wonder why spectral diagnoses of innate autism are presented to them as the given truth about how they (or loved ones) feel and think – when there are important weaknesses in the underlying science. To be sure, it is uncontentious to suggest that neuro-variations such as Down's Syndrome, 'extreme' autism and cerebral palsy have innate/biological origins. But evidence for innate origins in sub-clinical neurodiversity is thin – see the 2021 Sharp, Critchley and Eccles assessment in respect of hypermobility, for example.

Meanwhile, important and long-established alternative explanations are simply overlooked. Many clinical – and perhaps all sub-clinical – behaviours, feelings and thinking patterns frequently classified as innate neurodiversity have been reproduced through environmental manipulation. In landmark literature going back many decades (Little Hans/Albert, Harlow's unfortunate primates, the seminal work of Donald Hebb, Lorenz's 'critical periods'), psychologists have shown how easily 'neurotypical' can be turned into 'neurodivergent'. Meanwhile, lifelong neurodiversity has also been created in numerous 'field' circumstances, the infamous Romanian orphanages offering a clear example. Indeed, what else is lifelong trauma, if it is not environmentally produced neurodiversity?

None of this means that we cannot adopt the practical suggestions made by Farrant et al to make Higher Ed more accessible to everyone capable of using it. But as we finally release neurodivergents from the stigma of disability, let's not immediately shackle them to the dogma of innate brain types. The evidence tells us, compellingly, that neurodiversity occurs within individuals, as physical maturation interacts with unique learning experiences. Innate variations that occur between individuals at birth are only part of the story.

And that really is something to celebrate. For every one of us, no matter what we are born with, neurodiversity offers a life-long and dynamic process of growth, creating our diverse perspectives and unique paths through life.

Chris Timms
High Wycombe