What is Neurodiversity anyway?

As I was sitting in an office waiting for one of the kids to finish something the two Gen Z receptionists were chatting and I could not prevent eavesdropping as it was a small office. One of them was new so the ladies were having the typical “get to know you” conversation. The first topic they addressed was their preferred genre of music.

There was a lengthy assessment of each other's Spotify Wrap which inevitably led to a conversation about genre and vibes. One of them said that her “vibes” were dependent on whether or not she took her antidepressant that morning.

Please note that meds like that should be taken consistently and close to the same time of day. I know that is a difficult thing to accomplish in your 20s, but please try. 

The response was “Facts! Me too, but I’m more of an Adderall girly.” This declarative sentence was followed with “I love that for you. I tried Ritalin in high school, but it was not my fav.” Admittedly, I chuckled a little. 

I’m beginning to think which neurodiversity one has is considered more than astrological signs when determining compatibility these days. It’s been a while since I’ve checked in with a dating app, but you all should let me know if that is now a standard part of the profile. (This entire paragraph screams Gen X) 

What is the origin story of the term?

The term neurodiversity emerged way back in the 1900s. The 1990s to be exact. The increased understanding and diagnosis of Autism, ADHD, and various learning differences created a movement for less stigma, acceptance, inclusion, and accommodation of this natural part of human diversity (Child Mind Institute, 2025). The word combines “neuro” from the Greek word “neuron” and the Latin word “diversitas” which means variety. So the word is literally just diversity in neurological functions. 

Who coined the term is a bit more controversial. Many attribute it to an activist with Autism named Judy Singer in her paper “Why Can’t You Be Normal for Once in Your Life?” published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.  Some within the academic world of neuroscience sometimes argue that the term predates the 1999 publication of her paper and the term was being used within the Autism on-line community in the very early days of the internet (Botha et al., 2024).

 
The concepts related to neurodiversity are found in writings throughout history. One can argue that any work completed on the development of human logic, reasoning, and knowledge are part of this same conversation. Not to mention the wonderings of the ancient philosophers about human nature or the enlightened thinkers' analysis of the relationship between man and sovereign. Why did we decide we even needed the term “neurodivergent” or “neurodiversity”? 

The goal of the use of the term is really founded in the idea that neurodiversity is just as common as other genetic identifiers like hair color, which very much is a part of the dating profile. Maybe the Gen Z ladies are onto something. Instead of asking, "Do you prefer blondes,” we can start asking “Do you prefer ADHD or Dyslexia?” If I see a trailer of a new take on the 1953 film Do Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, I’m 100% coming after a cut of the royalties. That is if I remember. My own unique adult onset neurodiversity is from a TBI that made a mess of my short-term to long term memory transfer. I often have to ask when my wedding was and unfortunately will have to watch all the Marvel movies again as that is when I watched them the first time. There are currently 10 sticky notes hanging off the bottom of my monitor. Where was I? Neurodiversity…that’s right. 

Something that is important when considering this concept is the context of not only the word itself but also the concept of childhood. Once upon a time, having children wasn’t always about building a loving family, and the concept of a “childhood” was not even on anyone’s radar. For the majority of human history, the family unit was an economic community that worked to keep the most people in the family alive as long as possible. Because of that, the carefree, worry-free, fun-to-be-a-kid concept is pretty darn new. I promise I am not going off on an irrelevant tangent. 

A large number of neurodivergences are related to executive function skills, social skills, and/or language acquisition. Let’s get into each one of these. 

Executive Function Skills

When you think about executive functioning skills that were needed for the pre-industrial world, it was about survival. If you couldn’t figure out how to ration your food for winter, it meant death. Those executive function skills had a higher value and were developed earlier in life. Child labor laws in the United States were deemed unconstitutional not once, not twice, but on three separate occasions (Hansan, 2011). When Congress passed an amendment in 1924, many states chose not to ratify it (Hansan, 2011). 

So, up until after World War II, children had to learn executive function skills earlier. Only the lucky few even had a childhood, and honestly, those children were probably raised by a tutor or nanny anyway. That means that the majority of children born pre-Baby Boom practiced executive function skills more often on a daily basis. And they had to acquire those skills earlier than children do now. A skill can be taught and learned so if one’s survival depended on planning how to spread your resources, you are going to become an expert in that skill pretty quickly.

Historically, there really wouldn’t need to be a term like “neurodiversity” until the children of the boomers were entering the workforce, which was in the late 1990s which is when the term came to be! You definitely thought I was off on a tangent, didn’t you?! Hello, my fellow Gen X-ers! I see you staring at your Gen Alpha kids thinking “what in the actual….. Why wouldn’t they just know to do task X before task Z?” In the past month, I have said “You don’t know how to use a toaster?” and “That’s a bottle opener, not a can opener.” 

Gen X is really the last generation of kids who were actively involved in the running of the home. Us “latch key kids” HAD to know things, and not lose our keys! I put coded locks on the doors so the kids wouldn’t lose their keys and could get in whenever, but now, I’ve accidentally taught them they don’t need to keep track of a house key. 

Social Skills

This one is also related to technology. Think about your own social interactions. My husband and I text each other while sitting in the same room. When we take kids, especially young ones, to a restaurant, they are distracted with a solitary task usually on a screen. Why did my kid not know how to use a can opener? He’s not in the kitchen when I’m cooking dinner. We have created an unspoken, quiet social interaction based on screens.

Social skills, just like executive function skills, are learned by observing and mimicking. We’ve already covered that children were in the adult workforce up until World War II, so again, childhood just isn’t a thing until after the war. Children interacted with adults on a wider and more frequent basis than current generations do.

Think about children’s literature. The first children’s literature was published in the Victorian Era, but of course it was limited to the upper classes who were literate. In the post-war era, children’s literature were series such as The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. There are the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Nancy Drew novels, and the Hardy Boys. I personally loved the Boxcar Children books, which were first published in 1924 and were authored by Gertrude Chandler Warner, a first–grade teacher. 

There’s a common theme with these texts. The characters are all children who are problem–solving and behaving as adults. My point here is that children were constantly being taught how to adhere to the social norms of the adult world. And with corporal punishment often used as a teaching method, of course there would be more compliance to these norms. Also, we cannot forget the impact of social isolation related to social distancing. That has had a MASSIVE impact on social norms for Gen Alpha.

Language Acquisition

The final area that a lot of neurodivergence diagnosis criteria includes is language acquisition. Language acquisition is not just talking. Language acquisition is also not just reading. Language includes body language, semantics, tone, vocabulary use, and understanding of complex thoughts and emotions. Language is really complex. 

I do not need to rehash the pre/post–WWII examples, but I will bring up the everyday classroom. Children are taught to be silent when adults are speaking. Children are taught not to express themselves often. Children read for school. Children write for school. The development of language has become solely an exercise in getting the right grade. Shorthand texting language and typing have changed the way we use language. I think we are actually just talking less. Again, kids learn by watching. 

But also, why in the world would someone be diagnosed with dyslexia in 800? Barely anyone could even read or even knew writing was a thing. I picked the year 800 purposefully because that is the year that an illiterate Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor.

In my opinion, the changes in literacy rates are responsible for the higher rates of dyslexia diagnosis. It’s not dyslexia itself. It’s that we can identify it now. Also, understanding that the shapes on the page represent a sound that we make when we speak is an extremely difficult skill. And because of technology, the way the letters look on a page is not standard anymore. The vocabulary used with children versus what word you would use with an adult are probably different.

Again, with previous generations interacting with adults more regularly, language acquisition was just different. Very rarely do I actually look at my own children when I am talking to them because our conversations are usually in the car. Why would they think eye contact during a conversation was important? 

If you struggle with something like dyslexia, using a font that is most like how we would write the letter with a pencil is extremely helpful. Everything I publish is in open sans for a reason. Comic Sans is actually the closest, but my students made fun of me when I used it so I stopped. I have my computer set so that all text is in Comic Sans so that I can read it more easily. Also, a pro tip to my fellow struggling readers: go for an East Asian language or American Sign Language as your foreign language requirement if you can find the courses.  Written characters in East Asia are shapes on a page that represent concepts or nouns-not sounds. Obviously, ASL does not require a specific reading component.

Diagnosis of Neurodivergence 

Today, many people discuss the increase in the diagnosis of all of these neurodivergences. It is a hot topic in the teacher’s lounge for sure. My working theory is that it isn’t that there are more people with these neurodivergences, but that it is actually a more accurate understanding of the manifestations, the explicit teaching of skills like executive function are far less frequent within the home, and we decided that hiding these individuals in the special ed classroom at the back of the building was a serious violation of a human right to free education.

Thank you IDEA 2008 legislation (U.S. Department of Education, 2008)!  

Let’s face it, if a child presented with manifestations of any neurodivergence in 1750, they would be hidden from the public by the families if they were in the upper classes. Depending on the location and economic stability of the family, they would possibly be taken care of, but there is a harsh reality that many wouldn’t survive.

In literature, there is often a character that is “simple” or perhaps a “fool.” There are characters who don’t talk or socialize within the plot. There’s often a back room where some family member is hidden from the public eye. Did we really think these were just fictional figures? Art reflects life and these individuals existed before the DSM-5.

They existed before this catch-all phrase of “neurodiversity” even came into existence. In my opinion, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes had some serious manifestations of OCD and would probably meet the IQ threshold for giftedness. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne had some problematic social skills. Herman Melville’s Captain Ahab had a hyper fixation on a whale. Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is a neurodivergent tapestry laid out in simple chapter form. Clearly, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet had some anxiety. If you look at many of the actors' interpretations of these figures in film, you can see unique perspectives, out-of-the-norm speech patterns, and behaviors that are on the checklist we fill out with our child’s psychologists every couple of months. 

Neurodiversity is not new. I think it is just more difficult to hide. And the manifestations are more radicalized due to introducing the concept of an actual childhood into our society. To be clear, I am a fan of those changes. I also am of the opinion that the internet changed the game for our neurodivergent communities. No one should ever be hidden in a back room, especially not in a public school.

I spent many evenings in my journey through the school system in tears because I just couldn’t read well enough to comprehend. I spent hours upon hours creating notes of what I was reading and making graphic organizers so that I could visualize the information in the way my brain needed to process the information to at best get a low B or high C. When I returned to school in 2022 to pursue a master’s degree, I was so scared of a repeat performance that I had delayed my degree for decades. 

April is Neurodiversity Awareness Month. I’ve also seen it written as “Neurodiversity Celebration Month” which will be Insight Education Academy’s interpretation of April. As with all differences, education is key. We commit to continuing our attempts to expand the education of as many neurodivergences as we can fit into our content.

Differences are what make us uniquely human, which is something we should absolutely celebrate. 

Happy Neurodivergence Celebration Month!


References

Child Mind Institute. (2025). What is neurodiversity? Retrieved April 1, 2025, from https://childmind.org/article/what-is-neurodiversity/

Botha, M., Chapman, R., Giwa Onaiwu, M., Kapp, S. K., Stannard Ashley, A., & Walker, N. (2024). The neurodiversity concept was developed collectively: An overdue correction on the origins of neurodiversity theory. Autism, 28(6), 1591-1594. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613241237871 (Original work published 2024)

Hansan, J. (2011). The American era of child labor. Social Welfare History Project. Retrieved from https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/programs/child-welfare/ (2008).

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2008 (Pub. L. No. 108-446). Retrieved from https://sites.ed.gov/idea/about-idea/